City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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NORRISTOWN — Azeem Murphy wasn’t himself for three quarters.

Along with playing through foul trouble, the Math, Civics & Sciences senior was fasting for Ramadan, unable to eat or drink since the sunrise early Wednesday morning.

By the time the fourth quarter came around, it was time for Murphy to break fast. It just so happens that’s when the 6-foot-5 forward was finally able to leave his imprint on the game.

Murphy scored 10 of his team-high 15 points in the fourth as the the Mighty Elephants took down Columbia, 63-60, to advance to Saturday’s PIAA 3A quarterfinal

“I started off slow because I was fasting,” Murphy said. “After the third quarter, it was time for me to break fast. I got some water and some food up in me. I had a granola bar, and I just pushed through.”

Murphy sat out last postseason after transferring back to MCS. The Mighty Elephants made a run to the second round last season, but senior Kevin Carter and junior Alantay Dawson are the only returners to play roles for that team..

Along with Murphy, senior Aiden Brown scored 14 and sophomore Milak Myatt and Dawson both scored 11 in Wednesday’s win, which set up a matchup with District 4 champion Loyalsock Twp.

Brown came into the postseason averaging 5.0 ppg and 4.8 rpg, but after posting 17 points and 10 boards in a first-round win over Saucon Valley, he added a 14 and 8 game Wednesday. He’s 12-of-15 from the floor in two state playoff games.

“As Azeem got his fouls, I had to just pick myself, pick my teammates up and just play the role that my coaches put me in and try to do my best in it,” Brown said.

MCS jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and held Columbia (20-5) at a distance throughout. MCS led 37-25 at halftime and even with Murphy picking up his fourth foul seconds into the third and sitting almost the entire quarter, the Mighty Elephants still led 47-38 heading to the final period.

Columbia pulled within five, 49-44, with 6:17 left. That’s when it became time for MCS to feed its big man inside. He scored the team’s next eight points. Even with Columbia senior Brelon Miller, who finished with 18 points and eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone in the game, answering on the other end, MCS still led by five with two to play.

Along with his 10 points in the quarter, Murphy also grabbed five of his nine rebounds.

“I realized what the refs were calling and played a little bit more strategic, but still aggressive,” Murphy said.

Four straight MCS misses at the foul line left the door open for Columbia, but Brown finally buried a pair 57.9 to make 59-52. Murphy added another bucket and Carter, who left is impact despite scoring just two points, hit a pair of foul shots to help close out the win.

Despite last year’s second round exit, MCS has now reached the PIAA quarters in three of the last four seasons since its Class 2A state title run in 2019. The Mighty Elephants would book their first semifinal trip since 2021 with a win on Saturday.

“We try to stay close, we’re all good friends,” Brown said. “As a senior, it’s great. We’re trying to go as far as possible, go to Hershey and make it all the way there and win the states.”

Math, Civics & Sciences 63, Columbia 60 

By Quarter

MCS. 19 | 18 | 10 | 16 || 63

Columbia:  11 | 14 | 13 | 22 || 60

By Scoring

MCS: Azeem Murphy 15, Aiden Brown 14, Milak Myatt 11, Alantay Dawson 11, Rhakiy Mason 6, Zion Robinson 4, Kevin Carter 2.

Columbia: Brelon MIller 18, Ladarian Miller 14, Jordan Poole 10, Jesiah Griffy 6, Demari Simms 5, Nate Moreta 4, Artie Poindexter 3.

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PIAA 3A Boys (local games)

First Round (Sat., March 9)
12-1 Devon Prep 73, 3-3 Delone Catholic 32
12-2 Math, Civics & Sciences 67, 11-3 Saucon Valley 47
2-1 Riverside 75, 12-4 SLA-Beeber 51
3-1 Columbia 64, 12-6 Mastery North 46
11-1 Executive Education 76, 12-5 String Theory 42
11-2 Notre Dame-Green Pond 44, 12-3 West Catholic 39

Second Round (Wed., March 13)
12-1 Devon Prep 75, 2-1 Riverside 46
12-2 Math, Civics & Sciences 63, 3-1 Columbia 60

Quarterfinals (Sat., March 16)
12-1 Devon Prep vs. 11-1 Executive Education
4-1 Loyalsock Township vs. 12-2 Math, Civics & Sciences

Spring-Ford puts an end to Springfield's magical run

The Spring-Ford boys basketball team moved into unprecedented territory with each state playoff win last season.

