PW, Abington and Cheltenham advanced to Tuesday’s night District One 6A semifinals at Temple, and Pennsbury kept its season alive. Abington/Penn Wood photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson, and PW/Conestoga photos courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for a gallery of both games.
By Jarrad Saffren
We almost had an all-Suburban One League final four. Four SOL boys basketball teams entered the District One Class 6A quarterfinals, three made the semifinals.
Not bad.
The one SOL quarterfinalist that lost Friday night—North Penn—is still in the PIAA Class 6A Tournament.
So four SOL teams have qualified for states as of now. Another—Pennsbury—still has a chance to.
Two more SOL teams were eliminated Friday night, leaving only five left in the 6A field.
Seven SOL teams played Friday night, all against non-SOL teams.
District One Class 6A Quarterfinals
#8 Cheltenham 64, #1 Perkiomen Valley 53
Cheltenham upset the top seed on its home floor.
“Doing that is nothing less than exciting,” Panthers coach John Timms said. “I’m still trying to soak it in.”
In the 2016 district playoffs, Perkiomen Valley, the 20th seed, upset Cheltenham, the 13th seed, on its home floor. Justin Jaworski dropped 27 points, 15 on foul shots, in Perk Valley’s 49-45 win.
“We tried to full-out face guard him 90 feet last year. Total denial. His backdoor cuts killed us, and he killed us around screens,” Timms said. “If a guy guarding him doesn’t see the ball, Jaworski will tear him apart.”
Timms admitted to not knowing enough about Jaworski and Perk Valley last year.
“We didn’t know what to expect last year. We just knew they had Jaworski. We underestimated the other guys,” Timms said. “We watched film on Perk Valley this year and realized he’s just the catalyst of a good team. You focus too much on him, the other guys get 10 points, eight points, eight and eight.”
This year, Timms did not deny Jaworski the ball. He put Ahmad Bickley on him in a half court defense.
“Bickley wanted the assignment and held him in check through three quarters,” Timms said. “We brought help when we needed.”
Jaworski scored just 13 points in the first three quarters. He finished with 32, but 12 came in the final 1:30.
“It wasn’t a typical 32-point performance,” Timms said. “He’s a step behind Collin Gillespie and Quade Green. But we played him well.”
Bickley played even better offensively, putting up 22 points and eight assists. He did not play in the Perk Valley playoff game last year.
“He was the best player on the floor tonight,” Timms said. “He dominated both sides of the floor.
“He wanted this game because he didn’t get a chance to play a lot last year as a sophomore, so his thing was – ‘I want my shot at Perkiomen Valley with me being a leader on the floor.’ When he said that to me, it let me know that this team was ready because our leader wanted this game.”
Jack Clark had 18 points and 14 rebounds for Cheltenham.
“He played big,” Timms said. “We were the bigger team for once. We play four guards. We wanted to make sure we attacked. Jaworski fouled out with 30 seconds left.”
Trevonn Pitts had 12 points and nine boards for the Panthers.
“He played solid,” Timms said.
The Panthers, who led 13-10 after one quarter, stunned the Vikings by opening up a 30-16 halftime lead. The Vikings outscored the Panthers 15-4 in the third quarter to make it a 34-31 game after three only to watch the Panthers close it out with a 30-point fourth quarter.
Cheltenham (19-5) plays #4 Coatesville in a semifinal Tuesday night at Temple University.
“I’m very, very excited for the kids to get an opportunity to play at Temple,” Timms said. “We took a fan bus tonight, and we had a lot of fans come out and support us.
“It’s great to see the Cheltenham community get back on board and traveling with us. That’s something different I’m starting to see with this year’s team, and I guess that’s part of changing the culture and trying to get back to that winning tradition.”
Cheltenham 13 17 4 30 – 64
Perk Valley 10 6 15 22 – 53
Cheltenham (64) – Trevonn Pitts 6 0-0 12; Jack Clark 5 7-7 18; Ahmad Bickley 5 12-13 22; Kyin Healy 5 0-0 10; Tim Myarick 0 2-2 2; Totals 22 19-20 64.
