City of Basketball Love

Daniel Newhart (@danny_newhart)
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Less than three minutes into the third quarter of the quarterfinals of the PIAA AAA tournament between District 12 first seed Del-Val Charter and D12’s fourth seeded Imhotep Panthers, junior Koby Thomas picked up his fourth personal foul and received a ticket to the bench.

Thomas, a 6-foot-5 wing who led Imhotep in scoring with 18 points in its win in the previous round over District 4’s top seed Lewisburg, had six points and five rebounds before picking up his fourth personal foul.

This seems like a situation in which a head coach would panic, one of his better players leaving the court with the team clinging to a ten point lead over a competitive and scrappy Warriors team. 

But Panthers head coach Andre Noble did not seem to be too worried about his team’s ability to adjust on the fly. 

"The other guys are ready, we’re a deep basketball team so when one guy’s gone it doesn’t hurt us too much,” Noble said. 

Noble’s confidence in his team’s depth was justified, as Imhotep was able to hang onto its lead the rest of the game en route to a 71-54 win over the Warriors.

Junior point guard Daron Russell shook off a slow first half on his way to 17 points to lead all scorers, with senior Jaekwon Carlyle and Thomas aiding 13 and 11, respectively. Thomas also pulled down seven boards.

Senior Waheem Lowman led Del-Val Charter with 10 points.

This was the fourth time the two teams faced off this season, and with the win the Panthers hold a 3-1 lead in the win-loss column. The first two matchups went in Imhotep’s favor by scores of 78-65 and 66-42, and the Panthers finished 10-0 in Public League play. 

Del-Val Charter turned the tables though in the Public League playoffs, pulling off a 62-58 victory at the same sight as tonight’s game, South Philadelphia high school.
That win left a bitter taste in the mouth of Imhotep’s coaches and players, and Russell said revenge was a big factor in the win.

“Yeah definitley,” Russell said when asked. “We came in very confident that we were the better team because we beat them twice. They caught us on a bad night a couple weeks ago, and we knew that if we just played regular then we could beat them. When the state playoff brackets came out, we saw that Del-Val was on our side and after that we just kept saying, ‘Get Del-Val, get Del-Val,’ and we finally got ‘em.”

The games opening eight minutes were sloppy on both sides, and the teams combined for 13 turnovers in the quarter.

That being said, Noble once again did not let panic get the best of him and trusted his guards Russell and Carlyle to tighten up their ball handling and make better decisions with the ball in their hands.

The Panthers grabbed a 10-9 lead and would maintain it wire-to-wire from that point. Defense was on display from there, as from the 3:06 mark of the first quarter until the 4:23 mark of the second Del-Val Charter did not make a field goal. 

“Tonight our guys defended,” Noble said. “The third game we just didn’t play well, I didn’t have us prepared and they played great. Between us not being prepared and them playing great, we lost. I was proud that our kids showed a lot of character [tonight]. A team can easily fold when you lose one of the games you want, but these guys never really bothered with that. They came back, and now we’re on a three game win streak.”

The same defense seemed to be on display to start the second half, as for the first 1:52 the Warriors not only had not made a field goal, they had not even attempted one.
Imhotep ran a full court press to begin the game and for a majority of the first half, but something Noble realized at halftime was mistakes in the team’s pressure were leading to transition baskets for the opposition. 

That realization led to his team’s switching to a half-court defense for the rest of the game, where Noble was content to let his team grind it out with its opponent.

There was a point in the third quarter after Thomas picked up his fourth when the lead was cut to 37-31, and after that run Russell said there was a clear message in the ensuing timeout. 

“Basically don’t let the same thing repeat itself,” Russell said. “The loss before, obviously it hurt and [Noble] was just reminding us of that and how in the other locker room we were shedding tears and stuff like that. Just to not let that happen again.”

The Panthers pulled away from that point, scoring four straight points in a row to stretch the lead back to double digits. 

Imhotep advances to the semifinals to take on Catholic League powerhouse Neumann-Goretti, the number two seed out of district 12 and the team that ended the Panthers quest for a district title last season on a Quade Green buzzer beater.

“We’ve gotta carry some [momentum],” Noble said. “Neumann-Goretti is a really really good basketball team, we’ve got to play well to win that game. Obviously it’s a big game, it’ll get us to the state championship.”

“We play Neumann-Goretti, there isn't much more motivation you need than that,” Russell added.

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Wednesday's scores

CLASS AAA QUARTERFINALS
Friday, March 11
Imhotep Charter 71, Delaware Valley Charter 54
Neumann-Goretti 78, Lower Moreland 52
Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 77, New Castle 68
Mars 77, Highlands 48

CLASS A QUARTERFINALS
Friday, March 11
Math, Civics & Sciences 73, Philadelphia-Montgomery Christian 68 (OT)
Constitution 62, Shenandoah Valley 47
Kennedy Catholic 58, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic 53
Sewickley Academy 62, Farrell 46