City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Del-Val wanted to run. The team’s transition offense was a big part of its 18-game winning streak heading into Tuesday night, a run which helped the program reach new postseason heights.

But for the first two-and-a-half quarters against District 3’s Lampeter-Strasburg, the Warriors were stuck mostly in the halfcourt. And they lost their lead early in the third quarter.

Finally, in the start of the fourth quarter, Del-Val was able to breakaway both on the court and the scoreboard. The Warriors scored the first eight points of the final period to extend their lead to 14, and that’s the margin they won by, 59-45, to advance to the quarterfinals in the PIAA Class AAA Tournament. They will face fellow Public League member Imhotep on Friday.

“We wanted to get out and get a lot of transition buckets,” said Del-Val senior Semaj Motley, who finished with 14 points. “That’s where we get most of our points. We weren’t doing that early. We let them get back in their defense because they were making buckets.”

Del-Val’s eight-point outburst to start the fourth quarter all came on breakaways. And they got six points on consecutive old-fashioned three-point plays, one each from Antwuan Butler and Makhi Morris.

Those buckets extended the Warriors’ lead to 47-33 in Coatesville’s gym, and Lampeter-Strasburg was never able to get its deficit to less than eight the rest of the game. It was the change of pace Del-Val was looking for all game after starting the first half with a cold shooting performance that relied heavily on jumpers.

“We wanted to speed them up and get some more possessions in. We did that with a little press and changing out defense a little bit,” Del-Val coach Jason Harrigan said. “Early in the game I thought we would be able to execute a little bit better. But unfortunately, for whatever, reason, we couldn’t execute. That was our adjustment, just trying to speed the game up.”

Del-Val jumped right out to a 7-0 lead to start the game and led 17-8 at the end of the first. But the team ran into trouble in the second.

The Warriors surrendered numerous offensive rebounds to the Pioneers, a handful of which ended up in the hands of forward Ben Sandberg, who notched a few putbacks and free throws on his way to a team-high 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Lancaster-Strasburg held a 24-14 rebounding edge at halftime – one of the focal points of Harrigan’s talk at the intermission.

“They were playing hard. They were getting second-chance points and they gave us some good looks,” the coach said of Lancaster-Strasburg. “We couldn’t make some shots early on. (Sanberg) did an excellent job rebounding in the first half, and our guys decided to take that a little personally in the second half.”

The Warriors did not shoot well as a team in the first half, but were boosted by Morris’ 13 points – half of the team’s total. Not only did he end with a game-best 21 points, but Morris hit buzzer-beating threes from the same corner in the first and second quarters. Butler added 10 points for the Warriors (27-4), seven of which came in the fourth quarter.

Now it’s onto the state quarterfinals for Del-Val, the Public League and City champs. It’s more uncharted territory for the program, but it will come against a familiar opponent.

Imhotep drubbed Lewisburg, 72-47, to reach the quarterfinals, and Friday’s game (Time and date TBA) will mark the fourth meeting between the Panthers and Warriors this season.

It’s personal for both sides. For Imhotep, the team’s goal to win a Public League title after a 10-0 regular season was cut down in the league playoff quarterfinals by Del-Val. And for the Panthers, two of their four losses this season have come against Imhotep. This includes their last loss, a 24-point beating from the Panthers on Jan. 7.

The Warriors have won 19 in a row since.

“It’s going to be fun, I expect the whole city to come, it should be a good one,” Harrigan said. “They’re a great team. We won the last game, so we know they’re going to come out swinging. We expect a great game. We expect their best effort, and they should expect ours.”

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PIAA Second-Round Results
Tuesday, March 8
CLASS AAA
Delaware Valley Charter 59, Lampeter-Strasburg 45
Imhotep Charter 72, Lewisburg 47
Neumann-Goretti 113, Scranton Prep 71
Lower Moreland 52, Pottsville 47
Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 62, Archbishop Carroll 60
New Castle 56, Beaver Falls 52
Highlands 68, Hollidaysburg 55
Mars 58, Erie Strong Vincent 56

CLASS A
Philadelphia-Montgomery Christian 71, York Country Day 45
Math, Civics & Sciences 69, Old Forge 56
Shenandoah Valley 62, Delaware County Christian 58
Constitution 75, Southern Fulton 48
Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic 66, Bishop Carroll 55
Kennedy Catholic 65, Coudersport 26
Sewickley Academy 48, Homer-Center 38
Farrell 61, Elk County Catholic 38