Perkiomen Valley (53) – Justin Jaworski 11 7-9 32; Andrew Light 1 0-0 2; Tyler Strechay 1 1-2 3; Sean Owens 3 2-2 10; Hogan Millheim 2 2-4 6; Totals 18 12-17 53.
#2 Plymouth Whitemarsh 44, #7 Conestoga 29
Plymouth Whitemarsh played lockdown defense for the second straight game. The Colonials held Central Bucks East to 43 points in the second round. 
“We played two games in a row where we focused on a detailed defensive plan,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “The goal was to get better in half court man-to-man.”
Conestoga scored 77 points in its second round win over Lower Merion.
“To hold a team that just scored 70-something to 29 is quite a performance,” Donofrio said. “To hold them at that number required a good level of concentration.”
PW blocked 20 shots. Center Naheem McLeod blocked 12. Guard Ish Horn rejected five.
“Kareem Breeden and Ahmad Williams and Cheo Houston were also tremendous defensively,” Donofrio said.
PW led by one after the first quarter and won the second quarter 12-2 to go into halftime with a 24-13 lead. The Colonials maintained that lead through a close second half.
Ahmad Williams led PW with 17 points. Ish Horn added 11. Horn has stepped up in Ahmin Williams’ absence.
“Ish is coming around. We have no choice with Ahmin out. Ish has to grow up fast,” 
Donofrio said. “We are trying to school him every practice on how to be less risky. Use athleticism and be disciplined. We need discipline right now and we have it lately.”
McLeod had seven points. Matt Walker had six on two threes.
PW (22-4) plays Abington in a semifinal Tuesday night at Temple, in a rematch of the SOL Tournament championship, which Abington won 70-66.
“Abington has great size and plays well together. They don’t get rattled. We have to look at film from that game. I hope our kids got this bad shooting night out of our system,” Donofrio said. “Temple is a different arena. Some teams are just happy to be there. Others get there and realize how badly they want to win there. We’ll find out which team we are.”
Conestoga 11-2-8-8 29
Plymouth Whitemarsh 12-12-7-13 44
Conestoga (29) – Zach Lezanic 1 0-0 3 Scott Shapiro 3 0-0 8; Charlie Martin 2 0-0 5; Angus Mayock 3 4-6 10; Milton Robinson 0 3-6 3; Totals 9 7-12 29.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (44) – Ish Horn 5 1-4 11; Kareem Breeden 0 0-2 0; Naheem McLeod 2 3-4 7; Matt Walker 2 0-0 6; Cheo Houston 0 1-2 1; Ahmad Williams 7 2-3 17; Alan Glover 1 0-0 2; Totals 17 7-15 44.
#3 Abington 67, #11 Penn Wood 49
Abington reached the district semifinals, reached Temple, for the fourth time in six years.
“It’s great. We’ve been there before, and what I keep telling them, ‘It’s not about us. It’s about you guys getting the experience.’ I’m just happy for the guys,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “That was one of the goals that they set out because in order to get to Villanova (for the district championship), you have to get to Temple. That’s what we talked about. Just seeing the guys super-happy, banging on the lockers, it’s a great feeling for them. I just tell them, ‘Enjoy the moment. You never know if you’re going to get back,' and it’s true.”
Abington led by four going into the fourth (41-37). Then it won the fourth 26-12.
“Penn Wood is very good, and they’re going to make a lot of noise in the state playoffs, I think,” Grasty said. ““Because we didn’t know each other, we were feeling each other out in the first half.
“Once we settled down and got a little more familiar with what they were doing, I thought we were able to pick our energy up, which was key. I thought the energy level went through the roof in the fourth quarter.”
Robbie Heath led Abington with 21 points. He scored his 1,000th career point on a two-handed dunk in the fourth quarter. Heath now has 1,001 in his career. Coming into the district playoffs, he needed 38 points to reach 1,000. He has 39 in two playoff games.
The junior is just the second player in Abington history to reach 1,000 career points before his senior year. Richard Wright was the first, in 1974, when Abington won the state title.
