Abington Friends outscored The Academy of the New Church 25-11 in the final quarter and came back from a 7-point deficit at the half to beat the defending champion Lions 64-55 before an overflow crowd at Holy Family University on Friday, February 24th. The 'roos found themselves down by 10 in the final minute of the 3rd quarter, but scored 5 straight points leading into the final frame. Abington was paced by Andrew Jones with 20 points and Brandon Williams with 19. Bryan Cohen added 14 points and Rob Keefer 9. Although Jason Love was held to just two points, he made his presence felt at the defensive end (particularly in the fourth quarter) with numerous blocks, shot alterations and defensive rebounds. The Lions, who had won the 2005 title by one point, pulled steadily away through nearly three periods primarily behind the scoring of Lenny Young and Sam Givens who ended up with 17 points apiece. Bart Lewis added 9 points, while Khalif Foster was held to only four points. Shannon Givens had 6 and Byron Void scored two. Abington finished the season at 25-2, losing only to St. Joe's Prep and Archbishop Ryan. ANC closed out the campaign at 18-3, losing twice to Abington and once to Cardinal Dougherty.

Abington Friends and The Academy of the New Church will play for the FSL championship on Friday, February 24th at 6:00 p.m. at Holy Family College. This will be a rematch of last year's championship game, won by ANC 59-58. Abington reached the championship game with a 69-49 homecourt semifinal win over Friends' Central on Tuesday, February 21st. Abington jumped out to a 34-14 halftime lead and extended it to 54-25 going into the final quarter. The 'roos were led by Andrew Jones with 29 points, including 8 dunks. Brandon Williams had 12 and Rob Keefer 11 for the winners. The Phoenix were led by Quaran Johnson with 15 and Justin Plummer with 12. In a similar result, host ANC opened up a 34-18 halftime lead on the way to a 69-45 win over Westtown. Lenny Young led the way for the Lions with 24 points, including 15 in the first quarter. Khalif Foster added 21 and Sam Givens 12 for the winners. Tate Warner led the Quakers with 24.

In games leading up to the playoffs, the contests on Tuesday, 2/7 were all one-sided. Westtown topped visiting Moorestown 84-46, while host ANC defeated Shipley 86-47 and visiting Abington beat Friends Select 85-29. On Friday, February 10th scores were a little bit lower, but there were no upsets. Host AFS topped George 54-22. ANC beat visiting Select 68-47. Host Germantown threw a scare into Westtown before succumbing 51-43 and Shipley lost at Friends' Central 55-40.

Valentine's Day saw Shipley top Friends Select at home 50-37. Carrington Wiggins paced the Gators with 20 points, while Peter Kada with 15 and Jesse King with 10 led the Falcons. Abington topped Friends' Central 78-45 in a preview of their semifinal contest. Jason Love led the winners with 23 points, while Jones added 19 and Williams 11. Kevin Smith had 11 and Galen Guindon 10 for the Phoenix. ANC topped George 67-38, led by Foster with 20 points. Bart Lewis had 15 and Young and Givens each scored 13 for the Lions. The Cougars were led by Paul Wenclawiak with 12. The final game on 2/14 saw visiting Germantown top Moorestown 45-41. Marek Loder led the Tigers with 20 points, while the Foxes were topped by Shawn Stutz with 14 and Santos Gonzalez with 11.

The last regular-season game was played on Thursday, February 16th, with Westtown winning easily over host Friends Select, 72-28. The Quakers were led by Tim Gallagher with 24 points, while Chris Edmonds added 15 and Lou Fox 11. Nine Falcons scored led by Cory Smith with 6.

On Wednesday, February 1st host Westtown used a 22-14 4th quarter run to come from behind and top George School 52-46. League leading scorer Sesooter Ikpah and classmate Tate Warner each had 18 for the Quakers, while Tim Gallagher added 10. Paul Wenclawiak led the Cougars with 18, while Jose D'Oleo had 17 ( 5 threes).

