Lenny Young drove for a layup with 11 seconds remaining to give the Academy of the New Church a hard-fought 59-58 victory over Abington in the championship game played at Arcadia University on Friday, February 25th. After Young's basket the Lions held off the two-time defending champions to notch their second boys' basketball championship. Young led the winners with 17 points, while Sam Givens added 15 for ANC. Jason Love paced a balanced Abington attack with 15 points, while Aron Cohen had 14 and Matt Nunn 12. ANC took a 5 point lead after one period and maintained it at halftime. Abington narrowed the gap to four points after three quarters and then finally took the lead in the final stanza leading up to Young's heroics.
ANC made it to the championship game with another hard fought win, 49-46 over Friends' Central. A pair of free throws by Khalif Foster with 48 seconds left gave the Lions the lead and another pair by Young with 12.7 seconds left iced the win. It was a seesaw game with ANC winning the first quarter 13-8, while the Phoenix dominated the second period 16-5. After the intermission the Lions came back with a 17-5 burst. Young led the winners with 20 points, while Foster had 12 and Givens 10. Galen Guindon led the visitors with 17 points, while Kyree Brown netted 14.
In the other semifinal Abington exploded in the middle two periods after trailing visiting Moorestown 15-11 after the first stanza. The 'roos outscored the Foxes 40-16 over the middle 16 minutes and then tacked on a 31-17 exclamation point in the final quarter for a 82-48 win. Five Abington players hit for double figures led by led by Doug Davis, Andrew Jones and Cohen each with 15. Rob Keefer added 13 and Love 11 for the 'roos. Matt Spuler had 17 and Travis Brinster 10 for Moorestown.
The final two rounds of league play took place on Friday, February 11th and Tuesday, February 15th. There were no upsets among those eight games. On Friday host ANC topped George 52-33, taking leads of 12-4, 25-10 and 46-15 after the first three breaks. Young had 18 and Foster had 17 for the Lions, while the Cougars were paced by Mike Bernardini with 10. Westtown used a 26-13 third quarter advantage to pull away from a one-point halftime deficit against visiting Germantown on the way to a 61-46 win. Sesooter Ikpah with 19 and Tate Warner with 17 led the winners. Bo Philip had a game high 22 for the Tigers. Host Abington jumped out to a 42-17 halftime lead over Friends Select on the way to a 71-47 win. Love had 19, Jones 14 and Nunn 10 for the 'roos, while John Noonan poured in 26 for the Falcons. Moorestown topped visiting Friends' Central 78-62, after leading by 41-24 at the half. The Foxes had four players notch double digits: Brinster 22, Spuler 19, Ryan McWilliams 14 and Ben Spielberg 13. Brown led all scorers with 26, while Justin Plummer added 15 and Guindon had 10 for the Phoenix.
On Tuesday Friends' Central visited Germantown and was pushed to the limit to beat the hosts 54-53 and claim the final playoff spot. The Tigers had a shot to win at the buzzer which rimmed out. Brown again led all scorers with 30, while Guindon had 11. Philip and Matt Stitt (4 threes) each had 16 and Marek Loder had 12 for GFS. ANC won each quarter at Westtown on the way to a 73-40 win. Foster had 23, Givens 18, Tamir Johnson 12 and Young 11 for the Lions, while Ikpah led the hosts with 20. Abington clinched second place with a 75-53 homecourt win over Moorestown. Love led the winners with 20, while Nunn added 15 and Keefer 14. Brinster led Moorestown with 17. George School needed a 17-2 fourth quarter burst to deny visiting Friends Select its first league win by a 39-37 margin. Bernardini had 11 for the winners, while Noonan led Select with 24.
Westtown retained the JV Tournament title on Saturday, February 12th, beating Friends' Central in the championship game by 22-20.
On Tuesday, January 25th visiting Westtown topped George School 50-48 on two free throws by Kojo Tweedie with 9 seconds left. Westtown opened up a 15-7 lead after one quarter and then held off the Cougars in the 4th quarter as they surged back into the game. Sesooter Ikpah led the winners with 18 points, while Tim Gallagher added 11 and Tate Warner 10. Mike Bernardini led all scorers with 28 points while Paul Wenclawiak netted 11 for George. In other 3rd round action on Friday, January 28th Abington visited Friends' Central and took home a convincing 72-47 win. The 'roos jumped out to a 21-12 lead after one period on the way to a comfortable 43-19 halftime advantage. Abington used a balanced scoring attack with 7 players having 8 or more points, led by Jason Love with 18 and Bryan Cohen with 13. Kyree Brown led the Phoenix with 18. Also on the 28th, in a game with a similar scoring pattern, ANC topped host Friends Select 75-45, after jumping out to leads of 26-6 and 49-23. Lenny Young led the Lions with 27 points including three 3's. Sam Givens added 23 and Tamir Johnson 16 for the winners, while John Noonan paced the Falcons with 26 points (also three 3's). The final 3rd round game was on Saturday, January 29th and saw visiting Moorestown pull away with a 24-7 4th quarter to beat Germantown 68-54. Travis Brinster paced a balanced attack for the Foxes with 24 points, while Matt Spuler added 16, Ryan McWilliams 15 and Ben Spielberg 11. Bo Philip paced the Tigers with 19 points and Jordan Tucker chipped in 16.
