City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The District 1 Class A, AA and AAA championships are part of a boys & girls sextuple-header at Council Rock South on Saturday, with a PIAA state berth and seeding lines at stake.

Here’s a look at the three boys’ games at CR South, where the girls’ Class A game kicks things off at 10 AM tomorrow. All six boys teams involved come out of the Bicentennial Athletic League, so there’s plenty of familiarity in all three matchups:

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Class A Championship: 1) Phil-Mont Christian vs. 6) Delco Christian
Road to the Final: Phil Mont Christian def. 8) Christopher Dock (71-47), def. 4) Collegium Charter (67-34); Delco Christian def. 3) Calvary Baptist (83-49), def. 2) Faith Christian (63-54)

The Skinny: The Bicentennial Athletic League champion go for its second title in three weeks as Phil-Mont takes on a Delco squad it beat 79-70 during the regular season. Delco Christian’s appearance in the championship is unlikely not just because of its seeding but mainly because two of its top three scorers, senior forward Grant Fisher and junior guard Devin Hill, were kicked off the team just before the postseason began. Senior guard Wyatt Harkins stepped up big-time with 40 points in the win over Calvary Baptist and then 19 against Faith Christian. Falcons coach Glenn Dolton has four players who regularly finish in double figures, led by 6-8 senior Sean Griffin, a D-II recruit with offers from East Stroudsburg and Kutztown, while 6-3 junior David Giuliani continued his roll with 19 points in the semifinal win over Collegium Charter.

Key Matchup: Phil-Mont’s been able to run over its competition lately thanks to terrific frontcourt play, led by Griffin, Giuliani and 6-4 Osaze Thornton. Delco is a bit more undersized, but senior forward Bryce Shook stepped up against a similarly-tall Faith Christian with 16 points and six rebounds. If Shook can provide Delco with an inside presence and limit the effectiveness of Phil-Mont’s bigs, Delco’s got a fighting chance.

Prediction: Harkins and the Knights have been playing inspired ball since the removal of Fisher and Hill, but Phil-Mont is on too much of a roll of late. Falcons take it, 65-58.

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Class AA Championship: 1) Church Farm vs. 3) Devon Prep
Road to the Final: Church Farm def. 4) Valley Forge (36-29); Devon Prep def. 2) Calvary Christian (44-35)

The Skinny: This is the only game that will determine who goes to states and who stays home--four of the district’s seven AA schools made the playoffs, and only one gets to advance to the state bracket. Church Farm dominated the game between the two earlier in the year, holding Devon Prep to just 18 points during a 28-point win in January, as 6-foot-11 sophomore Fred Odhiambo proved to be a serious problem for an undersized Prep squad around the rim. Devon Prep survived Calvary Christian in the semifinals despite a 15-of-51 performance from the floor, but they'll need to shoot a much higher percentage to have a chance in the final against a Griffins squad that held Valley Forget to 9-of-45 (20 percent) in its own semifinal.

Key Matchup: However Devon Prep wants to try, it needs to find a way to slow down Church Farm's massive frontcourt, led by Odhiambo and 6-9 freshman Jon Bol Ajak, plus 6-5 senior Emmitt Jeffries. The Tide have a number of 6-2 and 6-3 players on the roster, but it remains to be seen how they'll do against the Griffins' towering frontcourt.

Prediction: Church Farm’s frontcourt is too much for Devon Prep to handle, as the Griffins win the district championship for the fifth time in six years by a score of 48-30.

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Class AAA Championship: 1) Lower Moreland vs. 3) Holy Ghost Prep
Road to the Final: Lower Moreland def. 8) Pottstown (78-59), def. 4) Bishop Shanahan (77-56); Holy Ghost def. 6) Upper Moreland (45-42), def. 2) Octorara (57-37)

The Skinny: Both teams come in with a healthy dose of momentum into a familiar final matchup, the Lions off two 19-point wins in the first two rounds while Holy Ghost took down Octorara by 20 on Tuesday. The two split their regular-season meetings this year, Holy Ghost taking the first matchup 76-71 at Lower Moreland in December before LM won the return game on Jan. 29 (60-52). Last year, LM’s run ended in the District semifinals, so the Lions are already assured of a state playoff berth, but now they’ve got their sights on their first district championship since 2008. Holy Ghost, which last made states in 2014, lost to Lower Moreland 63-52 in the BAL quarterfinals two weeks ago.

Key Matchup: Lower Moreland boasts the best player in the Bicentennial in senior Danny Duffey, a 5-10 point guard who excels at getting into the lane and utilizing his pull-up and floater just as well as he kicks out to the Lions’ array of shooters. Holy Ghost doesn’t quite have the drive-and-dish PG, but 6-4 wing Jack Coolahan does a good job of running head coach Tony Chapman's offense, with a crafty offensive game of his own. But it'll be whichever gets more support from his Robin that will be in a better position; that's Tyler Millan, who had 22 points for Lower Moreland in its semifinal win, and Mike McFadden, who had 16 for Ghost in its last game.

Prediction: In a battle of two evenly-matched rivals, oftentimes it’s the best player on the court who makes the difference. As good as Coolahan has been, that honor goes to Duffey, and with the way his supporting cast has stepped up lately...Lions, 68-64.