On Friday, February 3rd Abington remained unbeaten with a 64-37 win over Moorestown, after jumping out to a 25-3 1st quarter advantage. Jason Love and Andrew Jones each had 16 and Rob Keefer 13 to lead a parade of 11 Kangaroos in the scoring column. Santos Gonzalez had 17 and Bill Martin 10 for the Foxes. In another Friday contest, host ANC jumped out to a 27-5 1st quarter lead on the way to an 80-53 win over Germantown. Bart Lewis had 19, Lenny Young 18 (4 threes), Khalif Foster 15 and Max Spielvogel 10 for the Lions. Omari Phillip had 19, Marek Loder 14, and David Gould 10 for the Tigers. Also on the 3rd host Westtown topped Shipley 74-60 after running away with a 28-6 margin in the second quarter. Ikpah led all scorers with 38 points, while Gallagher added 24 (4 threes). Carrington Wiggins paced the Gators with 22 points, while Charles Dalrymple netted 12, all on threes. The final Friday night game had Friends' Central besting Friends Select 78-49. Justin Plummer led all scorers with 19 points, while Deitrich Brubaker added 17, Galen Guindon 15 and Dwight Dunston 11 for the Phoenix. Jesse King had 13 points and Peter Kada 10 for the Falcons.

Three games were played on Tuesday, February 7th, with the winners each scoring in the mid 80s. ANC topped visiting Shipley 86-47, winning every quarter. Sam Givens led 4 double-digit scorers for the Lions with 21 points. Young added 19, Foster 14 and Lewis 14. Wiggins was tops for the Gators with 14 points. Abington also won every quarter on the way to an 85-29 road win at Select. Again Love and Jones shared honors with 16 points each, while Bryan Cohen chipped in with 14. Peter Kada led the Falcons with 7 points. Westtown beat visiting Moorestown 84-46. Ikpah led the way for the hosts with 30 points, while Gallagher added 21, Warner had 12 and Lou Fox netted 11. Gonzalez again had 17 and Ben Spielberg added 12 for the Jerseyans.

Westtown would seem to have the inside track for the playoffs with a 2-0 mark against George and FCS and remaining games with GFS and Select. Friends' Central (1-1) has Shipley and Abington remaining, while George (0-2) has to yet to face both of last year's finalists, Abington and ANC.

On Thursday, January 26th host George School pulled away from an 18-16 halftime lead and held Moorestown to only 11 points in the second half on the way to a 42-27 win. The Cougars, who moved to 4-0 in the league, were led by Kenneth Anyanwu with 13 points and Jeff Stevens with 11. The Foxes were paced by Santos Gonzalez with 12.

On Friday, January 27th host Abington rallied from a 29-18 halftime deficit to best ANC 62-59 in a rematch of last year's championship contest. The winners sank 10 of 12 free throws in the final period and 22 of 28 overall. The 'roos were led by Jason Love with 17, Brandon Williams with 16 and Andrew Jones with 15. Sam Givens led all scorers with 20 points for the Lions while Khalif Foster added 17.

On Saturday, January 28th visiting Shipley pulled away from a 26-24 halftime advantage with an 11-5 3rd quarter surge on the way to a 50-40 win at Germantown. Rick Horshaw led the Gators with 21 points, while Omari Phillip netted 17 and Marek Loder 14 for the Tigers. Also on the 28th, visiting Friends' Central knocked George School out of the league unbeaten ranks with a 38-35 win capped by a game-winning three-pointer by Quaran Johnson with three seconds remaining. The guests held the Cougars to only 4 points in the 3rd quarter. Johnson and Phillip Harrison each had 11 points for the Phoenix, while Paul Wenclawiak had a game high 21 for the Cougars.

On Tuesday, January 31st Abington topped host Germantown 43-19. The Tigers slowed down the pace, but the 'roos' size and quickness proved to be too much. Jones led the winners with 15, while Rob Keefer netted 14. David Gould scored 9 for GFS. Also on the 31st Shipley jumped out to an 18-2 first quarter advantage on the way to a 72-28 win over visiting Moorestown. Carrington Wiggins led 11 Gator scorers with 17 points (3 threes). David Balderston added 12 for the winners, while Gonzalez led the Foxes with 9 points. The final game on the 31st had ANC build up a 49-35 lead after 3 periods on the way to a 68-54 victory over host Friends; Central. The Lions had a balanced scoring attack, led by Sam Givens and Lenny Young each with 18 points. Foster added 16 and Bart Lewis had 14 for the winners. Johnson had a game-high 24 points for the Phoenix.

On Thursday, January 19th host Friends' Central doubled up Moorestown 68-34, easily winning each quarter. The Phoenix put 11 scorers in the book, topped by Quaran Johnson with 14 and Sam Propper with 10. The Foxes were paced byJustin Horowitz with 11 and Santos Gonzalez with 10.

