City of Basketball Love

Jared Leveson (@jared_leveson)
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BENSALEM — Darren Williams hadn't played basketball in nearly a week. 

He fell ill Wednesday, suffering from chills and aches associated with strep throat that forced him to miss school and Archbishop Ryan boys basketball's PIAA Class 5A tournament first-round game Friday. 

However, the Florida Gulf Coast Commit didn't miss a step during Tuesday night’s second-round game. Williams guided the Raiders through a hard-fought first half and helped them take control in the second, defeating Radnor 66-46 at Bensalem High School. 

Archbishop Ryan, looking for its first PIAA title, advances to the state quarterfinal for the second straight season with the win.

"I made sure I got in the gym. I made sure I got shots up before practice and coming into this game," Williams said. "I knew I had to get back to it and get back in the groove. 

"I was excited to come back, like ready to go [and] anxious to get on the floor and be back with my guys."

"Darren really stepped up for us," Ryan head coach Joe Zeglinski said. “We didn't know if he was going to be available or not until yesterday. He's a big-time player. He's been making big shots for us for the last three years. We're always comfortable with the ball in his hands." 

The shots Williams got up in practice Monday before the game did the trick. The 6-foot-4 guard was lights out against the Raptors. He hit the first shot of the game, a 3-pointer from the wing, and didn't look back. 

Williams finished with 21 points, going 7 of 11 from the field and 5 of 7 from 3-point territory. 

Teammate Thomas Sorber expects Williams to turn it up a notch heading into the quarterfinals. 

"I mean, we got what we needed to get out of him today," he said. "But he's just getting back into the groove.

"So next game, he's going to be ready."

The 6-10 Georgetown commit scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-9 field-goal shooting; he was 7 of 8 from the charity stripe. 

Radnor did all it could to slow down Williams and Sorber's one-two punch. The Raptors took it to the Philadelphia Catholic League runner-up and got great minutes from senior Elijah Sellers, who scored 11 of his team-high 19 in the first half. 

The Raptors battled, trailing 31-27 going into halftime and scoring the second half's first points, a corner 3 by senior Henry Pierce to cut their deficit to one. 

The Raptors put together such a strong first half because Archbishop Ryan lacked intensity. The Raiders have become accustomed to playing in front of huge crowds at the Palestra for the PCL playoffs and then against northwest Philly powerhouse Imhotep Charter in the District 12 championship game. 

The sparse crowd at Bensalem let Zeglinski's squad take the pressure off. It could have cost them. 

"It's always tough going from playing in front of 10,000 people to whatever was there tonight, but that can't be an excuse," the eighth-year head coach said. "That's what we talked about. We want to win a state championship, so that can't happen again.

"We challenged them at halftime, picked the pressure up a little bit, picked up the intensity and our guys responded." 

Williams heeded Zeglinski's message. 

"We got to bring our own energy and feed off of each other," Williams said.

"We can't get separated. When things aren't going our way, how do we respond, how do we stay together, do we fuss, do we fight, or do we come together even more and finish out (these) games." 

However, Archbishop Ryan woke up and exploded in the third quarter, out-scoring Radnor 24-5 in the frame for a 55-32 lead.

The Raiders cruised to the final whistle, and both teams emptied their benches as the clock wound down. 

Radnor's first-year head coach, Tim Smallwood, gave each senior a moment to sub out individually so he could spare some parting words. Radnor's four starting seniors, Sellers, Pierce, Kessy Cox and Michael Savadoe, helped Radnor build off its stellar campaign last season that won the District 1 Class 5A title and lost to Archbishop Ryan in the PIAA quarterfinal at Bensalem nearly one year ago.

"I just told them I loved them, and I was proud to be their coach," Smallwood said. "They bought in since Day 1. They've taken that responsibility to heart, and (it) showed on the court, and again, if it wasn't for those seniors, we wouldn't be here right now. 

"We had nothing to lose, and that was our message from Day 1. [It] is that we all have something to prove here and let's prove that we belong, that some of the guys that didn't play last year should have played [more], and we proved everything we possibly could have." 

By Quarter

Radnor: 13 | 14 | 5 | 14 || 46 

Archbishop Ryan: 15 | 16 | 24 | 11 || 66

Scoring

Radnor: Elijah Sellers 19, Henry Pierce 10, Kessy Cox 5, Sawyer Smith 5, Michael Savadoe 2, Roman Rivera 2, Owen Smith 3

Archbishop Ryan: Thomas Sorber 24, Darren Williams 21, Brandon Russell 6, Ryan Everett 4, Rocco Morabito 2, Jaden Murray 2, Matt Johnson 2, Christian Durham 2

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PIAA 5A Boys (local games)

First Round (Fri., March 8)
12-1 Imhotep Charter 64, 1-6 Pottstown 46
12-2 Archbishop Ryan 67, 1-4 Sun Valley 43
1-1 Unionville 56, 3-8 Manheim Central 31
2-2 Dallas 71, 12-3 West Philadelphia 61
2-1 Abington Heights 91, 12-4 Bonner-Prendergast 64
11-2 Whitehall 62, 1-3 Phoenixville 46
3-5 Exeter Township 67, 1-2 Upper Dublin 60
1-5 Radnor 63, 11-1 Pocono Mt. West 44

Second Round (Tue., March 12)
1-1 Unionville 74, 2-2 Dallas 36
12-2 Archbishop Ryan 66, 1-5 Radnor 46
12-1 Imhotep Charter 83, 3-5 Exeter Township 40

Quarterfinals (Fri., March 15)
1-1 Unionville vs. 12-2 Archbishop Ryan
2-1 Abington Heights vs. 12-1 Imhotep Charter