BOYS BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Ten moments to remember from 2012-13 season

Perkiomen Valley first-year coach Mike Poysden cut down the net after his team won the PAC-10 championship this season. It was one of a number of highlights from the 2012-13 season for local boys teams. (Kevin Hoffman/The Mercury)

 

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com

Another basketball season went into the record books this past week ... a scant four months after it kicked off with hope and hype in gymnasiums around the area.

It was around this time in November hundreds of players at local schools turned out for preseason practices, dreams of hardwood glory as abundant. Some of those dreams started coming to fruition a month later when the teams got their game schedules underway, while others withered as the ebb and flow of victory and defeat came into play.

As has been the case in past years, individual and team successes were realized over three months of competition. Here, in no particular order, are some of those outstanding moments that made the 2012-13 season one to remember locally. 

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ALL PAC-10 TEAMS

ALL-PIONEER ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
BOYS BASKETBALL
First Team
Brendan Casper, Methacton, Sr.; Matt Crider, Owen J. Roberts, Jr.; Marcus Howell, Phoenixville, Sr.; Brent Mahoney, Pope John Paul II, Sr.; Zameer McDowell, Spring-Ford, Sr.; Purnell Wilson, Perkiomen Valley, Jr.
Second Team
Matt Forrest, Methacton, Sr.; Denzel Harvey, Pottstown, Jr.; Steve Leonard, Perkiomen Valley, Sr.; Mike Mansur, Boyertown, Sr.; Jamel Stinson, Pope John Paul II, Sr.
Honorable Mention
Ryan Corcoran, Boyertown, Soph.; Deandre’ Gadsden, Phoenixville, Soph.; Chandler Junk, Upper Perkiomen, Jr.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: PJP’s comeback bid falls short vs. Carroll

Photo by Adrianna Hoff/JRC Pope John Paul’s Brent Mahoney looks for an opening around Archbishop Carroll’s Joe Mustardi and Zafir Copeland on Tuesday night at Colonial Elementary School.

By Dennis Weller
sports@pottsmerc.com

WHITEMARSH — The Pope John Paul II boys had already accomplished their yearly goals and advanced a step further than ever before in both the district and state playoffs heading into their PIAA-AAA Tournament second-round contest on Tuesday night.
But that didn’t mean that they were willing to pack it in for the season, not even after giving up 10 straight points to Archbishop Carroll to start the game and falling behind by 15 after a quarter. PJP rallied to cut the deficit to just three with a little over a quarter to go, but Carroll countered with its second double-digit run of the night and ended the Golden Panthers’ season, 57-40, at Colonial Elementary.
Brent Mahoney scored 13 to lead PJP (16-10) and fellow senior Jamel Stinson followed with 10 points. But the Panthers had trouble containing Carroll 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Derrick Jones, who piled up 16 points, 19 rebounds, and eight blocked shots.

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BOYS BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Change of scenery suits Pope John Paul II

By Jeff Stover

Pope John Paul II's Nick Demeno (right)

jstover@pottsmerc.com

 A change of scenery proved therapeutic for Pope John Paul II this week ... a lengthy commute notwithstanding.

After two years of venturing to Philadelphia for the opening round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs, the Golden Panthers got a different venue this season. They traveled north Friday afternoon to face off against Bethlehem Catholic at Bethlehem Freedom High School — a 55-mile one-way trek, which took the team bus about 1½ hours to make.

But it’s a safe bet the players, coaches and faithful fans didn’t bemoan the extensive travel time for PJP’s latest state opener. Not after the Panthers came home with a 59-56 victory over the Golden Hawks that was the program’s first ever at the state level.

“The last couple years, we didn’t get it done,” head coach Jack Flanagan said afterward. In its two previous visits to South Philadelphia High School, PJP saw its season ended by losses to Philadelphia Electrical (62-56) and Boys Latin (70-49). 

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Methacton's late rally falls short vs. Wililam Penn

Methacton’s Justin Ardman eyes the basket against William Penn’s Jahaire Wilson in the second half of a PIAA Class AAAA game Saturday at Dallastown Area High School. William Penn beat Methacton, 67-63. (Photo by Chris Dunn/Digital First Medi)

By Colin Snyder
York Daily Record/Sunday News

DALLASTOWN — Survive and advance.

It was what William Penn was trying to do Saturday night.

The upset-minded Warriors of Methacton very nearly send the Bearcats home disappointed.

The District 3 runner-up Bearcats saw an 18-point, third-quarter lead dwindle to as little as a basket Saturday evening at Dallastown High School, before escaping with a 67-63 win over Methacton.

“Methacton played like their season was on the line,” Sowers said. “They were nailing threes with our arms up. I don’t know what else we could do.

