Penn Wood junior Aaron Brown needed only 10 points Thursday to notch a career milestone.

Mission accomplished.

Brown scored 14 to lead the Patriots past Glen Mills, 73-49, in a win that clinched Penn Wood's undefeated season in the Del Val League portion of their schedule. Brown joined the 1,000-point club in the win. Shawn Oakman and Tyree Johnson, the reigning Daily Times Player of the Year, joined Brown as the team's leading scorers -- all having scored 14 apiece. A senior, Johnson also eclipsed the 1,000-point mark this year.

For those who don't know about Brown, you need to see the kid play. The 6-5 forward thrives on the wing. His jumpshot works well in his game, but he's at his best when he can get to the rim on his dribble-drive attack. He's even worked on his 3-point shot, too.

Brown emerged as a legitimate threat for the Patriots late last season in their district- and state-playoff runs en route to the PIAA Class AAAA championship. In the state semifinal victory against Mt. Lebanon, his worth really shone through when he shot 10-for-10 from the floor. This season, he has ranked within the county's top-five scorers from the first game of the year.

And scoring his 1,000th career point is only the latest milestone on Brown's resume.

Here's a closer look at Penn Wood's 57-40 win over Chester Thursday:

***LAUGH IT OFF. Clippers forward Ronnell Williams experienced the joy and ire of coach Larry Yarbray in one trip to the free throw line. When the sophomore banked in a foul shot, Yarbray laughed and smiled at his young big man. And when Williams clanked the next one, Yarbray screamed at him to get down the floor and defend.

***COLLEGE ROLL CALL. Three members of the nationally-ranked Temple Owls' rotation were at the Clip Joint. Chester All-Delco Rahlir Jefferson sat beside former Clippers coach Fred Pickett, while Scootie Randall and Ramone Moore (Jefferson's teammates with the No. 19 Owls) were seated in the row in front of him.

***1,000 POINT CLUB, PART I. Before the game, Chester honored Maurice Nelson, who scored his career 1,000th point Tuesday in a road game at Interboro. But Tyree Johnson got the best of Nelson. Johnson, who scored his 1,000th point in an earlier meeting with Chester, had the better game this time around, too. ...And he did so less than 24 hours after making his college commitment.

***SUPER 7 DISCUSSION. Speaking of Pickett, the longtime Clippers coach asked me why Chester had slipped to No. 4 in the latest Daily Times' Super 7. After giving my explanation, Pickett walked away. He wanted nothing of it. But he's a good sport. He came back a minute later, smiling. (Like any good coach, he knows not to take sports too seriously. That's the key.)

***1,000 POINT CLUB, PART II. One of Darby Township's finest was a referee Thursday. Derick Loury, who scored 1,137 points in his career with the Eagles, worked the game at the Clip Joint.

(Note: PHOTOS BY DAILY TIMES STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER BOB GURECKI. Check delcotimes.com Friday for video from the game.)

Tyree Johnson finally knows where he'll play his college basketball.

Penn Wood's senior point guard gave Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz a verbal commitment by telephone late Wednesday night. How late? Try 10 p.m.

"I wouldn't call it late. I wanted to weigh my options," said Johnson, the 2008-09 Daily Times Player of the Year. "I had to make the right decision and the right decision was to play for him. I had talked to my coach (Clyde Jones) earlier and I told him I was thinking about it. I told him that, most likely, I was going to do it (Wednesday) night."

Johnson had interest from a bevy of Atlantic 10 schools and had offers from Siena and Northeastern before committing to Leibovitz and the Hawks. Johnson plans on being academically eligible next fall. He said he's taking the SAT again just to make sure.

As for his first game after giving his verbal, well, Johnson was just trying to have fun. He did just that in Penn Wood's 57-40, Del Val League-clinching win over Chester. He couldn't help but smile after the Clippers' Maurice Nelson picked Johnson clean on one possession and then Johnson returned the favor on Chester's next trip up the court.

"It's basketball. I love it," Johnson said. "You've got to have fun with it."

Next season, Johnson will be having fun at Hartford.

What's that old parable? It has something to do with a tree falling in the woods... Anyway, a high-school boys basketball game started Saturday and ended Sunday. It didn't go to overtime. And it certainly wasn't televised, so there weren't any television timeouts.

So why did Archbishop Carroll's nonleague game against Mount Lebanon require two calendar days to complete? It's the fault of showcase tournaments, creating glossy games that have more to do with feeding bodies through turnstiles than with maintaining the well-being of the student-athletes involved in the game.

