Blogs > Gettin' Schooled

A boys basketball blog hosted by Daily Times reporter Christopher A. Vito



Wednesday, January 28, 2009

PENN WOOD VS. CHESTER: SOME OBSERVATIONS

By now, you probably know that Penn Wood pulled off the upset of Chester Tuesday night. (Junior point guard Tyree Johnson, pictured, was the hero. He scored 26 points, hauled in six rebounds and dished out six assists in the 53-52 win.)

But what you don't know is what else went down before, during and after the game. Here are some observations:

1. Chester's Laquan Robinson must like Beyonce, because he was singing the words to 'Single Ladies' in pregame warmups as the top-40 hit was being played in the gym.

2. The DJ manning the table slipped up, then made up for it. In bad taste, he let some expletive-laced songs play in a gym filled with children. Later on, though, he had the Penn Wood fan base in stitches as he played music over the Chester cheerleaders.

3. As Chester's Learon Pray lined up for the playing of the national anthem, there was one small problem: there was no flag in the gym. He mouthed to Chester coach Larry Yarbray, 'Which way do we face?'

4. According to a couple sources, only 250 presale tickets were made available to Chester fans. Which made for a mess at the front door, as a couple hundred more were turned away before the game.

5. I'm a big fan of high school mascots. Who isn't? But Penn Wood's version of the colonial patriot was weak. The person in the costume had rhythm and energy but the shabby suit was too big and the giant head kept falling off. Thumbs down to that.

The Daily Times was there Tuesday, with columnist Jack McCaffery turning in a great piece on the level of trust Penn Wood coach Clyde Jones has in Johnson. I handled the game story duties, and photographer Julia Wilkinson grabbed pictures and some video footage.

(Photo of Tyree Johnson by the Philadelphia Daily News)


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THE 1,000-POINT CLUB
Marple Newtown's Soutiri Sapnas needed 13 points Tuesday to break the 1,000-point plateau for his career. He scored that much in the first quarter.

Sapnas, on the fast track to becoming the school's all-time leading scorer, became the third player in Delaware County this season to crack 1,000 points. The others were Sun Valley's Tom Brennan and Strath Haven's Calvin Newell.


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DROPPING THE BALL
From the night's crazy-upset file, Harriton (6-13, 3-11) knocked off Penncrest (15-4, 10-4), 47-43. The loss to Harriton, a Class AAA team, does serious damage to Penncrest's hopes of attaining a top-10 seed in the District One Class AAAA bracket, which is announced Feb. 8.

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Friday, January 23, 2009

BRENNAN PRESSES ON; RECAPPING THURSDAY

The losing hasn't worn on Tom Brennan. It affects the Sun Valley senior, of course. He'd be lying if he said it didn't.

But the 6-3, 195-pound forward has kept his head up. He averages 23.3 points per game this year, nearly identical to what he did on a game-to-game basis as a junior.

His future looks bright, too, with either a collegiate career in either basketball (his first passion) or baseball. (Editorial Note: Brennan was the last player left off the Daily Times' baseball All-Delco team last spring. He had a stellar season in which he saved five games on the mound, batted better than .330 and knocked in 19 runs for the District One Class AAA champs.)

But I digress. Brennan is an interesting subject, in that he succeeds while his team flounders. Get a glimpse into his life on the hardwood.

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THURSDAY NIGHT RECAP
Glen Mills 60, Academy Park 38: The Battlin' Bulls (12-4, 4-2) went up by 40-18 at halftime and never looked back. They got 19 from All-Delco Aaric Murray.

Penn Wood 86, Chichester 50: Sophomore forward Aaron Brown, a Roman Catholic transfer, had his second 20-point game in the last seven to boost the Patriots (14-1, 5-1). All-Delco Duane Johnson had 16 as did super sub Will Brown, the lastest in a long line of talented bench players at Penn Wood.

Chester 69, Interboro 42: Twelve different Clippers (that's an unreal number, folks) scored at least a point to keep Chester (15-1, 6-0) undefeated in league play. Erikk Wright and Rahlir Jefferson led the way with 12.

