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By Scott Huff
FORT WASHINGTON – The buzz before the Norristown-Upper Dublin game – played at the beautiful Flying Cardinal Nest –was whether the fans in attendance would get to see Upper Dublin’s Jamil Brown score his 1,000th point of his fine scholastic career.The Flying Cardinal needed 24 points – well within reach for the high-scoring senior – to reach the 1,000-point mark. But a swarming Norristown defense would have no part of that celebration as the Eagles held Brown to 15 points and flew to an easy 68-42 win over Upper Dublin.
“We never really considered playing any type of ‘junk’ defense on him,” said Norristown head coach Michael Evans. “We knew we had the players that could play him tough on a straight man-to-man, and I thought we did a great job of doing that.
“Jahquil (Hargrove) and Rasheed (McCray) did a great job of shutting him down in the first half,” added Evans. “And Chris (Davis) did a good job of helping out in the second half.”
Norristown – behind the scoring of Davis who scored 16 of his game-high 28 points in the first half – led 25-18 at the close of the first half.
Brown – harassed relentlessly by both Hargrove and McCray – was limited to just four points.“Coach didn’t tell me I was guarding him until tonight,” said Hargrove who also scored in twin digits with 10 points. “We knew that he was their scorer and it was important to play hard against him.”
Norristown blew the game open with a terrific third period that saw the Eagle suffocating defense create 12 Upper Dublin turnovers and outscore the Cardinals 26-6.
“We didn’t handle their pressure well,” said Upper Dublin head coach Josh Adelman. “We had a better game plan than that, but their quickness was very impressive.
“We had to rely on Jamil to do way too much tonight,” added Adelman. “We needed to handle the ball, score, and play defense. We need some others to step up and help him out.”
The depth of Norristown was shown throughout the game. Evans – at times – looked like an ice hockey coach as he substituted numerous times and used his bench to its fullest.
“We had some nice contributions from the bench,” said Evans. “We played with discipline and played smart basketball.”
A rare bench player for the Eagles was senior leader Sheldon Mayer. Mayer did not start for Norristown because he missed a practice and did not play for most of the first period.Mayer – who was the Suburban One League American Conference Football Player of the Year – missed Thursday’s practice, as he was being award the Maxwell Club Award as one of the top 50 players in the area.
“Sheldon knows the rules – and follows the rules,” said Evans. “You miss practice – you don’t start.
“But he is such a great kid that it wasn’t a problem,” added Evans. “The kids all respect him and he is a great team leader.”
“It was a great honor,” smiled Mayer. “I got to meet some very good people – some very good football players.”
Mayer is also a very good basketball player. The diminutive guard scored all eight of his points on three successive possessions as the Eagle lead swelled from 30-19 to 38-19 in the third period.
Almost lost in the glitter of the Eagle offense was the play of diminutive senior guard – yes there are two of them – Davis. Davis nailed four 3-pointers and was 10-13 from the free throw line.
“That # 10 (Davis) can really shoot the basketball,” said Adelman. “I was very impressed with the way that Norristown shot the basketball.”
But the story line wasn’t just about the Norristown scoring – it was also the wonderful Eagle defense.
Jamil Brown is a great scorer and will score his 1000th point – but Norristown won’t be there to see the celebration.
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American Conference: Plymouth Whitemarsh (10-0, 6-0) remained unbeaten with a 68-54 win over Cheltenham (6-6, 4-2). The Colonials were led in scoring by C.J. Aiken with 17 while Rob Mansell scored a game-high 23 for the Panthers ----- Wissahickon (9-3, 4-2) received a 24-point scoring effort by Jack O’Neill as the Trojans bested Upper Merion (5-7, 2-4) 55-42. Francis Rafferty led the Vikings with 16 ----- Upper Moreland (2-10, 1-5) won its first conference game of the season with a 44-36 victory over Springfield (3-9, 0-6). The Golden Bears were led in scoring by Nick Giordano with 15, while Kyrone Greene scored 13 for the Spartans.
Continental Conference: Hatboro-Horsham (7-6, 4-2) received double digits scoring from Connor Poston (14) Mike Marvin (13) and Mike Brown (12) as the Hatters topped Quakertown (7-4, 4-2), 54-49. Dalton Nice led the Panthers with 23 points ----- Central Bucks West (6-5, 3-3) had three players – Patrick Furst (15) Ryan Fiore (12) and Derrick Dyer (10) score in double figures to defeat Central Bucks East (4-6, 2-4), 49-41. David Kiersnowski scored a game-high 22 for the Patriots. ----- Souderton (10-2, 4-2) held off Pennridge (3-10, 0-6) by a 60-50 score. Anthony Sergio led the Big Red with 16 points, while Kyle Peters scored 12 for the Rams.
National Conference: Abington (6-5, 4-2) is becoming a factor in the conference race with a 51-42 win over Council Rock North (8-4, 3-3). Jaymes Miller led the Ghosts with 18 points, while Aaron Morgan topped Rock North with 12 points. ----- Pennsbury (8-4, 5-1) kept a tenuous hold on first place with a 34-31 victory over Truman (5-8, 2-4). Jesse Krasna was the leading scorer for the Falcons with 16, while Eddie Valentine scored 16 points for the Tigers ----- William Tennent (6-5, 1-5) captured its first conference win with a 61-55 victory over Council Rock South (5-6, 2-4). Chris Weise took scoring honors for the Panthers with 16 points, while Cody Nowlin led the Golden Hawks with 16 markers. ----- Neshaminy (9-3, 5-1) remained on top of the conference standings with a 57-38 win over Bensalem (5-5, 3-3). Ryan Arcidiacono scored a game-high 19 points for the Skins, while Liam Kirgan scored 10 points to lead the Owls.
Norristown-Upper Dublin boxscore
Norristown 15 10 26 17 - 68
Upper Dublin 7 11 6 18 - 42
Norristown: Sheldon Mayer 3 0-0 8; Tyreese White 2 2-2 6; Jahquan Hargrove 1 2-4 4; Chris Davis 7 10-13 28; Jaquill Hargrove 4 2-2 10; Aaron Webb 3 0-0 6; Allen Yates 2 0-3 4; Tevin Bush 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 16-24 68.
3-point field goals: Davis (4); Mayer (2).
Upper Dublin: Jamil Brown 6 0-0 15; Joh DeCaermara 2 0-2 5; Andrew Derr 1 2-4 4; David Lerman 1 1-2 4; Khalil Owens 2 2-3 6; Ed Petrosky 1 0-0 3; Blair Weiss 1 0-0 2; Tyreek Magryder 1 0-0 3. Totals 15 5-11 42.
3-point field goals: Brown (3); DeCaermara; Lerman; Magryder.
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