City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Del-Val Charter had just three points in the first six minutes of its Public League semifinal matchup with Mastery North Charter on Tuesday night. The Warriors had 40 points at halftime.

Del-Val caught fire offensively late in the first quarter and it carried over after a sloppy start. The spurt, along with some tight defense in the second half allowed the Warriors to punch their ticket to the Public League Championship game with a 68-53 win over Mastery North at South Philadelphia High School. They’ll face Constitution for the title on Saturday night at St. Joseph’s.

“I don’t know why we came out flat, but we eventually realized that if we don’t win tonight we’re about to go home,” said guard Semaj Motley, who finished with 13 points. “We all got on the same page. …The second quarter we were sharing the ball and finding our open shooters. They were in a 3-2, so we were spotting up in the open areas and in the corner.”

The Warriors did not hit a field goal until there were 35 seconds in the first quarter, scoring their first six points from the foul line. But they did get two 3-pointers in their last two possessions of the quarter to cut what was once an 11-point lead for Mastery North to just a five-point deficit.

The 3-point trend continued in a big way in the second quarter.

Del-Val hit six of its eight 3-point attempts in the final eight minutes of the first half, getting 24 of its 40 first-half points from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Antwuan Butler led the way with three 3-pointers in the half and scored a game-high 18 points. Junior Makhi Morris and senior Waheem Lowman both also hit a pair of triples to help the Warriors to a six-point advantage at the intermission.

 “Early on I think we just weren’t hitting shots we usually hit,” Del-Val coach Jason Harrigan said of his team’s first-quarter struggles. “We’re used to shooting threes and knocking in those shots, but it wasn’t happening.  Once we got some better looks, we started knocking down shots. They have a lot of confidence in each other and that showed in the second quarter.”

While Mastery North jumped out to a 14-3 lead and nearly matched Del-Val basket-for-basket in the first half, the Pumas struggled to get much offense going in the last 16 minutes. The team was held to just seven points in the third quarter, and they all came from one source: guard Rodney Ross.

Mastery North could not get much going in the fourth quarter either, as Del-Val stretched a 10-point lead at the end of the third quarter into a 17-point margin. The Warriors did so mostly relying on their half-court defense after their press did not result in much success in the first half.

“They have some really talented players and can show different looks, which left us a little bit exposed early on,” Harrigan said. “We adjusted at halftime and our guys did a really good job.”

Mastery North got 12 points from both Ross and forward Harold Daily in the loss, but the Pumas season will continue in the PIAA state tournament at the Class AA level.

For Del-Val, meanwhile, its next task will come against Constitution, a team they faced twice in the Public League ‘A’ division this season with the Warriors coming away with victories both times.

“We’re going to enjoy this win,” Harrigan said as Constitution and Martin Luther King warmed up for the night’s second semifinal. “But we know these teams well, we’ve played both of them twice. And we’re just really excited to be playing for a championship in the Public League.”