Chester and Plymouth Whitemarsh advance to the District 1
championship on Friday at Villanova University.
By
Gregory Goettner
Chester 85 – Souderton 57
Chester handled Souderton 85-57
in the semifinal match up at Villanova University. Chester senior guard Micah
Covert got things going on early for the Clippers scoring 6 of his 11 points
in the first quarter. Chester jumped out to a 46-25 halftime lead. The Clippers
outscored Souderton 24-11 in the third to take a 70-36 lead into the fourth
quarter. Chester coach Fred Pickett pulled all of his starters after the third
and turned to his benched for the whole fourth quarter as his team would hold on
to win 85-57.
Souderton had no answer for
Chester junior forward 6’5 Nasir Robinson who scored a game high 22
points. Junior forward 6’6 Russell Johnson chipped in with 12 points all
coming in the third quarter and Chester junior point guard 5’8 Karon Burton
dished out 6 assist and scored 7 points.
Clippers History:
Chester will be making their sixth consecutive
District 1 championship appearance. They have won the last five District 1
championships.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 61 –
Lower Merion 53
This time last year Lower
Merion defeated Plymouth Whitemarsh 62-55, but Plymouth Whitemarsh avenged last
season’s loss and defeated Lower Merion 61-53 in front of 5,000 plus at
Villanova University on Tuesday night.
Plymouth Whitemarsh opened up
the game on fire, shooting 5-6 from the arc to build a 19-7 first quarter lead.
Plymouth Whitemarsh senior guard Marquise Boggs had the hot hand early on
scoring 9 points for the Colonials (3-4 from the arc).
Lower Merion settled down
during the second quarter and cut the Plymouth Whitemarsh lead to 25-24 with
1:44 remaining but within seconds Lower Merion sophomore Greg Robbins
picked up his second and third foul (technical foul after second foul) which
landed him on the bench for the rest of the quarter. With less than thirty
seconds remaining in the second, Plymouth Whitemarsh scored back to back baskets
to take a 29-25 lead into halftime.
Plymouth Whitemarsh opened up
the third quarter scoring the first six points to build a 35-25 lead. Similar to
Friday nights game against Pennsbury (held Pennsbury to three points in the
second quarter) the Colonials held Lower Merion to only four, third quarter
points to take a 41-29 lead after three quarters.
Lower Merion cut the Plymouth
Whitemarsh lead to 53-48 but couldn’t come up with the big shot when they
needed. Plymouth Whitemarsh ended the game strong holding off the Aces 61-53 to
advance to the District 1 Championship.
Plymouth Whitemarsh was led by
Hartford University signee Anthony Minor who scored a game high 17 points
(2 dunks) and collected 9 rebounds. Plymouth Whitemarsh guards Mike Acquaviva
(10 points) and Marquise Boggs (15 points) combined for 25 points.
Lower Merion was led by
sophomore Greg Robbins, Robbins who came off the bench ended the game
with a team high 13 points before fouling out. Senior Eric Barefield
scored 12 points and junior Carl Johnson struggled at times to find his
shot but still scored 10 points.
Defense wins ball
games: In the past two games, Plymouth Whitemarsh has
played excellent defense. Senior guard Marquise Boggs may be the best
defensive guard I have seen all year.
District 1 – Playback
Games:
February 28, 2007 @
Spring Ford
6:00 – Pennsbury vs. Upper
Darby
7:30 – Ridley vs. West Chester
Henderson
District 1 – Championship
March 2, 2007 @ Villanova
University
7:00 – Girls championship
9:00 – Plymouth Whitemarsh vs.
Chester
District 12 News:
Both Prep Charter and Simon
Gratz advance to the Philadelphia Public League Championship which will be held
Friday, March 2nd at Temple University.
Prep Charter defeated FLC 49-40
and Simon Gratz defeated Freire Charter 69-35.
Later this week:
We will be coming out with a District 1 and
District 12 preview by Friday.
District one bracket:
http://www.district-one.net/brackets/boysbasketballAAAA.htm
Follow the
Philadelphia Public League play offs also:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=205270
If you have any questions or
comments e-mail Greg at
greg@metrohoops.com
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