City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue and Olivia Valania
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Father Judge senior Kevair Kennedy has never played March basketball.

Last season, the Crusaders ended their season on Feb. 22 in the Catholic semifinals. Two seasons ago Judge finished on Feb. 15 in a PCL play-in.

Though he’s felt the grind of game and 80+ practices, Kennedy doesn’t want the last and longest season of his high school career to end — and he’s playing like it.

Kennedy took charge on Wednesday night against Spring-Ford in a PIAA Class 6A second round game at Norristown High School. The Merrimack commit scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half in a 55-41 win over the Rams to book a spot in Saturday’s state quarterfinal against District 2 champion Hazleton.

“I’m glad that it’s going as long as possible,” Kennedy said. “My season was over (at this point) in past years. It’s exhausting on our bodies too, but we’re all trying to fight through it because it’s something that we’ve never did before.”

Father Judge clung to an 11-9 lead after a quarter of play on Tuesday night. Spring-Ford senior Jacob Nguyen, an AAU teammate of Kennedy and Judge big man Everett Barnes, had eight of the Rams’ points in their period. Helped by a big second quarter from junior Nazir Tyler (11 points), the Crusaders went into half up 23-19.

Kennedy missed his first two shots from the field and first two attempts from the free throw line. The Judge point guard did his best to work his teammates’ into the game, but with the way Spring-Ford was defending, the Crusaders needed more from him on the offensive end after just four first-quarter points.

Kennedy scored the first and the last points of the third. He had 14 total in the period, putting Judge up by as many as 12 points before heading to the fourth with a 40-31 lead.

“In the third quarter, I changed my approach. In the first half, I was trying to get a feel of the game, get my teammates involved. I the third quarter, I tried to attack to put pressure on them, and it was just open.”

Nguyen added a bucket for Spring-Ford in the second period, but spearheaded by the defense of junior Rocco Westfield, Judge held him scoreless in the final two quarters of play. 

Senior Tommy Kelly scored a few tough buckets for the Rams. Sophomore Matteo Magazzolo was a spark, briefly cutting the deficit to five, 41-36, on three with 5:30 left in the fourth before Kennedy responded to push the Judge lead back to nine.

“Our last three games, we’ve gotten a ton of zone, so we needed to make some adjustments,” Judge coach Chris Roantree said. “We changed a little bit of sets to get him in a little bit of an action to get downhill. And you know, he’s just natural. If they’re going to take our shooters away, he’s going to to get a layup. If they’re going to help off (Barnes), he’s going to get him the ball. … They were taking everybody else away and he was just finishing at the rim, and kind of just doing what he does.”

Spring-Ford hung and hung around until a slam by Barnes with 1:20 to go put the Crusaders back up double digits, 48-38, and started to send a packed crowd toward the exits. 

It was the third season in a row the Rams’ traded blows with one of the state favorites, falling to eventual state champ Reading int the state semis in 2023 and nearly edging Archbishop Wood in the 2024 state quarters.

“We come out with a game plan, trust our coaches and play together,” Nguyen said. “It didn’t work out tonight, but hopefully they can come back next year without me and Tommy and all the other seniors and do just as good.”

Nguyen was a starter for the Rams in fourth-year coach Joe Dempsey’s first season in Royersford when Spring-Ford missed out on the PAC playoffs before an opening round district loss and district playback loss.

Kelly joined the rotation the next year, and the two classmates, under the guidance of Dempsey and his staff helped spearhead quite possibly the best three-year stretch in program history. Their accomplishments included a PAC title and two other championship game appearances, a District 1 runner-up finish and three PIAA appearances and six state playoff wins for a program that had only been to states three times (one win) before they arrived.

“All the seniors and the coaching staff, we turned this program around I believe,” Nguyen said. “What we did in our four years was historic at Spring-Ford. We just gotta be proud of that and move forward.”

Judge won its first PCL title since 1998 earlier this winter and is in the midst of the first PIAA playoff run in program history (PCL teams began competing in the PIAA playoffs in 2008-09). 

Each win for the Crusaders is adding onto this group’s legacy.