For all the rest, check out Friday's Daily Times.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Q + A WITH DISTRICT ONE EXECUTIVE CHAIR BOB RUOFF

When Bob Ruoff takes calls from the media, it's usually to address one of three things:
1. The playoffs are around the corner.
2. Some news story recently broke.
3. He's asked to answer a variety of questions from an inquisitive reporter.

Tuesday, I fell into the third category. The District One Executive Secretary, Ruoff is a great resource in the Southeastern Pennsylvania high school sports scene. He was there for me last season, when snow canceled the Class AAAA boys basketball semifinals. He was there when I wrote about baseball pitchers taking line drives to the face.

And he was there for me Tuesday.

Daily Times: District One Class AAAA is getting another seed - its ninth - into the PIAA playoffs this March. How will it be determined which team goes?
Bob Ruoff: The eight teams that win their second-round games will make the state field and the ninth will be determined in an eight-team playoff between the teams that lost in the second round. The one that wins those three games gets the ninth (seed).

DT: Doesn't it seem funny that the eighth seed heads to states on a three-game losing streak but the ninth seed is on a three-game winning streak?
BR: I know. Who the heck wanted this ninth seed anyway? But if one team more than usual can go to states, that's what the whole thing is all about.

DT: Determining district-playoff seeding is based on a computerized system. Any chance I can get a look at where the teams are before they're announced Feb. 8?
BR: We can't do that.

DT: What do you mean?
BR: Well, (boys) basketball is not as easy as football, which has weekly power rankings on the Web site. We're constantly trying to get those scores. (With) football, it's once a week and you can get scores around the state. (With) basketball, you're trying like gangbusters to figure out what Conestoga did in a tournament in California. When we come out of the meeting at Council Rock-South that Sunday (Feb. 8), everyone will know.

DT: There's more to it than that, though.
BR: The whole thing is computerized, but those last seeds, things can be changed. People bring schedules from every team and their league and we compute it right away. When we leave there, we say to everyone, "Is everybody OK with is?" And that's it.

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Pick up a copy of Wednesday's Daily Times for a feature story on Tom Brennan. The 6-3, 195-pound senior forward at Sun Valley is playing like normal - he's averaging 23 ppg this season, just like he did a year ago - but the Vanguards can't seem to find their way.

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Friday, December 5, 2008

OPENING NIGHT: IT'S HERE

The boys basketball season isn't one day old yet and there are so many storylines to follow.

There are so many that they all could not fit into the Daily Times' season preview, which appears in Friday's edition. Here are a few others to keep your eyes on this year:

1. Is Soutiri Sapnas for real? The Marple Newtown junior (pictured), who lit the Central League on fire last season with his rampant scoring, will move to the point guard position this winter. Will he continue his torrid scoring ways?

2. Sun Valley's Tom Brennan needs 41 points to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for his career. That being said, Brennan averaged 24 ppg last year, so it might only take two games to get there.

3. Remember this guy? The school he used to play for formed into New Beginnings Academy, which will play The Christian Academy Friday night in the Delco Christian Tip Off Tournament.

For more, pick up a copy of Friday's Daily Times. And get out and enjoy a game!

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Friday, January 25, 2008

The latest from the hardwood

A TON of boys basketball material made the newspaper today. Be sure to check it out. Here's just a taste:

  • A feature story on J.J. Rapczynski and Tim Lang (pictured), the Garnet Valley seniors approaching the 1,000-point plateau.
  • A note on Springfield, which has fought through a tough season. The Cougars, plagued by injury, have been steadied by Lou Meindl, Paul Mooney and Sean Mulkeen.
  • No surprise here: Chester takes yet another leap in the USA Today rankings. Nasir Robinson and Karon Burton likely have something to do with that.
  • Sun Valley's Tom Brennan, only a junior, is closing in on 1,000 points. Keep an eye on him.
  • For the rest of the boys hoops notebook, check it out here.
Tonight I'll be out at game. Thursday night, though, I took a break from covering boys basketball, and got a chance to hang out with the boys track and field stars of Delaware County at the Indoor Championships. Be sure to check out my account from that meet.

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