“Towards the end, (assistant coach) Sam (Szymanek) told our guys that Robbie was two away, and I know it’s kind of a cliche, but they really love each other,” Grasty said. “When Sam told the guys that, it was like ‘Let’s play hard so we can get Robbie his thousand points.’ That absolutely had an impact.
“Rob works his butt off, and I’m glad to see that. He came in as a freshman not knowing
what to expect or what to do. He just listened to me, talked to me, and he just kept getting better and better and better. Now he’s a leader. He’s the type of kid, he’s going to enjoy this win tonight, and he’ll probably be the first kid to practice tomorrow morning. That’s just how he is. It’s great to see him developing.”
Heath shot 7-of-14 from the field. He also had five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Eric Dixon had 20 points and 11 boards for Abington. The sophomore has 874 points in two seasons. He could reach 1,000 if Abington makes a deep state tournament run.
Lucas Monroe added 12 points for Abington. Robert Young put up seven points and six assists. Joe O’Brien had four points and seven rebounds. Everyone is playing well for this team.
Abington only turned the ball over seven times against Penn Wood’s suffocating full-court press. The Ghosts committed 21 turnovers in their first round win over Norristown.
Three Penn Wood players—Kairi Jones, Sharif Goff and Pernell Ghee—fouled out.
Abington (22-4) plays PW in a semifinal Tuesday night at Temple. The two best programs in the SOL will clash for the second time in two weeks.
Abington 15-11-15-26 67
Penn Wood 13-10-14-12 49
Penn Wood (49) – Rashaad Anderson 5 1-2 11; Kairi Jones 0 1-2 1; Vincent Smalls 2 1-2 5; Javon Lindsey-Terrell 2 0-1 5; Pernell Ghee 2 2-4 6; Jay Fitzgerald 3 0-0 8; Sharif Goff 5 1-2 13; Totals 19 6-13 49.
Abington (67) – Eric Dixon 9 1-3 20; Robbie Heath 7 6-9 21; Joseph O’Brien 2 0-0 4; Lucas Monroe 4 4-10 12; Robert Young 1 4-5 7; Eric Dougherty 1 0-0 3; Totals 24 15-27 67.
#4 Coatesville 62, #5 North Penn 52
North Penn led by nine at halftime (28-19). But Coatesville came back in the third quarter.
“In the third quarter we lost our composure,” Knights coach John Conrad said. “We just played at a pace that they were much more comfortable with. I couldn’t get us settled and poised and to execute in the half court, and that led to transition points for them.
“Their game is transition and getting into the lane. We weren’t able to score and they beat us down and into the lane. Then once they scored, they could press. We didn’t make great decisions when we broke the press, whether to drive or pull it out.”
The game was tied at 38 going into the fourth. North Penn even took a brief 41-38 lead.
“Then they spread us out, got in the lane, got fouled and made a lot of free throws,” Conrad said.
Coatesville made 12 free throws in the fourth.
Reece Udinski led North Penn with 15 points. AJ Mitchell added 13. Ricky Johns had 12.
North Penn (19-6) takes on Perk Valley in a playback game Tuesday night. The Knights already qualified for the state tournament by winning their second round game. Now they are just playing for a seed.
“Tonight is obviously disappointing. But the kids played hard and competed, that’s all you can expect,” Conrad said. “We got a pretty resilient group. We’ll be ready to play Tuesday night.”
North Penn 10-18-8-15 51
Coatesville 8-11-19-24 62
District One Class 6A Playback
#6 Pennsbury 84, #19 Norristown 83 (OT)
Pennsbury trailed by four with about 10 seconds to go. Game over, right?
Not quite.
Pennsbury’s Addison Howard took a handoff on the left wing. He needed a three-pointer. Pennsbury needed a three-pointer. Howard dribbled forward, stepped back and launched.
Norristown’s defender closed too hard and hacked Howard on the arm. Three shots. Five seconds left.
Howard swished the first two. Then he looked at the sideline, at coach Bill Coleman.
“Miss it…” Coleman whispered.