Maybe it's just this reporter's opinion, but it seems absurd that a high school game be started - and finished - so late in the night. Maybe the players actually enjoy a break from the monotony of 3:45 and 7:30 p.m. starts. Maybe the fans enjoy taking in a game that requires a few coffee trips to prevent snoring while watching.

I don't. I'm old school that way. It's a shame Carroll's Juan'ya Green, pictured, one of the county's finest scoring guards, posted 26 points and made 15 of his 17 shots from the free-throw line ... and nobody probably saw it. It's a shame All-Delco D.J. Irving scored 16 points and added five steals and four assists for Archbishop Carroll ... and nobody read about it in the newspaper.

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In games that started (and ended) Sunday:
Penn Wood 86, South Philadelphia 48: The Patriots absolutely pummeled their Public League foes in a game at Villanova's Pavilion. Four scorers hit for double figures, including All-Delco Tyree Johnson and forward Aaron Brown.

Parkland 61, Chester 59 (OT): The Clippers lost for the third time in five games and their second straight, in an overtime game at Parkland. Erikk Wright, a sophomore forward who scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, continues to emerge as a formidable player in the paint.

Despite what the subject line reads, this post is going to be about breaking down the box score from Thursday's Del Val League game, which went Penn Wood's way, 73-40.

The Patriots beat down the Bulls in every way imaginable. They shot 45 percent (30-for-66) while holding the Mills to 27 percent (12-for-44). They forced the Mills into 27 turnovers while committing only 11 of their own. They had an assist (15) for every other bucket. They outrebounded the Bulls, 33-26. And they killed the Bulls from long range, hitting 8 of their 20 shots from 3-point land.

"There's a bulls-eye on us, so every time we step on the court, we have to be ready to go get it," said Penn Wood point guard (and reigning Daily Times Player of the Year) Tyree Johnson. "I don't care who it is. i don't care if we're playing against girl scouts. If they step on the floor of this jawn, they have to be ready to play us."

The fact is, the Patriots are. Always have been. They pushed the ball up the floor, determined the pace of the game while killing any blow Glen Mills tried to accrue. They seemed every bit of the defending PIAA Class AAAA champions. And, until someone takes that from them, they will be.

Aaron Brown, pictured, and Will Brown had 17 apiece to lead the Patriots.

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EXTRA BOUNCES
---It was good to see former Glen Mills coach Craig Mellinger out and about at Harrison Athletic Center. I didn't talk to him too much, but he said he's enjoying spending more time with his two high-school-aged children than he used to.

---I don't like putting together 'Best of...' lists, unless it's the end of the season. But if I had to pick the best places in Delco to watch a boys basketball game, I'd put Glen Mills at or near the top. Whether they're ahead or down (by a lot, as was the case Thursday) the crowd is into it, the music is blaring and the place is jumping. Chester's at the top, too. And I'd say a distant third from those two obvious choices is Penncrest. There are so many good vantage points there.

Sunday, Penn Wood point guard Tyree Johnson became the eighth player in school history to score 1,000 points in his career. He did so nonchalantly, too, hitting a fourth-quarter free throw late in Penn Wood's 66-48 rout of Chester.

Johnson, the reigning Daily Times Player of the Year, finished with 10 points in the game. He joins Lamont Ferrell*, Rap Curry, Mike Holmes, Shawn Day, Ed Millard, Duane Johnson and Micah Covert# in Penn Wood's 1,000-point club. (Ferrell started at Yeadon and finished his career at Penn Wood; Covert started with the Pats and capped his career off with Chester).

Johnson's per-game average is down from a year ago. It doesn't have either him or Penn Wood coach Clyde Jones worried.

"Listen, it doesn’t really matter. I’m a point guard," Johnson said. "My job is to get everybody involved anyway. My points are going to come during the flow. I get them the ball, they get it to me. It’s as simple as that."

Added Jones: "The greatest compliment I can give Tyree this year is how, for the most part, he has really decided that he has other people to get the ball to. He sees himself as a distributor. And in this day and age, when it’s tough to get kids to not think I have to shoot, to see him do that is special. The sad part about that is it doesn’t put him in anybody’s rankings for scoring, but it makes him perfect for us and what we do. The other night, I actually had to tell him to shoot the ball."

Johnson is getting interest from Monmouth, Rider, Hartford and Siena.

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Also, here's some more from the boys basketball scene:
---Daily Times photographer Bob Gurecki grabbed some video and assembled highlights from Sunday's Penn Wood-Chester game.
---This week marks the first installment of the boys basketball notebook - the feature focuses on The Haverford School's Andrew Acker, probably the county's most improved player thus far. The notes include Glen Mills' Raheem Harvey, who sustained a car accident during the holidays and remains hospitalized, and Chichester's Brian Parker, who has an outside chance at 1,000 points.