“When we are missing foul shots and they are making threes, things can change pretty quick. We shot horrific from the line in that quarter. Everybody is good in the Quad-A state tournament. We wanted the W and I’ll take it.”

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Pope John Paul II wins first PIAA playoff game in school history

Nick Demeno came off the bench to score eight crucial fourth-quarter points while helping Pope John Paul II outlast Bethlehem Catholic, 59-56, to advance to the second round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs for the first time in school history. (File photo by Kevin Hoffman/The Mercury)

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com

BETHLEHEM TWP. — He came up with the battle cry for Pope John Paul II’s entry into the PIAA Class AAA playoffs.
Then Nick Demeno put his basketball talents where his mantra was Friday, helping the Golden Panthers outlast Bethlehem Catholic, 59-56, at Bethlehem Freedom High School.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: PJP, Methacton push on to PIAA Tournament

Brendan Casper (24) leads the Methacton boys basketball team into the PIAA Tournament, which begins Friday. The Warriors are due to face District 3 runner-up William Penn High School out of York. (Mark C Psoras/JRC)

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com

They’ve both navigated the tricky – and sometimes treacherous – waters of the District 1 playoffs the past two weeks, and remained upright during that span.
Now, Pope John Paul II and Methacton embark on a different voyage this weekend: The PIAA Tournament, which brings together Pennsylvania’s 30-plus top teams from four classifications for another two weeks of competition leading to state championships. The Golden Panthers, fresh off a second-place finish in the District 1-AAA tourney, will open today against District 11 runner-up Bethlehem Catholic; the Warriors, in turn, make their debut in state-level competition 6:30 p.m. at Dallastown High Saturday against District 3 runner-up William Penn High School out of York.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: All PAC-10 teams

1ST TEAM
LAST NAME FIRST NAME GRADE SCHOOL
Casper Brendan 12 Methacton
Crider Matt 11 Owen J Roberts
Howell Marcus 12 Phoenixville
Mahoney Brent 12 Pope John Paul II
McDowell Zameer 12 Spring-Ford
Wilson Purnell 11 Perkiomen Valley

2ND TEAM
LAST NAME FIRST NAME GRADE SCHOOL
Forrest Matt 12 Methacton
Harvey Denzel 11 Pottstown
Leonard Steve 12 Perkiomen Valley
Mansur Mike 12 Boyertown
Stinson Jamel 12 Pope John Paul II

HONORABLE MENTION
LAST NAME FIRST NAME GRADE SCHOOL
Corcoran Ryan 10 Boyertown
Gadsden Deandre' 10 Phoenixville
Junk Chandler 11 Upper Perkiomen

BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Six area squads prepare for PIAA Tournament

Mercury file photo Spring-Ford’s Shelby Mueller (5) and Boyertown’s Kaitlyn DeHaven (4) will try to help their respective teams in the PIAA Class AAAA Girls Basketball Tournament, which begins Friday.

By Darryl Grumling
dgrumling@pottsmerc.com

Spring-Ford’s girls basketball team earned its second straight District 1-AAAA championship, the Methacton boys and Pope John Paul II girls qualified for states for the first time and the Pope John Paul II boys reached the 1-AAA final.
All told, six area squads — including the Methacton and Boyertown girls — reached the promised land that is the PIAA tourney.
Here’s a quick look back how they each got there, and look ahead to their opening-round state matchups.
CLASS AAA GIRLS
On a rampage: The Spring-Ford girls marched through their district opposition like Sherman through Georgia, waging a scorched net campaign in which their average margin of victory was 25.6 points.

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PIAA Basketball Sites, Times Announced (with driving directions)

By Steve Moore
smoore@pottsmerc.com

The PIAA unveiled its state playoff basketball brackets on Sunday. PAC-10 teams earned spots in Class AAAA and AAA Girls and Class AAAA and AAA boys.

The complete brackets can be found at the links above, and a rundown of the local teams can be found below.

Click on the name of each site for quick Google Map driving directions.

• AAAA GIRLS (FRIDAY)

• SPRING-FORD: District champion -- and potential state title favorite -- Spring-Ford (25-2) will host Hershey (21-5), the 7th-place team out of District 3, on Friday night at Norristown High School (7:30 p.m.)
• BOYERTOWN: The 7th-place team out of District 1, the Bears (19-8) will have to travel a little bit to face Central Dauphin (20-6), the second-place team out of District 3. That game is Friday at 8 p.m. at Milton Hershey High School.
• METHACTON: The Warriors (22-5) finished as the ninth-place team out of District 1, and will travel to Monsignor Bonner High in Drexel Hill to face District 12 champion Cardinal O'Hara (21-5).

• AAA GIRLS (SATURDAY)

• POPE JOHN PAUL II: The third-place team out of District 1, Pope John Paul (18-5) will face District 12 runner-up Archbishop Wood (17-9) on Saturday at Archbishop Carroll at 5 p.m.