On Friday, January 20th host ANC jumped out to a 23-6 first-quarter advantage on the way to a 75-56 win over Westtown. The Lions had four double-figure scorers led by Lenny Young with 19 points. Shannon Givens added 15, Khalif Foster 13 and Bart Lewis 12. Sesooter Ikpah had a game-high 23 for Westtown, while Tate Warner had 13 and Tim Gallagher 12. Also on the 20th Germantown traveled to Select and pulled away from a 6-6 first quarter deadlock to beat the Falcons 44-29. The Tigers were led by Marek Loder with 21 points and Rasheed Stewart with 15. Bruce Jackson was high scorer for the hosts with 9 points. The final game on the 20th had host George School topping Shipley 55-46 after jumping out to a 31-13 halftime advantage. Jose D'Oleo led the Cougars with 19, while Paul Wenclawiak added 16. Rick Horshaw paced the Gators with 16 points.

Three games were played on Tuesday, January 24th. Host Westtown topped Friends' Central 89-82 in a game marked by 53 personal fouls and 81 free throws attempted. That's one foul every 36 seconds and one free throw every 24 seconds. Whew! The Quakers won it at the charity stripe, sinking 36 of 45 attempts (80%). Ikpah led the way for the winners with a career-high 39 points (14-20 from the line). He was joined in double figures by Gallagher with 16, Warner with 11, Josh Harris with 11 (9 for 10 from the line) and Lou Fox with 10. Johnson led the Phoenix with 29 points, while Propper and Kevin Smith each netted 18. Abington pulled away from a 20-17 first quarter lead at Shipley and topped the Gators 70-38, holding the hosts to 11 points in the second half. Brandon Willlimas led the 'roos with 17 points, while Andrew Jones added 16 and Jason Love had 12. Horshaw again led Shipley with 13 points. The final contest saw host Moorestown jump out to a 23-8 first quarter advantage over Friends Select on the way to a 68-55 win. Michael Young led the Foxes with 21 points while Gonzalez had 13 and Shawn Stutz netted 11. Peter Kada was high scorer for the Falcons with 19 and Jesse King added 13.

Abington hosts ANC on Friday, 1/27 in a match up of two of the top teams in the area and a rematch of last year's championship contest.

       On Friday, January 13th and Saturday, January 14th eight of the nine teams opened their league seasons in the charity tipoff classic benefiting AFSC Katrina relief at Shipley (who had the first date bye). On Friday, defending champion ANC used an 18-3 second quarter and a 24-14 third quarter to pull away from a 10-10 tie after one period on the way to a 65-41 win over Moorestown. Khalif Foster and Sam Givens led the way for the Lions with 14 points each. Santos Gonzalez had a game-high 18 points for the Foxes. Also on Friday, Abington Friends jumped out to a 24-9 first quarter advantage over Westtown and extended the lead after three periods to 55-27 on the way to a 62-42 win. Brandon Williams led the 'roos with 16 points, while Jason Love and Andrew Jones each had 13. Sesooter Ikpah had 13 for the Quakers, while Tim Gallagher added 12. On Saturday George School topped Friends Select 46-21, outscoring the Falcons 30-6 in the middle two periods. The Cougars were led by Paul Wenclawiak with 13 points and Kenneth Anyanwu with 12. Peter Kada led Select with 11 points. The other game on Saturday proved to be very even with Friends' Central edging Germantown 50-44. The Phoenix had leads of one point after the first quarter and at halftime and stretched it to four points after three periods. Quaran Johnson led the winners with 19 points (including 6-6 from the line in the final period), while Rasheed Stewart matched his total for the Tigers. Marek Loder added 15 in the losing cause.

       On Tuesday, January 17th George School visited Germantown and literally stole a win, 32-31, on a pilfer by Jose D'Oleo and a layup by Jeff Stevens with less than 15 seconds remaining. A final shot by the hosts did not fall. Anyanwu led the Cougars with 10 points while Max deLone matched that total for the Tigers, culminating with a trey with 30 seconds left to put the hosts up by one and setting the stage for the visitors' final heroics.

       December kudos are in order for Abington Friends which won the Hill School Tournament for a second straight year and is now 6th in the Inquirer PA boys' rankings. ANC is in the top 20.

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