Last week, we debuted on here a weekly post called 'No Excuses', in which I'll give my take on a couple of the night's games. Here's the second installment of this new feature:

1. With 26 points from Rahlir Jefferson, Chester defeated Erie Cathedral Prep, the host of the McDonald's Classic where the Clippers had gone 1-5 in three previous appearances, but ... appear on the fast track toward winning this one. Today they play Archbishop Carroll (Md.), a 7-6 team, for the title.

2. Roman Catholic and Villanova commit Maalik Wayns (pictured) almost doubled up Monsignor Bonner Friday night, 83-42. The Cahillites are unbeaten in league play, but ... they still have North Catholic (8-5) and Archbishop Ryan (5-7), the league runners-up last year.

3. Penncrest has followed three consecutive losses with back-to-back wins, against Ridley and Garnet Valley, but ... could use a lengthy run to bolster their District One ranking. Marvin Holman-Little and Rodney Duncan, who are having mid- to high-double figures, have been playing great of late.

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LONGEST BASKET IN H.S. HOOPS HISTORY?

In Spain Park, Ala., last week, a player rebounded a missed free throw with less than two seconds remaining in his high school game. The player - Jake Lee - turned around and fired an 82-foot shot that banked off the glass and in to win the game.

Curiosity got the best of the opposing team's coach, who brought out the tape measure just to be certain how long the shot was. "I measured it at 82 feet," said Clay-Chalkville (Ala.) coach Marty Smith. "I had to know. I had to measure it."

See the shot for yourself here.

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DID YOU SEE FRIDAY'S DAILY TIMES?

If you didn't, you missed three full pages of Delco boys basketball coverage ... including:

• A feature story on seniors Dan Clapp and Malik Carter, who have led a mini-renaissance at Chichester
• The weekly notebook, which leads with the powerful 1-2 punch of Strath Haven's Calvin Newell and Jack Roberts
• A Central League game story. I picked the game of the week, in which Springfield stunned Upper Darby behind 15 points from Zack DeVito

It would have been easy for Springfield to float Upper Darby a win Thursday night. Hey, the Cougars hadn't exactly been tearing it up of late. So when the Royals pieced together a late charge, the Cougars had their opening.

They did not take it.

Instead, they played old-school basketball (they hit their free throws, they made crisp passes and they read up on the rule book) to overtake the Royals, 46-45.

By far the best play of the night came in the final 15 seconds. Springfield junior center Wally Rutecki was prepared to inbound the ball out of a timeout, with his team ahead. Rutecki turned on the baseline and passed to sophomore guard Zack DeVito, who inbounded the ball to Rutecki.The furious passing confused the heck out of the Royals, and killed a couple important ticks off the clock. According to DeVito, it was a play the Cougars had used in a game against Ridley earlier this season.

"Our coach (Kevin McCormick) knew about that rule and we practice it sometimes," DeVito said.

"It's a good way to get the ball in at the end of the game," Rutecki said. "When they're in a man-to-man press like that, they have no one guarding the ball."

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KUDOS:
... to Strath Haven's Calvin Newell, who became the county's second player to breach the career 1,000-point plateau this season. He needed 38 against Haverford, which would have matched the county's 2008-09 highwater mark that he established three times. Instead, Newell got 39 -- one more for good measure.

"I wasn't really shooting that good but I just let the game go to see what would happen," he said.

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...to Radnor's Corey Dunson, who scored 10 points. He took a backseat offensively in the Red Raiders' 52-50 overtime win over Ridley, but limited Marc Dziadon to five points. Dziadon had averaged 14.5 points in his last five outings.