City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Ed. Note: Each Monday morning, we send out a newsletter recapping the previous week, highlighting some of our best stories, and providing a look at the schedule for the week ahead. Several thousand people recieve this newsletter, but we know that not all of our readers know it exists. So we wanted to publish an example, this week's newsletter, which went out one day later than normal due to the event we ran this past weekend.

If you'd like to get this newsletter, all we need is your email address: click here to fill out this incredibly short form, and you'll get next week's newsletter!

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As promised, here’s this week’s newsletter — one day late, but chock-full of useful information about our busy last week of coverage.

And what a busy week it was, indeed! In addition to the first full week of high school hoops getting underway, it was also the Big 5 Classic championships: Temple won the women’s title on Friday, before Saint Joseph’s successfully defended its men’s crown on Saturday.

We also had our first in-season event of the 2024-25 season, our CoBL Winter Classic at Exeter Twp., which saw eight great games in front of a terrific crowd in Reading. Click here for our standouts from the event, which featured teams from four different districts in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

On top of that, we covered a bunch of high school and college games around the region, writing a number of features — many of which we’ve linked to in the newsletter below. Hope you enjoy reading what we’ve produced, and don’t forget to tell all the local high school and college hoops fans you know about CoBL!

Thanks again,
Josh Verlin

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Things to Know

• Due to declining usage numbers on Twitter and uncertainties about the platform's future, we’re shifting all of our social media live coverage to Bluesky, and are encouraging the Philadelphia basketball community to follow suit. Make sure to follow Josh on Bluesky as well as the site itself, as we'll be providing live game coverage on that platform instead of Twitter from now on. I know this is going to be a jarring change, but I don’t see Twitter lasting much longer, and we don’t want to be caught flat-footed when it happens. We’re already quickly building up a community on Bluesky, with well over 1,000 followers in the first couple weeks, and expect it to continue growing throughout the season.

• Our 2024-25 CoBL Coverage Campaign, our first official fundraising drive, is nearing completion. Our goal is to raise $50,000 from the Philadelphia basketball community — individuals, teams, booster clubs, etc. — by the end of 2024, in order for us to not only increase our freelance coverage next year, but to pay those freelancers a higher wage. To help us reach our goal, visit our Support page where you can see different donation options. We are still about $7,500 short. We’re almost there!

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CoBL’s Must-Reads
Our best stories from the last weeks

• Bonner grad Tariq Ingraham’s toughness working out at Rider
  Ingraham barely played in two years at Wake Forest after an Achilles injury, but the Rider center is having the best season of his college career, and credits his path with getting him there. (David Comer)

• Tufts-bound Deacon Baratta leads Phoenixville to season-opening win
  The Phantoms have some new pieces in new places this year — but that doesn’t apply to senior wing Deacon Baratta, who recently made his college pick. (Joseph Santoliquito)

• Korey Francis takes step towards stardom as Bonner wins opener
  Friars sophomore guard Korey Francis picked up his first two Division I offers this summer, and is one of the top underclassmen in the PCL, something he showed in Bonner’s season opener. (Josh Verlin)

• Kobe Bryant Classic: Day One Standouts (Dec. 7)
  Standouts from the opening day of the Kobe Bryant Classic features talent from all over the area, including the Catholic League, Friends’ Schools League, District 1 and more. (Chad Graham)

• Kobe Bryant Classic: Day Two Standouts (Dec. 8)
  Standouts from the second day of the Kobe Bryant Classic includes players from Archbishop Carroll and Imhotep’s girls game, as well as Academy New Church, Archbishop Ryan, Holy Ghost Prep, Eng. & Sciences and more on the boys side. (Josh Verlin)

• Salone carries on family name at point guard
  Nearly a decade after his older brother Ty Salone last suited up for Souderton, Chase Salone is starring for the Suburban One League program, which is off to a quality start. (Andrew Robinson)

• GA girls’ depth shines in win over North Penn
  Despite losing three starters from last year’s Inter-Ac co-champs, Patriots coach Lauren Power has a lot to work with this year, from seniors down to freshmen (and even further). (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

• Ches-Mont Challenge: O’Hara, Malvern Prep, Coatesville pick up wins
  A tripleheader took over the Hollinger Fieldhouse at West Chester University on Thursday night, with three Ches-Mont teams taking on high-level opponents. (Josh Verlin)

