City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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Here’s installment No. 3 of City of Basketball Love’s state basketball rankings, a package that will appear on the website every Monday throughout the season. 

Brief glimpses of our preseason top 10s appear below, with PIAA district and this season’s record displayed in parentheses. Only those schools competing for PIAA state championships are eligible for ranking purposes.

CITY OF BASKETBALL LOVE STATE BASKETBALL RANKINGS
(records through games of Dec. 20/OW-others to watch/NR-not ranked)

CLASS AAAA
Ricky Cruz will tell you that hoisting plenty of shots — particularly from deep — every day will reap dividends. The McCaskey junior certainly had it going Friday night, canning 13 of his 18 field-goal attempts and all five of his free-throw tries en route to a 35-point performance that led the Tornado past Cedar Crest 84-55. And while Steve Powell’s club has captured its last four, LNP’s John Walk said Cruz set personal scoring bests in each of the past three outings (15/22/35).

No.  School                                   Rec    Pvs
1.     Roman Catholic (12)               4-1        1
2.     Allderdice (8)                           4-1        2                          
3.     Archbishop Wood (12)             3-0        3
4.     Plymouth-Whitemarsh (1)        5-0        4
5.     Coatesville (1)                          6-0        5
6.     La Salle College (12)                7-0        6
7.     Downingtown West (1)              7-1        7
8.     Reading (3)                               4-2        8
9.     Harrisburg (3)                            5-0        9
10.   Parkland (11)                             4-3      10                               

Checked in: No one.
Checked out: No one.

Others to watch: Abington (1) 5-2, Abington Heights (2) 5-0, Baldwin (7) 4-0, Carlisle (3) 7-1, Cedar Crest (3) 4-2, Central Bucks West (1) 5-1, Central Dauphin East (3) 3-3, Central York (3) 8-0, Chartiers Valley (7) 6-2, Chester (1) 2-2, Conestoga (1) 4-2, Emmaus (11) 7-0, Gateway (7) 5-1, Hazleton (2) 4-2, Latrobe (7) 6-0, Lower Merion (1) 4-2, Martin Luther King (12) 2-5, McCaskey (3) 5-1, Nazareth (11) 6-1, North Allegheny (7) 4-2, Pennsbury (1) 5-1, Peters Twp. (7) 6-1, Phoenixville (1) 7-1, Plum (7) 5-1, Pocono Mountain West (11) 6-0, Ridley (1) 6-0, Spring Grove (3) 3-1, St. Joseph’s Prep (12) 5-2, Upper St. Clair (7) 6-1, Whitehall (11) 5-2, Williamsport (4) 5-2, York (3) 4-3.

Intriguing matchup of the week: No. 8 Reading will entertain perennial big-school hammer Chester (OW) Wednesday night at the Geigle Complex.  

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CLASS AAA
Saturday’s scheduled matchup between unbeaten District 11 sides Pottsville and Salisbury — both have been listed among the Others to Watch — was postponed due to a whooping cough outbreak at Salisbury High School in suburban Allentown. Salisbury also pushed back several of its scheduled Colonial League dates.

No.  School                                      Rec     Pvs
1.     Neumann-Goretti (12)                3-0         1
2.     Imhotep Charter (12)                  4-2         2
3.     Mars (7)                                      5-3         3
4.     Beaver Falls (7)                          7-0         4
5.     Archbishop Carroll (12)              5-0          5
6.     New Castle (7)                            8-0         6
7.     Strong Vincent (10)                     5-2         7
8.     Scranton Prep (2)                        4-0        8
9.     Lewisburg (4)                               4-0        9
10.   Allentown Cent Cath (11)            5-3       10

Checked in: No one.
Checked out: No one.

Others to watch: Benjamin Franklin (12) 6-1, Bishop McDevitt (3) 1-1, Blue Mountain (11) 4-2, Cathedral Prep (10) 5-2, Clearfield (9) 5-0, Cocalico (3) 4-1, Crestwood (2) 3-3, Del-Val Charter (12) 6-1, Eastern Lebanon County (3) 7-0, Highlands (7) 4-2, Hollidaysburg (6) 6-1, Holy Ghost Prep (1) 6-1, Lampeter-Strasburg (3) 7-0, Lehighton (11) 6-1, Lower Moreland (1) 5-1, Milton Hershey (3) 6-0, Nanticoke (2) 5-0, Octorara (1) 8-0, Pottsville (11) 6-0, Salisbury (11) 5-0, Shamokin (4) 6-0, Somerset (5) 5-1, Steel-High (3) 3-2, Steel Valley (7) 5-0, West Mifflin (7) 4-1.