Fourth round action all took place on Tuesday, February 1st. Host Abington topped Germantown 75-58 after jumping out to a 33-18 halftime advantage. Andrew Jones led the winners with 20 points, while Rob Keefer added 14 and Love 13. Philip again led the Tigers with 12, while Brandon Wilson netted 11. Host Westtown outscored Friends Select 35-17 over the middle two periods to overcome a 14-7 first quarter deficit on the way to a 64-58 victory. Ikpah led 'town with 27, while Gallagher added 10. Noonan topped all scorers with 32 (11-13 from the charity stripe). Host Moorestown also pulled away over the middle two periods with a 45-21 advantage over George School to ice a 4 point advantage after the 1st quarter on the way to a 79-48 win. Brinster, Spuler and McWilliams again paced the winners with 25, 17 and 15 respectively. Wenclawiak led the Cougars with 17, while Bernardini was held to 12. Host ANC pulled away from a 6-point halftime advantage on the way to a 73-53 win over Friends' Central. Young led the Lions with 24, while Givens added 20 and Johnson and Bart Lewis had 10 each. Brown led all scorers with 29, while Galen Guindon added 14 for the Phoenix.
Fifth round play began on Thursday, February 3rd with visiting Abington jumping out to a 12-4 1st quarter lead and never looking back on the way to a 65-41 win at George. Each team had nine scorers with Matt Nunn leading the winners with 16. He was joined in double figures by Love with 13 and Doug Davis with 10. Bernardini paced George with 15. The other 5th round games took place on Friday, February 4th. ANC topped host Germantown 77-60, doubling up the Tigers in the first half 42-21 and then not letting the persistent hosts get closer than 10 during some second half runs. Khalief Foster led the Lions with 29 points, while Young had 18, Givens 14 and Johnson 11. Philip had 17, Marek Loder 14, Tucker 12 and Matt Stitt 10 for the Tigers. Host Friends' Central overcame an 8-point first-quarter to top Westtown 76-68. Brown again led the Phoenix with 28, while Justin Plummer added 24 and Guindon 12. Ikpah paced the visitors with 28 while Tate Warner hit for 17. In the final Friday game Moorestown exploded for a 21-5 first quarter on the way to an 83-48 win over Friends Select at the Falcondome. Brinster had 24, Shawn Stutz 21 and Spuler 20 for the winners, while Noonan again led all scorers 34.
The second round of league games played on Friday, January 21st was highlighted by ANC's 50-47 homecourt win over defending champion Abington. The Lions used a 12-6 third quarter advantage to overcome a 25-22 halftime deficit and then held on through the final period for the 3 point win. Lenny Young paced the winners with 15 points while Sam Givens added 11. Jason Love had 11 points and Aron Cohen 10 for the 'roos. In other games, visiting Friends' Central topped Friends Select 61-45, despite John Noonan's 38 points. Kyree Brown led the Phoenix with 17 points, while Phil Harrison added 14 and Justin Plummer 12. Host George School topped Germantown Friends 66-47, using an 18-4 second quarter burst to put the Tigers in a big hole. Mike Bernardini led the Cougars with 23 points, while Paul Wenclawiak added 17 and Thomas Chmielewski netted 10. Jordan Tucker scored 17 for the visitors, while Bo Philip had 13 and Matt Stitt 10. Moorestown overcame an 11 point halftime deficit with a remarkable 29-4 third quarter effort to top visiting Westtown 57-46. Travis Brinster led the Foxes with 19 points, while Matt Spuler and Ryan McWilliams each had 16. Sesooter Ikpah topped Westtown with 15.
VOLUME XXII NO. 1 January 16, 2005
TIPOFF TOURNAMENT RAISES THE CURTAIN
On Friday, January 14th all eight teams opened their league seasons in the charity tipoff classic benefiting AFSC tsunami relief at Haverford College and Immaculata University. Germantown, despite being charitable at the charity stripe, managed to edge Friends Select in overtime 39-36. The Tigers shot 6-23 from the free throw line, including 2-10 in overtime as they struggled to put away the Falcons who relied on senior John Noonan’s 30 points (4 threes). Noonan was the game’s leading scorer by a wide margin despite a stifling defensive effort by Tiger senior Dean Bumbacca. Senior Jordan Tucker’s layup off the tap in OT proved to be the winning basket and the only field goal in the extra period. Senior Matt Stitt scored 12 for GFS, while Tucker added 11. In the second game at Immaculata Abington jumped out to a 19-4 first quarter advantage and cruised past Westtown 65-45. The ‘roos, playing without senior starter Aaron Cohen who was sidelined with an eye injury, placed four other starters in double figures, led by junior Jason Love with 16. Classmate Andrew Jones tallied 15, while senior Matt Nunn and soph Doug Davis each had 12. Westtown was paced by juniors Kojo Tweedie with 14 points and Sesooter Ikpah with 11.
At Haverford, Friends’ Central overcame a 14-12 first quarter deficit and outscored George School 21-13 over the middle two periods on the way to a 40-35 win. The Phoenix were led by Kyree Brown with 17 points, while Cougar senior Mike Bernardini led all scorers with 22 points. The other game at Haverford proved to be the high scoring contest of the night as Academy of the New Church opened up leads of 25-10 and 43-24 while coasting to a 91-65 win over Moorestown. The young Lions placed 10 players in the scoring column and 5 in double digits. Freshman Lenny Young (19), soph Khalief Foster (16), frosh Tamir Johnson (15) and frosh Sam Givens (14) paced the winners. Matt Spuler with 23 and Travis Brinster with 22 were tops for the Foxes.
December kudos are in order for Abington Friends which won the Hill School Tournament and to Friends Select star John Noonan who passed the 1000 point mark for his career.