Entering the final stretch now before baseball season begins. It’s so close I can almost taste it. Not much going on this week other then the state basketball finals in Hershey. Monday started with taking in the car for the yearly inspection and getting some new tires. Passed the inspection easily. Made my weekly stop at Gift Horse as well. Newer cheaper Happy Hour rates are in place and that makes me happy.
First off, mid-to-late March snow. I even put the shovel away.
Started the state finals off on Thursday by visiting Evergrain Brewing in Camp Hill for a pregame meal and brew. I managed to miss most of the AA girls game, no bother for that. The A boys game was played by Sankofa Freedom Academy out of Philly and Vincentian Academy out of Pittsburgh. You know these teams were breathing a sigh of relief when Kennedy Catholic upped themselves to 6A giving them a chance to take home the gold and in Vincentian’s case the chance to play for the gold. This game was a dunk fest by Sankofa. They may not have been bigger but they were faster and they got a lot of fast break points which led to a lot of dunks. All kinds too, alley-oops, two-hand flushes, tomahawks even a through the legs one. Sankofa wins 83-61.
After the game I headed over to Appalachian Brewing for dinner. Didn’t need much, lunch at Evergrain filled me up. Returned to the Giant Center for the AAA girls game between local team Delone Catholic and Dunmore. Congrates to Delone for winning. Then it was the AAAA boys title game between Imhotep Charter from Philly and Bonner-Prendergast also from Philly in what I would have guessed would be the most entertaining game of the weekend. Some big time recruits in this one. Donta Scott from Imhotep is going to Maryland (woo hoo!) and Isaiah Wong from Bonner is going to Miami (FL). It wasn’t. Wong had a quiet 29 but got little help from the rest of his team and Imhotep just proved to be too much winning 67-56. The score looks good but it just lacked that wow factor. Imhotep could probably beat some D3 college teams.
On Friday I headed to Marzoni’s Pizza in Mechanicsburg for lunch and a brew with a stop in at Troegs before the AA boys title game. Once again I missed most of the A girls game. I will say one year the A girls game was legitimately the most entertaining game of the whole set but in general it is not an entertaining game. It’s not a put down on Berlin Brothersvalley who won. The boys game featured Math, Civics and Sciences from Philly against Bishop Guilfoyle from Altoona. This was not a well played game but it was entertaining. MCS did just enough to win and by just enough I mean by the skin of their teeth. All Guilfoyle had to do at the end was to secure a defensive rebound and they would have won but they couldn’t and in the waning second they couldn’t get the ball out of the backcourt. MCS wins 54-52.
After the game the Senators were having an event that you could pick up your season tickets so I headed over to City Island for that. Ate some wings, watched some of the NCAA Tournament and then headed to Boneshire for a pregame brew. Then it was the AAAAA boys game between Archbishop Wood from Philly and Moon from Pittsburgh. Given Wood’s reputation I didn’t expect much but Moon took it to them and executed. Wood looked like they were getting on track in the 3rd with an alley-oop that started a big run and put them up but Moon came right back and held Wood off in the 4th. Moon wins 74-64 in what was the best game played up until this point.
And now, for the last games on Saturday. Visited Harty’s for a brew before taking in the AAA boys title game between local Trinity and Lincoln Park. Hey, no Neumann-Goretti this year! It’s been 2009 since they were not in it and it’s been 2008 since a non-PCL team won it. Could the rest of PA be catching up to Philly? For the first 3+ quarters this was all Lincoln Park. They looked like they would coast to a win and I could get dinner early as my tummy was rumbling but then Trinity started hitting shots and Lincoln Park started missing free throws. What was a 16 point lead dwindled to single digits and then down to 3. Trinity had a look to tie it and after getting it to 1 stole the inbounds pass and had a desperation shot to win it. Trinity’s Chance Westry, who is a freshman, had 40 in the loss as Lincoln Park wins 73-72.
Dinner was at Hoss’s in Hummelstown before heading back for the AAAAA girls game between Chartiers Valley and Archbishop Carroll, which Chartiers won 53-40. Then it was the AAAAAA boys title game and the final game of the year featuring Kennedy Catholic and their international recruiting base in Hermitage and Pennridge from Philly. On paper this looked like a blowout but it wasn’t. Pennridge led for most of the game and when Kennedy did get a lead Pennridge came right and they did a great job keeping Oskar (he only needs one name) from scoring on anything but putbacks, and he had several rim-rattling dunks that way. His future coach Bob Huggins was in the building to watch. Apparently he couldn’t get down on the floor level but a guy from Camp Hill who would push his own mother out of the way so he can be first in the door during Districts can. It’s funny because the Giant Center staff are on to him and open the doors at the opposite end from where he is. No one wants your seat dude! Anyway, regulation was not enough and this one went to 2 OT before Kennedy finally pulled it out 64-62. The play of the night was #4 from Pennridge stuffing Oskar on the baseline as he was going for a dunk in OT and that came after Oskar simply took the ball out of the air on a Pennridge shot.
All told this year’s games were much more entertaining than the last few years. Only the A boys game was lopsided and that probably will continue that way as long as there is an entrant from Philly in it against a small school from the west. This was a much better experience than last year that was for sure. But the PIAA still could only get like 21,000 people in the doors for the three day total. Even the local schools didn’t pack the place in as neither Delone nor Trinity had overwhelming support. Maybe the PIAA should ensure Reading returns to the state finals?
On Sunday I thought I was going to be helping to move auto parts at a place I do work for and that we were supposed to show up at 6 AM to do it. Well I was there at 6 but no one else was so I went home. Then I got a message that my brother’s dog died, so we spent part of the morning burying him.
So on a positive note baseball season starts next week, on the docket (weather dependent as always)
March 30 – New York at Washington
March 31 – Atlanta at Philadelphia or maybe flip flop that