Intriguing matchup of the week: No. 10 Allentown Central Catholic will play host to Class AAAA No. 10 Parkland Tuesday night in an East Penn Conference Skyline Division encounter.

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CLASS AA
No. 7 Church Farm may not have posted sizable winning margins in its five successes — Marc Turner’s Griffins won those five games by 23 total points — but a young yet imposing side has won four straight. Church Farm’s latest success occurred Thursday night at Holy Ghost Prep, where Turner’s bunch prevailed 42-34. Junior Lithuanian-born guard Augustus Veniukevicius collected 14 points against the Firebirds, one more than 6-10 sophomore Fred Odhiambo.

No.  School                                        Rec    Pvs
1.     Aliquippa (7)                                 4-0       1
2.     Conwell-Egan (12)                        4-1       2
3.     Lincoln Park (7)                             6-1       3
4.     Trinity (3)                                       5-1       4
5.     Mid Valley (2)                                6-0        5
6.     Greensburg C.C. (7)                      5-0       7
7.     Church Farm (1)                            5-1    OW
8.     Quaker Valley (7)                           7-0    OW
9.     Minersville (11)                              5-1       9
10.   Camp Hill (3)                                 5-2       8                                       

Checked in: No. 7 Church Farm and No. 8 Quaker Valley.
Checked out: No. 6 Dunmore and No. 10 West Branch.

Others to watch: Avonworth (7) 6-1, Bellwood-Antis (6) 5-0, Bishop Canevin (7) 5-2, Calvary Christian (1) 7-0, Cambridge Springs (10) 3-2, Danville (4) 3-1, Dunmore (2) 3-1, East Allegheny (7) 6-1, Fairview (10) 4-2, Greenville (10) 5-0, Laurel (7) 6-1, Mahanoy Area (11) 4-2, Neshannock (7) 5-1, Our Lady of Sacred Heart (7) 5-2, Penns Valley (6) 6-0, Richland (6) 6-0, Seton-La Salle (7) 3-3, Southern Columbia (4) 0-0, Tyrone (6) 3-2, Washington (7) 2-4, Wellsboro (4) 6-1, West Branch (6) 4-1, West Middlesex (10) 2-3, Westmont Hilltop (6) 5-2, York Catholic (3) 5-1.

Intriguing matchup of the week: No. 8 Quaker Valley puts its perfect mark on the line at once-beaten Avonworth (OW) in a WPIAL Section 5 scrap.

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CLASS A
Reigning state champ Constitution may be parked on the south side of .500, but Rob Moore’s club has yet to play a Class A opponent. Plus, three of the Generals’ five setbacks have come against out-of-state foes. Quite simply, Moore has concocted a rugged slate meant to prepare his team for postseason play.

No.  School                                       Rec    Pvs
1.     Kennedy Catholic (10)               4-1       1
2.     Monessen (7)                             5-2       2                                 
3.     Farrell (10)                                  4-1       3
4.     Constitution (12)                          4-5      4
5.     St. John Neumann (4)                 6-0       5
6.     Sewickley Academy (7)               7-0       7
7.     Elk County Catholic (9)                5-0       8
8.     Homer-Center (6)                         6-0       9
9.     Lincoln Leadership (11)                7-0    10
10.   Clarion-Limestone (9)                   6-0   OW

Checked in: No. 10 Clarion-Limestone.
Checked out: No. 6 Delco Christian.

Others to watch: Bishop Carroll (6) 5-1, Coudersport (9) 4-0, Delco Christian (1) 2-2, Eden Christian (7) 6-1, Faith Christian (1) 4-1, Ferndale (6) 4-1, Jeannette (7) 5-2, Lourdes Regional (4) 6-0, Math, Civics & Sciences (12) 2-6, McConnellsburg (5) 4-0, North Penn-Mansfield (4) 5-1, Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg (11) 3-3, Paul Robeson (12) 7-2, Phil-Mont Christian (1) 6-1, Portage (6) 5-0, Ridgway (9) 6-0, Saltsburg (6) 7-0, Shanksville-Stonycreek (5) 7-0, Shenandoah Valley (11) 5-1, Southern Fulton (5) 4-1, Sullivan County (4) 6-0, Union-Rimersburg (9) 6-1, Vincentian (7) 5-1, West Shore Christian (3) 6-1.

Intriguing matchup of the week: A pair of unbeatens from our Class A Others to Watch will collide Monday night at Len Chappell Gymnasium in Portage, where the host Mustangs will take on Shanksville-Stonycreek.