City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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The last few years have featured at least one surprise entry in the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals. Last year it was J.P. McCaskey who got all the way to the final; the year before, La Salle College HS and Abington both found their way into the last four in the state.

This year, the four remaining teams are exactly who most expected to see in the PIAA class AAAA semifinals all along.

Roman Catholic, Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Reading, and Taylor Allderdice. Sound familiar?

The two of those that reside in the eastern half of the bracket, Roman and P-W, have combined to lose just five games this season on the way to respective district titles, setting up a semifinal for the ages between two talent-filled rosters and two highly respected coaches Tuesday night at Council Rock South High School. And the teams on the western side, Reading and Allderdice, have a combined record of 55-4.

The team that’s had the most buzz all year long is Roman Catholic, which certainly holds the advantage in terms of Division I talent. At this point, it’s essentially become common knowledge that the Cahillites are led by knows a prolific trio of seniors and future Penn State Nittany Lions Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens, and Nazeer Bostick.

Plymouth-Whitemarsh’s lone D-I product, Rider commit Xzavier Malone, doesn’t seemed phased by his opponents’ accomplished level of talent.

“I think they’re a really good team, they’re fast, deep, and have really great size,” the 6-foot-4 guard said. “We’re probably the underdogs in this one, but I feel like we have a lot of heart that we can compete with anybody, like we’ve been showing throughout the season. I don’t really get intimidated by the name of anybody.”

Roman head coach Chris McNesby had plenty of respect for his opponent in its own right, with good reason. The Colonials have had an impressive season in winning the District 1 championship and losing just two games to this point, once to Upper Merion and once to Central Bucks West in the Suburban-One League semifinals.

McNesby, like Malone, attested to the amount of fire and passion the Colonials bring to the basketball court.

“I had a chance to watch them on film a few times and you can really see how hard they play, how competitive they are, and they have a tough group of kids,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be a challenge...they can really play hard and this time of year, teams that battle and play hard always give themselves a chance to win.”

Part of the mutual respect felt between Roman and Plymouth-Whitemarsh can probably be attributed to some of their players’ familiarity. Malone specifically has been playing with and against multiple Cahillities for several years, and even referred to senior big man Paul Newman as his “best friend,” saying the two had been close since eighth grade.

“Me and that group of guys, we’re all cool with each other,” said Malone. “It’s going to fun playing against those dudes.”

Of course, just because they’re buddies doesn’t mean Malone doesn’t want to beat them. The talented scorer is proving he isn’t ready for his career to end, posting more than 20 points in all three state playoff wins for P-W.

He’s not the only key player for Jim Donofrio’s Colonials. As the tallest player in the starting lineup, 6-foot-6 center Mike Lotito will have to play strong around the rim against Newman and Stevens, who stand at 6-7 and 6-6, respectively.

As for the perimeter, Donofrio is going to need a strong defensive showing from scrappy senior guards Oakley Spencer and Kevin Ashenfelter, who will have to help handle the versatile scoring threats of Carr, Bostick, and junior D’Andre Vilmar; expect sophomore guards Ahmad and Ahmin Williams to be key in that role as well.

If those two keys can hold serve for Plymouth-Whitemarsh and they can enter the last few minutes of this one with a lead, they know what it takes to complete the upset.

They learned that lesson from Parkland, who blew a late two-possession a quarterfinal loss to Roman. That comeback was no surprise to McNesby, who’s watched his Cahillites power their way through a few early-season losses to win the Catholic League championship and get within two games of fulling their preseason destiny.

It doesn’t hurt having one of the best big-game guards around in Tony Carr and a roster full of players who have earned nicknames like Bostick’s “Horse.”

“They seem to rise when the going gets tough,” McNesby said of his players. “You don’t want to live that dangerously always, but when you’re playing these good teams, it’s going to be very close down the stretch, but when you have our guys that don’t really get rattled, it’s easy for me.”

It’s clear, all analysis aside, that neither of these teams is about to back down from the other. That kind of attitude is the formula for top-notch March basketball, which is exactly what should be expected to go down Tuesday night between these two area powers, with so much at stake.

“Coming into the season, you hear all the hype about Roman, like ‘Roman’s this, Roman’s that,’” said Malone.

“They’re the team everyone wants to beat,” he added. “It would be nice to come out with a win tomorrow.”

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(Click here for a preview of the Class A semifinal between Constitution and Math, Civics & Sciences plus a look at the other games on Tuesday night)

In the other AAAA final:

Reading (3-1) vs. Taylor Allderdice (8-1)
Where: Chambersburg Area HS
When: 7 PM
How they got here: Reading def. Hatboro Horsham (61-44), Emmaus (71-54), Chester (73-64); Allderdice def. Penn Hills (66-50), Pine-Richland (75-60), Carlisle (59-42)

Skinny: It’s a matchup of two athletic, talented and well-coached squads as Reading and Allderdice clash on a neutral court. Allderdice is led by it triple-headed monster backcourt in twins James and Tim Jackson along with Ramon Creighton. James is the only 1,000-point scorer of the crew, with the latter two knocking on the door with more than 950 points each. Allderdice has been ranked first overall in AAAA for most of the season now, and is certainly the favorite in this one. Standing in their way, though, is 6-foot-5 wing Lonnie Walker, perhaps, the most polished player in the state; the five-star wing dropped an easy 30 points as the Red Knights downed Chester in the quarterfinals. For Allderdice to win, they will have to stop Waker and fellow senior Khary Mauras (17 points, 12 boards vs. Chester) and get ample production out of starters Jordan Rawls and Tim Pugh. The Dragons are playing with a certain fire, but can that flame catapult them to the state championship?