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District 1 6A: Arcidiacono follows brothers' footsteps, leads Neshaminy to states

02/28/2018, 12:30am EST
By Ray Dunne

Chris Arcidiacono (above) and Neshaminy hadn't been to the state playoffs since 2011, when he was waterboy. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Ray Dunne (@RayDunneBTB)
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Going into Tuesday night’s game against Conestoga, Neshaminy had the chance to qualify for the PIAA state playoffs first time since 2011. Since the close of that special season, a lot has changed at Neshaminy.

However, there are two key holdovers from that team from seven years ago. One being current head coach Mark Tingle, who was an assistant coach at the time.

The other was the kid who distributed the drinks to tired players. Now grown up, senior guard Chris Arcidiacono remembers the incredible run he witnessed in 2011, when he was only in fifth grade.

“I was the waterboy for that team,” Arcidiacono said. “I just saw the excitement that everyone had and I just wanted to get that same thing for my team.”

Chris’s brother, future ‘Nova star Ryan Arcidiacono, was a junior that year, leading Neshaminy to its second of back to back state playoff appearances.

After a first-round exit from the District 1 6A playoffs a year ago, Neshaminy returned back to districts this season. A second round loss dropped them into the playback bracket, which put them amongst eight teams vying for the final two seeds out of District 1.

Following a playback win against Perkiomen Valley, Neshaminy sat at 14-10 on the year and the chance for Chris Arcidiacono to deliver his team a berth at the state playoffs finally came in the form of a district playback game on Tuesday night on the road.

Arcidiacono delivered big time, pouring in 33 points, leading Neshaminy to a 59-55 victory over Conestoga.

The  came out of the gate scorching hot, nailing all four of his shots from beyond the arc in the first quarter while his team built a 13-point lead. That set the stage for 22 first half points for the 6-4 guard, nearly equaling Conestoga’s entire point total for the half.

Neshaminy looked like they were unstoppable. Shooting 8-of-12 from beyond the arc and  8-of-9 from the line, their offense was a firing away on all cylinders.

“We know that we can shoot the ball, we’ve been a little cold the last three games, not as hot as we were earlier in the season, but between Chris [Arcidiacono and] I think [senior guard] Anthony Papeo had a couple early, they were just feeling it,” Tingle said. “It’s one of those things you make a couple, you can’t say no until you start missing.”

Conestoga brought the pressure and attempted to put Arcidiacono out of the game in the second half with success early. The Pioneers would continue to force the issue well into the fourth quarter and closed the gap to two points with 4:16 left in the game.

With Neshaminy reeling, Arcidiacono took control for them, going 5-for-6 from the free throw line and dishing out three huge assists through double teams in the closing minutes.

Papeo scored 12 points, including the game-sealing free throw with four seconds left on the clock. Big man Danny Bodine also got to the free throw line with frequency, scoring eight points on 6-of-8 shooting from the line.

Zach Lezanic (15 points) and Charlie Schappell (nine points, seven rebounds) carried Conestoga on the offensive end while Evan Medley and Milton Robinson both tried to slow down Arcidiacono, but the early struggles put the Pioneers in too deep of a hole.

From his early shooting to his ability to maneuver double teams and still find the open man, Arcidiacano’s skillset was on full display Tuesday night. Aside from the gaudy point total, the senior had five assists and five rebounds.

“[Scoring is] just what I got to do to help our team win. Scoring, dishing assists, rebounds, if my shots falling, my teammates are going to let me shoot,” Arcidiacono said. “We just have to see the flow of the game is going, if I need to score more, I will, if I need to pass more, I will.”

Watching Chris Arcidiacono on the floor is reminiscent of the style of play that carried his older brother, Ryan, to Villanova and now onto the Chicago Bulls’ NBA G-League affiliate.

Though the similarities are there between the brothers and the pair stand as the leaders of three of Neshaminy’s five state playoff appearances, Chris isn’t concerning himself with trying to compare his accomplishments and his teams with Ryan’s.

“He’s his own player, he doesn’t think about that because it’s in the past,” Tingle said. “He’s worried about him and this team and what he can accomplish which is great.”

The main six players featured by Neshaminy on Tuesday night were all seniors who have now won more games in the last two seasons (24) then the previous five combined (16).

Familiarity is also big amongst this group of seniors as the core of this team has been playing together since elementary school. The only change they have had to endure was when Tingle took over the team two years ago.

Tingle, a Neshaminy grad, has been apart of a league championship as a player and the runs to states in 2010 and 2011, but rebuilding this program as a head coach with this group of seniors has been extremely meaningful to him.

“It’s a senior group, they all played last year as juniors, my first year as the head coach, and it’s a great group of guys, really tight with each other, really close group, the whole team,” Tingle said. “It just says a lot about their composure, especially when we’re up sixteen and then they cut it down to one, just (to) stay focused and finish out the game.”

Before any trip to state playoffs, however, Neshaminy will travel to Bensalem to face the Owls in a seeding matchup with the winner getting the ninth seed from District One. It will be a familiar foe, as Neshaminy and Bensalem are both in the Suburban One National and split their season series.


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