• AAAA BOYS (SATURDAY)

• METHACTON: The Warriors (22-5) enter as the seventh seed out of District 1 and will face District 3 runner-up York (23-3) on Saturday at 6:30 at Dallastown High  in their first ever state playoff game.

• AAA BOYS (FRIDAY)

• POPE JOHN PAUL II: As the second seed out of District 1, the Golden Panthers (15-9) will face District 11 runner-up Bethlehem Catholic on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Freedom High School in Bethlehem.

BOYS BASKETBALL: Pope John Paul II falls in District 1-AAA final

Pope John Paul II's Michael Cianciulli drives to the basket against the defense of Upper Moreland's Tommy Robinson during the District 1-AAA boys basketball championship game at Villanova University. (Photo by Brian Ludy)

By Dennis Weller
sports@pottsmerc.com

VILLANOVA — Sometimes stopping the other team’s high scorer isn’t enough, which was the problem the Pope John Paul II boys ran into during Saturday night’s District 1-AAA basketball championship contest. The Golden Panthers held Upper Moreland’s Matt Kohn - who had scored 28 in the semifinal round - to just eight points, but a well-balanced Golden Bear offense was too much too keep up with in a 57-49 loss at Villanova University’s Pavilion.
Brent Mahoney scored 17 for PJP (15-10) and Jamel Stinson 10. But 6-foot-5 junior Kevin McFall dominated the inside scoring for Upper Moreland (14-11) with 20 points and James Martin scored 12, including three baskets from beyond the three-point stripe.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Methacton edges Ridley in OT, locks up district’s 7th seed for states

 By Jon Vander Lugt
sports@pottsmerc.com

For the Methacton boys basketball team, Friday’s game was not entirely dissimilar from the last.
Much like what happened in Tuesday’s game, Methacton was able to jump out to a healthy lead. Up 16-6 after the first and 22-13 at the half, Methacton seemed to be in control of the game.
This time, the rails came off in the third quarter. When Ridley outscored the Warriors 20-5 in the frame and went into the fourth quarter up by six, it seemed as though Methacton fans were in for a re-run of the Coatesville breakdown.
That’s where the similarities between the contests ended.
Methacton took charge in the fourth quarter behind the play of Brendan Casper and Matt Forrest to force overtime and didn’t let off the gas in the extra frame, and left the gym with a 46-41 win, snapping their two-game losing streak and lockin up the seventh seed out of District 1 for the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Pope John Paul II ready to let loose in District 1-AAA final

Pope John Paul II’s James Bleming (4) and the Golden Panthers are set to meet Upper Moreland in the District 1-AAA championship game Saturday night (8 p.m.) at Villanova. (Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury)

By Dennis Weller
sports@pottsmerc.com

The pressure was certainly on for the Pope John Paul II boys basketball team each of the last two seasons as it headed into the last day of the District 1-AAA Tournament both times needing a win to keep its season alive and earn the district’s third and final spot in the state playoffs. And the Golden Panthers came through in the clutch twice, winning in double overtime the first year and by three points the second time.
Compared to those nerve-wracking experiences, tonight’s 8 p.m. District 1 championship game versus Upper Moreland at Villanova’s Pavilion should be comparatively stress-free as PJP shoots for the first district basketball title in the school’s three-year history after having already clinched a PIAA Tournament spot with a do-or-die semifinal win on Wednesday.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Pope John Paul II pushes on to District 1 final, clinches states

Brent Mahoney led Pope John Paul II with 13 points in a win over Glen Mills Wednesday night in the District 1-AAA semifinals. (Photo by Barry Taglieber)

By Dennis Weller
sports@pottsmerc.com

WHITEMARSH — Even after allowing what amounted to a five-point play to fall behind by six late in the third quarter of Wednesday night’s District 1-AAA basketball semifinal, the Pope John Paul II boys continued on as if nothing had happened. The veteran-laden squad kept patiently running its offense and going to the basket and eventually overtook Glen Mills for a 48-42 win at Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Colonial Elementary.
That means that PJP will play for the district title for the first time in the school’s three-year history at Villanova University on Saturday at 8 p.m. against Upper Moreland, a 60-55 winner over Octorara, and advances to the PIAA Tournament for the third straight time.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Methacton falls short in fourth quarter

Photo by Adrianna Hoff/JRC Methacton’s Sean Mann goes up for a 3-pointer during Tuesday’s game against Coatesville.

By Jonathan Vander Lugt
sports@pottsmerc.com

FAIRVIEW VILLAGE — One week ago, after its win over Souderton, Methacton coach Jeff Derstine stressed how important it’s going to be for his team to play all four quarters moving forward.

Never was that more evident than Tuesday night.

