City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Reaching the quarterfinal round of the PIAA state tournament means a few things for the teams involved.

Of course, there’s the survival of the first week of the tourney, as all teams still involved across the state’s four brackets had to win two games just to advance into the Elite 8. It means they’re only two more wins from a trip to Hershey and a game in the Giant Center, only three from ending on top of the world--well, at least the Keystone State.

For Imhotep Charter, beating District 3 runner-up Eastern York and District 4 champion Lewisburg in the opening two rounds meant a chance at revenge.

“You can’t ignore it,” head coach Andre Noble said. “I don’t think that that’s even possible, if I wanted to think about doing that, I don’t think that reality would allow me to do that.”

“It” being the looming matchup with Del-Val Charter, the same Warriors squad that beat Imhotep in the Public League’s quarterfinals on its way to winning the league championship. A championship that Imhotep--which went a perfect 10-0 during the Pub’s regular season, including two wins over Del-Val--thought they would be celebrating.

“We were expected to win and didn’t, and they beat us,” Noble said. “We haven’t acted like it didn’t happen, or acted like we don’t want to play them--we do want to play them, from Coach Andre to the 15th man, we want to play them, so we’re excited about it.”

After winning 78-65 and 66-42 in their first two meets, the Panthers were plenty confident going into that Feb. 13 Public League playoff game, which determined not only which team advanced to the Pub semifinals but also who got to play a Catholic League team for the district title. Led by a high-major recruit in junior guard Daron Russell plus

But the Warriors were hitting their stride at the right time; their win streak, which was already 13 heading into that game, is now at 19 straight. Del-Val's last loss was at the hands of Imhotep, back on Jan. 7.

"We just didn’t play well, at all, in any facets of the game," Noble said about the Public League playoff loss. "Free-throws, shooting, we were just bad. We turned the ball over more than we’ve done. Every statistic that we looked at was poor. I think some of that was (Del-Val) played well and did some good things, but a large part of that I believe is what we didn’t do."

That loss, combined with a loss to Archbishop Carroll in a state seeding game, had Imhotep searching for answers heading into the state playoffs. Two big wins later, and they have a chance to exorcise all demons.

The Panthers have won their first two playoff games by a combined 57 points, scoring above 70 while holding their opponent under 50 in each game. And that was against two programs with a combined 48-8 record.

Junior wing Koby Thomas, an explosive 6-5 athlete, led the way with 18 points against Lewisburg, with Russell adding 14 and Hampton commit Jaekwon Carlyle 11.

“This is the time you’ve got to be playing well, and i”m very happy about the way we’re playing,” Noble said. “There’s not a major aspect of basketball right now that I don’t think we’re doing well.

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In other action on Friday evening:

Class A -- Constitution (12-1) vs. Shenandoah Valley (11-2)
Where: Milton Hershey HS; Hershey
When: 6:00 PM
How they got here: Constitution def. Lancaster County Christian (64-39), Southern Fulton (75-48); Shenandoah Valley def. St. John Neumann (70-59), Delco Christian (62-50)

Skinny: Shenandoah Valley has been the Giant Slayer of the Class A bracket thus far, knocking off previously-undefeated St. John Neumann to open the tournament before downing a veteran Delco Christian squad in the second to set up a meeting with the defending state champs. Constitution (18-11) was challenged in the first half of its win over Southern Fulton, only leading by three at the break, but a 16-6 third quarter lead to a blowout fourth in the 27-point victory. Junior guard Tamir Green has 57 points in his first two state playoff games, dropping 26 against LCCS and 29 against Southern Fulton, while Maurice Waters had 10 and 18, respectively; sophomore guard Tyree Mitchell also chipped in 18 in the most recent win. Shenandoah Valley, which is the furthest it has been in the state tournament since 1977, is the first team from the Schuylkill League to get this far in four years. They’re riding junior point guard Joel Santana, who dropped 33 in the first-round win and 21 in the second, plus a sharpshooting offense that dropped nine triples in the win over Delco Christian.

Class AAA: Neumann-Goretti (12-2) vs. Lower Moreland (1-2)
Where: Philadelphia University
When: 6:00 PM
How they got here: Neumann-Goretti def. Eastern Lebanon County (69-48), Scranton Prep (113-71); Lower Moreland def. Milton Hershey (67-56), Pottsville (52-47)

Skinny: Lower Moreland is having the most successful season in program history, winning its first-ever PIAA state playoff game against Milton Hershey and then doubling that win total a year later. And for that, the Lions (23-6) get a date with two-time defending champion Neumann-Goretti, which just cruised past triple digits in the scoring column in its last game. Carl Arrigale’s Saints (26-4) are dangerously loaded as usual, with a Division I-bound starting five including Towson commit Zane Martin, a 6-3 guard, and FGCU commit Rasheed Browne, a 6-2 guard. Then there’s top-50 juniors Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, a 6-8 forward with offers from Syracuse, Villanova, Temple and others, plus 6-0 guard Quade Green, who also has numerous Big East and ACC offers. Lower Moreland doesn’t quite measure up in the size, athleticism or Division I offer categories, with its top players getting recruited at the D-III level. That includes senior guards Danny Duffey, a crafty 5-10 point guard with a scorers’ touch; Tyler Millan, a 6-2 guard and 3-point specialist; and 6-0 junior Nick Smolda, another sharpshooter.

Class A: Phil-Mont Christian (1-1) vs. Math, Civics & Sciences (12-2)
Where: Philadelphia University
When: 7:30 PM
How they got here: Phil-Mont Christian def. Paul Robeson (75-53), York Country Day (71-45); MCS def. Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg (79-47), Old Forge (69-56)

Skinny: In its first two games, Phil-Mont Christian has been tougher, faster and bigger than both of its opponents, and thus the Falcons didn’t have too many issues in making their first-ever state quarterfinal. Now they go up against an opponent in Math, Civics & Sciences that can match them in raw athleticism for the first time perhaps all season. The Falcons have gotten strong contributions from a consistent top four, including senior forward Osaze Thornton, who had 18 points against York Country Day; guard Noah Baldez (11) and junior forward David Giuliani (19) have been steadily in double figures as well. But what makes them special is the presence of 6-8 senior Sean Griffin, who’s emerging as a potential Division I target -- he has several D-II offers -- after a 16-point, six-rebound, five-assist, three-steal performance in the last game. He’ll have his hands full with MCS’ Nazir Gossette, a relentless 6-5 senior forward, plus sophomore big man Ed Croswell. The Falcons will also need to contain high-scoring Mighty Elephants junior Malik Archer and not allow the game to get into the Public League pace, which they certainly won’t be used to.

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