Howard examined the alignments along the paint lines. Then he made a quick decision.
“I tried to miss right,” Howard said. “I thought Billy (Warren) was going to get a hard box out. Mark (Flagg) had a smaller guy on him. So I thought Mark would have easier separation coming off with his right hand, trying to tip it.”
Howard looked at Flagg, who nodded. No Norristown players glanced up.
He missed right. Flagg dashed across the lane and tapped the ball in. Tie game. Overtime.
“We’ve been playing together a while. We’re on the same page,” Flagg said. “He gave me that look and I knew had to crash hard.”
“And it just happened to be the most perfect miss ever,” Howard said.
“Yeah we haven’t worked on missing in a while,” Coleman said. “But they executed it somehow.”
Pennsbury led for most of overtime. Norristown kept cutting Pennsbury’s lead back to one. But the Falcons never relented. Norristown had one shot to tie the game, which Warren blocked. Then he passed up court to Flagg for an open dunk.
Flagg dropped 25 points in the game, even though he sat for more than 12 minutes in foul trouble. Warren had 12 points and seven blocks. Both played overtime with four fouls and didn’t foul out.
“It was kind of hard. I couldn’t be as aggressive as I was in the quarters before,” Flagg said. “But Billy played big for us in the paint. He had the biggest block of the game. Billy played great tonight.”
“Mark’s a great player. He’s going DI for a reason. I knew when he came back in the fourth he was going to give us a lot of energy. That’s exactly what he did. I’m more of a defensive player. I love defense,” Warren said. “With Mark having four fouls and Joey (Monaghan) fouling out, I had to hold it down for the bigs.”
Tyler Sessa-Reeves led Pennsbury in overtime without making any highlight-reel plays. Sessa-Reeves made all six of his free throw attempts, scoring half of Pennsbury’s points in the extra session.
“I was just trying to relax,” Sessa-Reeves said. “Zone everything out and knock down free throws, just like in practice.”
Howard lifted Pennsbury to a 16-point first half lead. He scored 11 of his 29 points in the first quarter. He also stole the ball three times in that quarter.
“Addison came out shooting,” Flagg said. “He’s one of the best guards in the county. He proved it tonight.”
Pennsbury, with its trapping defense, forced eight first quarter turnovers, scoring seven points off of them.
But Norristown stormed back by winning the middle quarters 43-29. Pennsbury trailed by eight at one point in the fourth. But the senior-led Falcons never doubted themselves.
“I never thought we were done,” Flagg said. “I kept telling the guys, ‘Get up, pressure, make them turn the ball over.’”
“Coach gets us prepared for any situation,” Warren said. “So we were ready.”
“We just gotta close games out earlier,” Sessa-Reeves said. “We let teams back in it.”
Pennsbury staved off elimination with this win. The Falcons (16-9) need to win one more playback game, against Lower Merion Tuesday night, to clinch a state tournament berth.
Pennsbury 22-17-12-21-12 84
Norristown 10-21-22-19-11 83
#13 Downingtown West 62, #21 Hatboro-Horsham 50
Hatboro-Horsham was eliminated from the district playoffs in its first playback game.
The Hatters won their first round game at Central Bucks West in double overtime. They lost their next two games to higher seeds.
The Hatters, who trailed by four after one quarter, took a 24-21 lead into halftime, but the Whippets outscored their visitors 16-6 in the third quarter and 41-26 in the second half to prevent the Hatters from a second straight trip to the state tournament.
Hatboro-Horsham finishes the season at 13-12.
Hatboro-Horsham 7-17-6-20 50
Downingtown West 11-10-16-25 62
#10 Lower Merion 58, #18 Central Bucks East 54 (3 OT)
CB East was also eliminated from the district playoffs in its first playback game, which went to triple overtime.
The Patriots won their first round game at Council Rock South in double overtime. They lost their next two games to higher seeds and will not be returning to the state tournament for the second straight year.
Matt Pattyson let the Patriots with 14 points, Cooper Fink added 13 and Kyle Cassidy added eight.
CB East finishes the season at 13-12.
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