City of Basketball Love

By Dan Arkans (@dan arkans)

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POTTSTOWN – The way Devon Prep’s dynamic duo of seniors Zane Conlon and Reece Craft were dominating the paint it didn’t look like anything would slow down the Tide.

Conlon was working all over the floor, while Craft was picking up anything inside as Devon Prep rolled out to a 34-18 halftime advantage and the only drama seemed to be how much the Tide would win by on Tuesday night in a PIAA 4A second-round affair with District 3’s Eastern York.

Instead, Conlon ran into second half foul trouble, leaving Craft to mine the Golden Knights’ talented 6-foot-7 senior Carter Wamsley.

Craft and company turned up to the challenge, rolling to the 60-40 win. Devon Prep will face Bishop Shanahan on Friday in the quarterfinals at a site and time to be determined.

“Not too concerned, we still have some good guys and we had a pretty good lead,” Craft said. “We just had to contain, I had to step up defensively and help my guys out. I am not trying to lose my mind over something like that, just keep my cool.”

Devon Prep didn’t necessarily lose its cool in the third quarter, but momentum was without question in doubt. All of sudden Eastern York was hitting three-pointers and getting open looks. In fact, Matthew Zerbe came off the bench to score seven consecutive points to get the deficit down to 45-35.

“We lost focus,” said Devon Prep head coach Jason Fisher. “If you don’t battle every single possession you see what can happen.”

With an 11-point lead and Conlon on the bench, it was time for Craft to step up. He delivered with an offensive putback and the rest of the team followed. After a bucket from Calvin Smith, a steal from Braeden Fisher and another score from Craft it was back to a 17-point lead.

“That comes from Catholic League experience definitely,” Craft said. “Teams are going to make runs and you expect that. You are not caught off guard. That experience in the Catholic League where they make a run but you respond, which we did.” 

Craft finished the game with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Conlon also added 19 points himself. Mason Thear chipped in with 11 points before fouling out. 

While the Tide will take another PIAA 4A win and still eye another state title, it was far from a perfect performance. Devon Prep shot just 23-of-55 from the field and 7-of-13 from the free-throw line. 

“We haven’t played well yet,” Fisher said. “We will try again Friday. There’s just little spots. Braeden (Fisher) came in and played well. We have to control ourselves, we can't control other teams.”

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Quarter scoring
Eastern York 6-12-18-4-40
Devon Prep 19-15-13-13-60

Game scoring
Eastern York (40): Crumling 6; Nicholson 4; Seitz 8; Warmsley 10; Runkle 1; Manzanet 2; Zerbe 8; Marcos 1.

Devon Prep (60): Craft 19; Conlon 19; Thear 11; Doyle 2; Smith 5; Fisher 4.

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Lancaster Country Day 56, Phil-Mont Christian 53 (OT)
The Falcons fell short in the second round of the PIAA Class A Tournament to a familiar foe on Tuesday night. The only difference from a season ago is that Phil-Mont had a few more chances.

LCD will face TCA in the quarterfinals on Friday at a site and time to be determined.

“This game could have gone either way,” said Phil-Mont Christian head coach Glenn Dolton. “It’s tough because they are hurt. It puts a fire in them. We knew what we were getting into.”

Phil-Mont had control for a majority of the first half behind the play of 6-foot-5 junior Malik Minor (25 points, 15 rebounds), who scored the Falcons first 11 points of the contest. Phil-Mont led most of the first half and took a 25-23 lead into the break after Lancaster Country Day scored right before the buzzer.

It turned out that was the momentum LCD needed as the Cougars started getting better looks at the basket and went into the fourth quarter with a 40-37 lead after a 3-pointer from Jordan Ashby.

“These types of games you are going to play somebody good in every round,” Dolton said. “That’s just the way it is, it doesn’t matter your classification. We will go back to work this summer and play against everybody and anybody. I am proud of them. I love coaching them.”

It turns out the game was just heating up as it went back and forth in the fourth quarter, with the biggest lead by three points on both sides. The final points of the frame actually came with still three minutes remaining and tied up the score at 47.
Phil-Mont did have a shot at the winning bucket, but Minor got caught too far away from the basket, and turned it over. LCD could not hit a desperation heave at the buzzer.

“We were going to run something to get it inside,” Dolton said. “We figured we would get a foul. I didn’t want to get a shot up until six, seven seconds but we didn’t get the ball low enough. We didn’t hit the right screen. It’s just one of those things. We had it going to Malik. He got it but he was too far out. From a minute or so out someone was going to have to win it by playing tough. We didn’t finish it. I was hoping we would have some execution. For us to not get a look was a problem.”

Momentum seemed to turn in the overtime period with Chris Dukes giving Lancaster Country Day the lead twice, the second time a 53-52 advantage the Cougars would never relinquish. After pushing the lead back up to 56-53, the Falcons had one more chance. Minor couldn’t get a look at a 3-pointer and the season came to a sudden ending for Phil-Mont Christian.

“We’ve been in overtime games before,” Dolton said. “We couldn’t get one more stop. It was always going back and forth, bucket, bucket, bucket. The last play of the half that shouldn’t happen. What did we lose by? That’s what we are trying to get everyone to understand, the little things. In the first quarter we lost possession. That’s back to back games at the end of the first half where we didn’t get the last shot and gave up a turnover. Those are big. It’s just the way it is.”

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Quarter scoring
Phil-Mont 18-7-12-10-6-53
Lancaster 14-9-17-7-9-56

Game scoring
Phil-Mont (53): Waggoner 9; Sheppard 2; Zachary 10; Minor 25; Bratten 7; 

Lancaster Country Day (56): Leed 2; Ashby 8; Tucker 7; Harris 11; McCaster 4; Ouiliko 3; Sponagle 2; Dukes 19.