Kehler on Hoops

DISTRICT 1 CLASS 6A & CLASS 5A CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES: LOWER MERION AND CHESTER WIN Traditional powers Lower Merion and Chester won PIAA District 1 championships on Saturday afternoon at Temple University. Chester defeated Radnor, in overtime, 66-65 for the Class 5A title, and Lower Merion topped Norristown Area 68-57 for the Class 6A championship. Although […]

Ed note: David Kehler provides us with PIAA info. We will update this page as teams qualify and until the PIAA brackets are finalized. THESE 148 TEAMS HAVE QUALIFIED FOR THE PIAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT (UPDATED MARCH 5) This season’s PIAA state championship boys basketball tournament will be played from March 8 through March 26. […]

IMHOTEP CHARTER DEFEATS ARCHBISHOP RYAN 66-57 Imhotep Charter captured the PIAA District 12 Class 5A championship on Thursday night defeating Archbishop Ryan, 66-57, before a packed house at LaSalle College in a game that was closer than the final score suggests. Imhotep’s smothering and aggressive man-to-man defense was the key to the victory. The game […]

WARWICK DEFEATS CENTRAL DAUPHIN 74-57 Warwick snapped host Central Dauphin’s nine game winning streak in a PIAA District 3 Class 6A playoff semifinal with a 74-57 victory on Tuesday night. With the win, Warwick advances to the PIAA District 3 Class 6A championship game vs. Reading on Saturday night at the Giant Center in Hershey. […]

PHILADELPHIA CATHOLIC LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP: NEUMANN-GORETTI 61 ARCHBISHOP RYAN 57 Neumann-Goretti captured the Philadelphia Catholic League championship on Monday night at the Palestra, defeating Archbishop Ryan 61-57 in a game that was close and intense for every one of the 32 minutes of action. The largest lead of the game was five points, and there were […]

PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP: IMHOTEP CHARTER 55 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 47 The Philadelphia Public League championship game was intensely contested on Saturday afternoon at Temple University, with defending champion Imhotep Charter defeating Abraham Lincoln 55-47. Imhotep Charter led by a dozen points at halftime, but Lincoln mounted a furious rally in the fourth quarter to tie […]

NORRISTOWN AREA DEFEATS BENSALEM 50-46 Visiting Norristown Area never trailed in a PIAA District 1 Class 6A quarterfinal on Friday night, defeating Bensalem 50-46. Although Norristown built a double digit lead in the second quarter, gritty Bensalem tied the game twice in the second half and launched a furious late comeback. Both teams opened in […]

MIDDLETOWN AREA DEFEATS BISHOP MCDEVITT 57-44 Middletown area easily defeated visiting Bishop McDevitt, 57-44, in a PIAA District 3 Class 4A playoff quarterfinal on Thursday night. With the win, Middletown Area captured a spot in next month’s PIAA Class 4A state championship tournament. Bishop McDevitt still has a chance to qualify for the PIAA state […]

ARCHBISHOP RYAN DEFEATS WEST CATHOLIC 59-55 NEUMANN-GORETTI DEFEATS ROMAN CATHOLIC 62-60 The greatness of Philadelphia Catholic League basketball was on full display on Wednesday night at the Palestra in front of a capacity crowd as the loop’s top two teams were upset in the semifinals of the league playoffs. The view from here is that […]

BENSALEM DEFEATS WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 57-42 Bensalem advanced to the PIAA Class 6A state championship tournament by defeating visiting West Chester Henderson 57-42 on Tuesday night in the second round of the PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoffs. West Chester Henderson may still qualify for the state championship tournament, depending on their performance in the […]

ARCHBISHOP RYAN DEFEATS ARCHBISHOP WOOD 74-73 IN PHILADELPHIA CATHOLIC LEAGUE PLAYOFF QUARTERFINAL 2021-22 has been a basketball season for the ages in the Philadelphia Catholic League. The overall quality of play in the league has been at the highest level in over two decades, and, with the exception of a couple of teams, the competitive […]

LASALLE COLLEGE DEFEATS ARCHBISHOP RYAN 57-55 Host LaSalle College overcame a 16 point third quarter deficit to defeat Archbishop Ryan 57-55 on Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale for both Philadelphia Catholic League teams. Archbishop Ryan led for most of the game but faltered down the stretch as LaSalle hit both boards hard in […]

In a game between two of the best teams in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, Imhotep Charter built a big early lead then repelled a furious fourth quarter rally by visiting West Catholic.  The final score before a capacity crowd at Imhotep’s smallish gym was 64-56.  The view from here is that these teams will win […]

Roman Catholic’s vigorous perimeter defense substantially disrupted LaSalle College’s offense on Monday night propelling the visitors to a 63-52 victory in a Philadelphia Catholic League matchup.  Both Roman and LaSalle are in the PIAA 6A classification.   Roman’s defensive pressure forced LaSalle’s offense to set up closer to half court than the Explorers prefer, and […]

WEEKEND WRAPUP If you have a lot of faith in the PIAA District 3 power rankings, then you probably think that Saturday night’s 52-44 overtime win by Central Dauphin at Chambersburg Area was an upset. The view from here is that it wasn’t. Chambersburg entered the game 16-2 and ranked second to Reading in the […]