City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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After three very evenly-contested weeks of District 1 AAAA playoff basketball, two brand-name teams have emerged from the wreckage and sit just one win away from bringing a new piece of hardware back to their respective--and no doubt filled-to-the-brim--trophy cases.

One, excluding a comfortable first round victory, has won its last three playoff games by a total of 17 points. The other has rolled through each of its wins by an average victory margin of 19.

The one thing they have in common? Ninth-seeded Chester and second-seed Plymouth-Whitemarsh are two teams that have been here before, each having claimed more than 10 district titles in their programs’ history.

The Colonials (24-2) were just in the district final a year ago, but got smacked by Abington in an 18-point defeat.

Safe to say, they hope to use that memory as a catalyst for take two.   

“How can we use last year’s experience – coming out against Abington and laying a complete egg – to be our motivation now? Just to play better,” P-W head coach Jim Donofrio said. “Some of it comes down to the psychology of last year. We shouldn’t be so enamored that it’s the final and we’re here twice. Forget that. Let’s play another basketball game. It sounds kind of workman-like, but it’s the only approach you can take.”

One player who specifically has a lot to improve upon from his first shot at a district championship is P-W star senior Xzavier Malone, who had one of his more underwhelming performances in the loss to Abington.

"Yeah I feel like last year, I wasn't mature enough and I didn't let the game come to me,” said the Rider commit. “This year I feel like I'm better at that and more mature. It's a great feeling to get the chance to play here again."

His team, barring its opener, has had several down-to-the-wire battles to get to this point.

In the second round, the Colonials edged a scrappy and talented Academy Park team by just four. They then used a buzzer-beating put-back by Oakley Spencer to down rival Central Bucks West 43-41 and clinch a spot in the semifinals.

Even their semifinal win, a 53-42 victory over No. 11 Lower Merion, hung in the balance until the final two minutes when P-W pulled away.

Much the opposite for the Colonials’ impending counterparts, Chester (20-6) has been running away from their playoff competition. Most recently, the Clippers imposed their will on one of the district’s most disciplined and talented team, fourth-seeded Ridley, in the semifinals.

Though Chester’s only two years removed from the last of four straight district titles, the Del-Val League champions have been carrying a major chip on their shoulder ever since their string of 33-straight state appearances was snapped last year.

“Some people think Chester isn’t the same Chester because of last year,” senior point guard Khaleeq Campbell said, “but we feel as though we’re as great as the old Chester teams that made it far. We’re the underdogs right now, nobody expect us to be this far because of how poorly we did last year. So it would be a great win for us.”

As Chester head coach Larry Yarbray expressed following the win over Ridley, the two different paths his team and Donofrio’s have taken to this point shouldn’t in any way change the fact that a top-notch high school basketball showdown is set to take place.

“It’s going to be an all-out war in here Friday night,” he said. “The team that imposes their will is going to win. They beat us last year around Christmas time by two...we remember that, they’re playing good basketball right now, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

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Breakdown/Predictions
Jeff Griffith: It’s hard to imagine this game being anything but close; a blowout on either side simply wouldn’t do justice to the year of basketball we’ve seen in District 1 up to this point. That said, both of these teams like to run and both teams have the ability to score in a variety of ways, so in that way it should contradict the way most of this tournament has gone in the fact that we should see a lot of scoring at the Liacouras Center Friday night. If Chester’s bigs--6-foot-8 Maurice Henry, 6-7 Jordan Camper, and 6-6 Jamar Sudan--can use their size advantage against a P-W team whose tallest regular rotation player is a 6-6 Mike Lotito, they should be in business. That is, as long as they can stay calm amidst P-W’s swarming full-court press and find away to slow down Malone, who can score in a variety of ways, in the most clutch situations, against the toughest of defense. Just ask Lower Merion, a traditionally strong defensive team who watched Malone put up 19 in the Colonials’ semifinal win. When all is said and done, I think Plymouth-Whitemarsh will be able to use its hunger to cut down the nets, as the Colonials have been waiting to do for an undoubtedly long twelve months.

Josh Verlin: All season long, whenever the topic of “best team in District 1” came up in conversation or on social media, this was my stock response: I’m not sure there is a best team, but Plymouth-Whitemarsh has the best win I’ve seen. When the Colonials beat a Pope John XXIII (N.J.) squad filled with Division I players by 16 points at the Jameer Nelson Classic in December, they sent a message that they were not to be taken lightly. Malone is the headline player for sure, but it’s seniors like Lotito, Oakley Spencer and Kevin Ashenfelter that help them stand out; they all can step up and hit shots in big situations, and the Williams twins off the bench could put some real pressure on a Chester squad whose biggest area of concern is balancing its size with keeping multiple ball-handlers on the court. I think Plymouth-Whitemarsh has a better chance of playing “big” to keep up with Chester than the Clippers do of managing the Colonials’ press, and so I’ll say P-W wins the district title in a nail-biter.