It also simply extends the time this Judge team gets to play together. The Crusaders are finding out they like playing in March.

“It’s a whole different feeling than PCL basketball,” Kennedy said. “I don’t know, it’s intense because every possession matters. I’m a senior, so knowing this could possibly be my last game, there’s a lot going into every game.” — Owen McCue

By Quarter

Spring-Ford 9 | 10 | 12 | 10 || 41

Father Judge 11 | 12 | 17 | 15 || 55

Scoring

Spring-Ford: Jacob Nguyen 10, Tommy Kelly 9, Syaire Barnes 7, Matteo Magazzolo 6, Jordan Marsilio 4, Luke Pufko 4, Blake Turner 1.

Father Judge: Kevair Kennedy 24, Nazir Tyler 11, Derrick Morton-Rivera 10, Everett Barnes 7, Kevin Beck 2, Max Moshinkski 1.

~~~

Sweeney's first season at Gwynedd Mercy ends with loss to BecaHi

“This is my dream job.” said Gwynedd Mercy Academy head coach Taylor Sweeney.

After two years as an assistant on the Gwynedd Mercy University staff, Sweeney received an offer she could not refuse: head coach at her alma mater, once again getting to be a part of the Monarchs team. 

In her first season she was able to bring them to a successful 23-5 record. 

With Wednesday’s 55-38 loss to Bethlehem Catholic in the 5A PIAA Second Round at Norristown Area High School that brings the Monarchs’ season to an end, however Sweeney’s “dream” is still alive. 

She is proud of where her team ended and is very optimistic about their future, already planning for next season.  

“To be able to have this year, the first year, is very very exciting for me,” Sweeney said. “I know we will only get better from here. I think the biggest lesson is a loss because it makes me look at what I could have done differently, what we can attack next year.” 

Losing three of her senior starters Cara Lapp, Carsy Kelly, and Megan McDonnell will require adjustment, demanding her young players to step up next year. But, freshman Chloe McCarthy showed that promise.

McCarthy put up seven points against the Hawks, being the Monarchs’ second highest scorer after junior Brooke Evans’ nine points. She played a big role, scoring the team’s first four points cutting Bethlehem Catholic's early 5-0 lead along with earning a lot of minutes in a high stakes game. 

“For a freshman to step up, as big of a game she had, it is always looking promising,” said Sweeney.

Gwynedd Mercy knew coming into the game that Bethlehem Catholic would be a challenge. While they were able to keep a close first quarter, going into the second only down 11-6, they were unable to contain Bryant commit Aliyah Brame, who had a 10-point second quarter and finished with thirteen or Palin Coleman who gave the Hawks seventeen, always keeping them at a comfortable 10+ point lead over the Monarchs. 

This loss was not a discouragement to Gwynedd Mercy, they left with their heads held high.

“Them being able to come here and fight for 32 minutes was a win in our book.” said Sweeney.

For her it is not always about the wins or the stats, rather the growth and lessons her team can gain. Her favorite moment of the season was not a blowout win or a player’s dominant game; instead, it was something one of her players said to her.

“I think the proudest moment was actually when we were talking and one of the seniors said to me ‘Thank you for making me love basketball again.’,” Sweeney said. “I think as a coach the wins and the losses always happen but being able to hold them accountable and be someone they can rely on but also making them love the sport they are playing is all I can ask for.”  — Olivia Valania

By Quarter

GM: 6   |   8   |  13  |  11  ||  38

BC: 11  |  21  |  13  |   8   ||  53

Shooting

GM: 12-38 FG, 10-15 FT

BC: 18-53 FG, 8-12 FT

Scoring

GM: Brooke Evans 9, Chloe McCarthy 7, Megan McDonnell 7, Bailey Balkir 5, Cara Lapp 5, Carsy Kelly 3, Carli Amos 2

BC: Palin Coleman 17, Aliyah Brame 13, Tess Tryanski 7, Mikaila Brooks 4, Daviana Jones 4, Leah Ault 3, Kendall Nickischer 3, Mekhyla Britt 2