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Weekly Schedule (Dec. 10-Dec. 15, 2024)
Upcoming Big 5 and high school games of note

Tues., December 10
MBB: Saint Joseph’s vs. Charleston (7 PM)
MBB: Temple vs. Holy Family (7 PM)

Boys: Shipley vs. Friends’ Select (5:30 PM)
Boys: Constitution vs. West Philadelphia (6:30 PM)
Boys: Coatesville vs. Bishop Shanahan (6:45 PM)
Boys: Perkiomen Valley vs. Methacton (6:45 PM)
Boys: Pope John Paul II vs. Spring-Ford (6:45 PM)
Boys: Pennsbury vs. Central Bucks East (7:00 PM)
Boys: Garnet Valley vs. Lower Merion (7:00 PM)

Girls: Germantown Academy vs. Villa Maria (5:00 PM)
Girls: Spring-Ford vs. Phoenixville (6:45 PM)
Girls: Bishop Shanahan vs. Coatesville (6:45 PM)
Girls: Downingtown East vs. West Chester East (6:45 PM)
Girls: Radnor vs. Harriton (7:00 PM)
Girls: North Penn vs, Unionville (7:00 PM) 

Weds., December 11
MBB: Villanova vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (7 PM)
WBB: Villanova @ Delaware

Boys: Eng. & Sciences vs. North Penn (5:00 PM)
Boys: George School vs. Hun School (5:30 PM)
Boys: Pennridge vs. Neshaminy (7:00 PM)
Boys: Chichester vs. Hatboro-Horsham (7:00 PM)

Girls: Shipley vs. Notre Dame (4:00 PM)
Girls: CB South vs. CB East (7:00 PM) 

Thurs., December 12
Boys: Upper Merion vs. Owen J. Roberts (6:45 PM)
Boys: Methacton vs. Pope John Paul II (6:45 PM)
Boys: Sun Valley vs. Unionville (6:45 PM)
Boys: Bishop Shanahan vs. West Chester East (6:45 PM)
Boys: Lower Merion vs. Conestoga (7:00 PM)

Girls: Merion Mercy vs. Villa Maria (5:15 PM)
Girls: West Chester Henderson vs. Downingtown West (6:45 PM)
Girls: Phoenixville vs. Methacton (6:45 PM)
Girls: Conestoga vs. Lower Merion (7:00 PM)

Fri., December 13
WBB: La Salle vs. Chestnut Hill (6 PM)

Boys: Souderton vs. Pennridge (6:30 PM)
Boys: North Penn vs. Central Bucks West (7:00 PM)
Boys: Central Bucks East vs. Central Bucks South (7:00 PM)
Boys: Radnor vs. Marple Newtown (7:00 PM)
Boys: Devon Prep vs. Bishop Shanahan (8:15 PM)

Girls: Archbishop Ryan vs. Academy New Church (4:00 PM)
Girls: Friends’ Central vs. Westtown (5:30 PM)
Girls: Penn Charter vs. Perkiomen School (5:45 PM)
Girls: Council Rock South vs. Neshaminy (7:00 PM) 

Sat., December 14
MBB: La Salle @ North Carolina (4 PM)
MBB: Drexel @ Albany (7 PM)

Boys All-City Classic at Overbrook High
Overbrook vs. Wings Academy (N.Y.)
Bonner-Prendergast vs. Brooklyn Collegiate (N.Y.)
West Catholic vs. King’s Fork (Va.)

Boys: Downingtown East vs. Upper Merion (12:15 PM)
Boys: Chester vs. Downingtown West (2:30 PM)
Boys: Malvern Prep vs. La Salle College (4:00 PM)
Boys: St. Joseph’s Prep vs. St. John’s (D.C.) (6:00 PM)
Boys: Imhotep vs. Father Judge (Arcadia, 7:00 PM)

Girls: Upper Dublin vs. North Penn (12:30 PM)
Girls: Coatesville vs. Great Valley (12:30 PM)
Girls: Phoenixville vs. Pennsbury (12:30 PM)

Sun., December 15
MBB: Temple @ Hofstra (12 PM)
WBB: Temple vs. West Virginia (2 PM)
WBB: Villanova vs. James Madison (2 PM)
WBB: Drexel @ Florida State (2 PM)

Boys @ Archbishop Wood
Neumann-Goretti vs. Council Rock South (12:00 PM)
Archbishop Wood vs. Executive Education (1:30 PM)