The first three quarters went well for the Warriors. Despite an officiating crew that was generous with the whistle, Methacton was able to establish and maintain an offensive rhythm. Its zone defense also kept Coatesville at bay, forcing the Raiders to take uncomfortable shots, and keeping them from penetrating in the lane. Methacton went into the fourth with a seemingly safe 42-36 lead.

From that point forward, the wheels came off.

Coatesville broke through Methacton’s defense in the fourth en route to outscoring the Warriors, 27-4, and coming away with a 63-46 blowout.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Glen Mills’ second-half burst ousts Phoenixville

Phoenixville's DeAndre Gadsden and Glenn Mills's Khafese Jones compete for a rebound during Saturday's District 1-AAA playoff game. (Photo by Barry Taglieber)

By Barry Sankey
bsankey@journalregister.com

CONCORDVILLE — Eric Wallace calmly drained a last-second trey from the right corner to give Phoenixville a one-point halftime lead against host Glen Mills Saturday afternoon.
However, that dramatic shot did not tell the story of the second half of the District 1-AAAA quarterfinal boys basketball playoff contest.
The visiting Phantoms ran into a buzzsaw in the form of a 19-0 run by the Battling Bulls in the fourth quarter that triggered a 60-41 Glen Mills victory over Phoenixville.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Pottstown’s season comes to an end in loss to Upper Moreland

Pottstown's Steve Steinmetz battles Upper Moreland's Mark Williams for a rebound during Saturday's District 1-AAA boys basketball playoff game. (Bob Raines/JRC)

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com

WILLOW GROVE — Was it a microcosm of a troubled season?

It could be argued Pottstown’s loss to Upper Moreland in the opening round of the District 1 Class AAA playoffs was very much so. But head coach James “Cal” Benfield offered a differing viewpoint Saturday, at the conclusion of a 66-46 setback that brought the Trojans’ first campaign under his leadership to an end.

“It can’t be lost that we didn’t have the same starters today that we did at the beginning of the season,” Benfield said. “We played most of the year with people who didn’t have varsity experience.”

As was the case with its 2012-13 season, Pottstown (10-12) recovered from a slow early start in its first on-court action in three weeks.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Pope John Paul II holds off Lower Moreland

By Dennis Weller
sports@pottsmerc.com

UPPER PROVIDENCE — Win and advance … lose and you’re done. There’s really no bigger incentive than that during the opening round of the district basketball playoffs, especially if you’re a senior.
And a couple of those Pope John Paul II seniors, who might have been playing their last game, were major contributors Friday night as the third-seeded Golden Panther boys fought off visiting Lower Moreland, 42-38, to move on to the District 1-AAA semifinals.
Jamel Sinson scored 12 and pulled in 14 rebounds for PJP (14-9) and Brent Mahoney scored 11, three of them on a bomb from the top of the circle that broke a tie with a little over a minute to go. Jake Cohen scored 18 for the sixth-seeded Lions (9-14).

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Methacton comes up short against Great Valley

Methacton’s Brendan Casper blocks a shot by Brad Sherry of Great Valley in the third quarter. (Photo by Nate Heckenberger/JRC)

By Jonathan Vander Lugt
sports@pottsmerc.com

MALVERN — The stage was set for Methacton.
Riding the momentum of their 54-45 win over Souderton Thursday that clinched their program’s first-ever PIAA state playoff berth, sixth-seeded Methacton went on the road to take on the third-seeded Great Valley Patriots in their District 1-AAAA quarterfinal match with high hopes.
Methacton spent the majority of the game down, and when it looked the bleakest for the Warriors, they stepped up and fought back. Their furious fourth-quarter rally wasn’t enough though, and the Warriors fell to Great Valley in a 41-38 nailbiter.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Methacton beats Souderton, secures state berth

Photo by Mark C. Psoras/JRC Methacton’s Anthony O’Brien applauds as Souderton’s John Kanas gets ejected from the game during Tuesday’s District 1-AAAA playoff game at Methacton. Kanas received two technical fouls and was thrown out in the second half. The Warriors advance to the quarterfinals, where they will travel to Great Valley on Friday night (7 p.m.). The win also secured Methacon a bid in the PIAA Tournament.

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com

FAIRVIEW VILLAGE — There was some uncertainly about when — if ever — the Methacton boys basketball program qualified for the PIAA state playoffs.
But there was no question about the Warriors achieving that feat Tuesday ... and even less about the effort they put out in their berth-securing 54-45 victory over Souderton.
Playing high-octane ball over the final eight minutes, the Warriors reversed a six-point deficit into a decisive second-round victory in District 1’s Class AAAA bracket. And by virtue of reaching the tournament’s quarterfinal round, Methacton guarantees itself of at least four more games in the postseason — not to mention continued contention for district medals.

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