City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

––

COATESVILLE — They have all had those moments looking up at the purple banners hanging in the Upper Moreland gym. The emblazed 1983 digits have had over four decades of loneliness, and then this Golden Bears’ team came along.

Gradually, they have taken pieces of history and made it their own.

The last Golden Bears team to win 20 games in a season was in 1983. The last Upper Moreland team to win the Suburban One League Freedom Division championship was in 1983—five years before Golden Bears’ coach Dan Heiland was born.

But no Upper Moreland basketball team had ever reached the PIAA Class 5A state quarterfinals—not until Tuesday night, when the Golden Bears outlasted District 3 No. 4-seed York Suburban, 61-53, in overtime at Coatesville High School.

Before last Friday’s 60-57 opening-round playoff win over Abington Heights, the Golden Bears had never won a state playoff game.

The No. 4 seed out of District 1, Upper Moreland (21-6) will next face Catholic League power Bonner-Prendie, surprise blowout 59-37 winners over District 1 champion Upper Dublin, on Friday night at a site and time to be determined.

The Golden Bears were led by junior Larry Hughes’ game-high 17 points, with Jadon Cybok and Luke Roussel each adding 11. Colson Campbell scored five of his eight points in overtime.

Heiland started to have a feeling his team could reach this point when he saw them play in the Suburban One League (SOL) tournament. The Golden Bears beat Central Bucks East (80-73) and Central Bucks South (40-39) to reach the SOL championship, losing to Upper Dublin, 55-53, in the SOL championship a month ago.

“This is pretty incredible, being a graduate of Upper Moreland and this goes up there with our division championship, and it’s been awesome,” said Heiland, who is his fifth season as head coach. “We always have huge goals, and these guys stay hungry and they compete every day. There are times, like tonight, when we feel we can compete with any team in the state.

“When we took Upper Dublin down to the wire in the SOL championship, that told us we can play with the top-tier teams. When you prove that to yourself, it builds that confidence. We have a team that is excited every day to show for practice. This is exciting, and I have a ton of gratitude to coach these guys.”

It got a little sketchy for Upper Moreland. The Golden Bears saw a double-digit, second-quarter lead evaporate into a 36-28 deficit with 4:20 to play in the third quarter, when York Suburban went on a 23-4 run.

What Heiland likes about this team is how it responds to adversity. The Golden Bears did not shrink. In fact, the 6-foot-4 Hughes took over. He scored five-straight putting Upper Moreland right back into the game, trailing 36-33. Cybok ended the third with his trademark fall-away shot, landing a three at the buzzer that gave the Golden Bears a 41-40 edge entering the last quarter.

Upper Moreland appeared in control down the stretch, up 50-44 with 3:04 to play, but the Trojans whittled that down and with 26 seconds left in regulation, York Suburban’s Kai Stryhn banked in a three-pointer to tie the game at 53-53 and send it into overtime.

In overtime, York Suburban simply could not keep up with the Golden Bears. They sank six of eight free throws in overtime, with Colson Campbell downing three of four, and stifling defense led by Hughes shutout York Suburban from the field.

“We’re taking this game-by-game and we’re not trying to put pressure on ourselves,” Hughes said. “We got a little comfortable there and lost it, and I wanted to get the momentum back. It’s great making history.”  

Something new, adding more to a lonely banner missing 41 years that goes back to 1983.

Upper Moreland 61, York Suburban 55 (OT)

By Quarter

York Suburban (20-9): 11 |  14  |  15  |  13 |  2 || 55

Upper Moreland (23-7): 15 |  11  |  15 |  12 |  8 ||  61

Scoring
York Suburban: Silas Leonard 13, Kai Stryhn 13, Kane Stryhn 11, Trent Weinstein 6, Andrew Ekstrom 6, Brayden Egger 4, Malik Rhoades 2.

Upper Moreland: Larry Hughes 17, Jadon Cybok 11, Luke Roussel 11, Colson Campbell 8, Cannon Campbell 8, Nate Best 4, Anthony Carson 2.

Perkiomen Valley plays its best

Birthday boy John Russo, Perkiomen Valley’s coach, thought about it for a moment, when it struck him. He just watched his team dismantle a good Lebanon team, 73-32, in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A girls’ state playoffs in the second game of a tripleheader at Coatesville.

After the first four minutes of the game, “That’s the best basketball we’ve played all year,” he said.

It looked like it.

The Vikings never trailed. Led by Grace Galbavy’s game-high 24 points, Lena Stein’s 10, Perkiomen Valley will now advance to the PIAA 6A quarterfinals against undefeated District 2 champion Hazleton Area on Friday at a site and time to be determined.

“I like the way we’re playing right now,” Galbavy said. “This means more, because this is it for us. We can’t take this for granted, because we know we won’t get another chance. All of the other years, we had another year. We know we don’t now.

“We know Hazleton is next. They are a good team, they can trap, and they are undefeated. We are going to come out strong like we did in this game. I like how we came in transition and we had a great shooting night. We don’t care who scores. We’re just about winning.”

~~~

By Quarter
Lebanon (26-5): 11 |  8  |  6  |  7 || 32
Perkiomen Valley (27-3): 20 |  20  |  17 |  16 ||  73

Scoring
Lebanon: Liliana Harrison 10, Olive Brandt 10, Kailah Correa 7, Natalina Harrison 3, Tatyana Camuy 2.

Perkiomen Valley: Grace Galbavy 24, Lena Stein 10, Quinn Boettinger 9, Grace Miley 9, Bella Bacani 5, Hannah Evans 5, Julia Smith 3, Kate Nemic 3, Megan King 3, Gabby Russo 2.

~~~

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.