Prior to the 2022-23 campaign, the Rams had just one PIAA victory in program history. They quadrupled that number to four with last season’s run to state semis. 

A 45-32 win over Springfield (Delco.) in Wednesday’s PIAA 6A second round gave the Rams a sixth state playoff victory and a second straight run to the quarterfinal round — something they are not taking lightly even though they made it look routine.

“Tomorrow’s not promised,” Spring-Ford senior guard E.J. Campbell said. “We could have lost this game. We could have not had practice tomorrow. I’m thankful we have practice tomorrow. We just want to keep having practices and having games. … I’m one of two seniors, so I just go into each game going this could be my last game, so I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”

Spring-Ford (23-7) entered the District 1 tournament a month ago as the No. 3 seed and Springfield the No. 24 seed a month ago. The Cougars’ (14-15) run to the district quarters put them a seed line ahead of the Rams on Wednesday as the District 1 eighth seed, while Spring-Ford was the District 1 ninth seed following a second round loss with three playback wins.

The Rams scored the first seven points of the game. Even though the lead was never quite comfortable, they led 19-12 at halftime and never had the advantage trimmed lower than five in the second half. 

When Springfield did get it that close — 26-21 with 2:13 left in the third on an and-one by senior Colin Treude — Spring-Ford junior Matt Zollers answered with a triple and Tommy Kelly added another bucket to push the Rams lead back to double digits heading to the fourth.

Campbell led the Rams with 12 and Zollers added 11, while Treude scored 11 for the Cougars, who were playing in the second round of states for the first time since 2007.

“They put in so much time and they deserved the opportunity to taste this,” Springfield coach Kevin McCormick said. “They’d heard about this, they watched our competitors get into this. That’s what their goal was. You gotta give them credit. We got into the district playoff. We made the most of it. Got into states and got a W in the state. The discussion’s going to be it was a fun year. It was a fun year and it ended probably where it deserved to end.”

Spring-Ford had its season come one loss away from ending when it lost its district opener to Garnet Valley on Feb. 20. Since then, the Rams have won five straight games, beginning with a state clinching win over Central Bucks West on Feb. 23.

A formidable challenge stands in the Rams’ way of advancing to a second straight PIAA semifinal in the form of Archbishop Wood — 66-64 winner over District 1 champion Lower Merion on Wednesday night.

“My main goal was to get back to the district championship and we lost in the first round to Garnet,” Campbell said. “I think it put a chip on our shoulder knowing that we weren’t going to get back to the district championship, but we had states. Going back to C.B. West, we knew we had to win that game and just keep going to win till now on.”

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PIAA 6A Boys (local games)

First Round (Sat., March 9)
12-3 Archbishop Wood 81, 1-5 Methacton 73
1-1 Lower Merion 85, 3-6 Cedar Crest 55
1-3 West Chester Henderson 80, 2-2 Hazleton Area 73
3-4 Reading 65, 1-4 Chester 63
3-5 Central York 69, 1-2 Garnet Valley 60
12-1 Roman Catholic 63, 1-11 Downingtown West 37
1-6 Coatesville 57, 11-2 Liberty 46 (2OT)
1-8 Springfield (Delco) 59, 12-2 Lincoln 43
11-1 Parkland 65, 1-10 Plymouth Whitemarsh 35
3-1 Cumberland Valley 84, 1-12 Bensalem 59
1-9 Spring-Ford 55, 2-1 Scranton 52
3-2 Chambersburg 72, 1-7 Central Bucks East 41

Second Round (Wed., March 13)
12-3 Archbishop Wood 66, 1-1 Lower Merion 64
1-9 Spring-Ford 45, 1-8 Springfield (Delco) 32
12-1 Roman Catholic 47, 1-3 West Chester Henderson 40
1-6 Coatesville 52, 3-1 Cumberland Valley 37

Quarterfinals (Sat., March 16)
12-3 Archbishop Wood vs. 1-9 Spring-Ford
11-1 Parkland vs. 12-1 Roman Catholic
1-6 Coatesville vs. 3-4 Reading