City of Basketball Love

Tyler Sandora (@tyler_sandora)
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With District 1 5A quarterfinal wins in the books, four teams have already punched their tickets to states and are now set to meet up at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday for the district semifinals.

Included in this year’s field are two squads from last year’s semifinals, including last year’s champ Penncrest, and two teams that finished a game short of getting to Temple last season.

Here’s a look at the two semifinal games:

1) Penncrest vs. 4) Wissahickon (7:30 PM)
The reigning District 1 Class 5A champs come back to the Liacouras Center as the district’s top seed to defend their crown. The Lions rolled through No. 9 seed Holy Ghost Prep with a 57-36 win in the quarterfinal. Senior guard Tyler Norwood, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer earlier this month, dropped 18 points against Holy Ghost.

Norwood is joined in the starting lineup by juniors Matt Arbogast and Malcolm Williams, who have helped him shoulder the scoring load at times. Williams scored 10 and Arbogast had eight against Holy Ghost. The team’s other two starters, seniors Chris Mills and Justin Heidig who are known more for their defense, tallied nine and seven points, respectively in Saturday’s win.

Penncrest will meet up with Wissahickon, which saw its district title hopes end at the hands of the Lions last season in the quarterfinal round. The loss has been a source of motivation for seniors Zach Reiner, Max Rapoport and Anthony Lawrence throughout the season.

The Trojans outlasted No. 5 seed Great Valley, 55-48, on Saturday night to punch their ticket to Temple. Reiner, Rapoport, Lawrence and junior guard Eddie Fortescue usually make up most of the offense for Wissahickon. Rapoport scored 12 points, but it was a combined 21 points off the bench from senior Donovan Oliphant and sophomore Carmen Ostroski that helped seal the win.

Prediction: Penncrest, 53-47

2) Bishop Shanahan vs. 3) Chester (6:00 PM)
Neither of these teams had much trouble in either of their first two games. Bishop Shanahan opened with a 59-37 win against No. 15 seed West Chester East before handling No. 7 seed West Chester Rustin, 63-50, on Saturday afternoon. Chester took down Academy Park, 72-54, in its opener before a 69-56 win against Sun Valley in Saturday’s district quarterfinal.

The Eagles return to the Liacouras Center for the second straight year. Shanahan lost to Upper Merion in the semifinal in 2017. Seniors Kevin Dodds, Tom Ford, David Angelo, David Dibeneditto and juniors Joe O’Malley are the key pieces on a team trying to make history at the school.

Dodds led the way with 18 points on Saturday, while O’Malley, whose father won a state title for the Eagles in 1988, had 17 points to go with five assists. However, any one of the unselfish group could have a big game on any given night.

Chester, the No. 1 seed in the district a year ago, fell short of making a trip to Temple after also losing to Upper Merion in the district quarterfinal. The Clippers got out to a slow start, but have turned things around down the stretch of head coach Keith Taylor’s first season.

With former star Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in the building on Saturday night, the squad’s current star, junior guard Michael Smith, showed out. Smith scored 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the win. Senior forward Timothy Johnston gave the Clippers a boost with 13 points on Saturday. The undersized Clippers will need a solid defensive effort from Johnston and 6-foot-4 senior forward Brian Randolph III, to contain Dodds and Ford inside.

Prediction: Chester, 65-60