Three undefeated teams had their strings end, Harrisburg, Hazleton and Elk County Catholic all lost. But, Schenley came in ranked as the top team in AAAA and left ranked the #1 team in 4A with a convincing win over Chester.
PCN's special Games of the Week Sunday, January 28: the 8th Annual Frankford Hospital Bucks County Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic
Schenley defeated Chester. Schenley came in ranked as the top team in AAAA. The Spartans led by DeJuan Blair
(6'8") with a verbal commitment to Pitt and his teammate Jamaal Bryant was receiving interest from Division 1 schools including Pitt and West Virginia. Schenley left the arena with no one questioning their #1 rank!
This game almost ended with a problem. Schenley was running out the clock with a sizable lead and only seconds remaining. Chester let the last few seconds run off without fouling which made complete sense. But as time was expiring, the Schenley player flipped the ball to the nearest Chester player which was poor sportsmanship, "a little rubbing your nose in it" As the Chester player walked away, he threw the ball back at the Schenley player, and players went toward each other until cooler heads prevailed. Now in a pressure packed situation like this, did it make any sense to line up your players on both sides and execute the now traditional handshake line between teams-no it did not! And give the coaches for both teams credit for eliminating this dangerous gesture at this time.
When this gesture of sportsmanship was developed by the PIAA a number of years ago, it was a fine idea in principal, but it is in fact a bad idea waiting for trouble. There have been numerous instances over the years since the handshake line was introduced that it has led to fisticuffs after the game. It is an idea that has run its course and should be eliminated.
Prep Charter 66 Harrisburg 52
The pre-game hype billed it as Harrisburg ranked #2 (AAAA) in the state by the Harrisburg Patriot-News and led by Alphonso Dawson ( 6'4") who had given a verbal commitment to the University of Delaware averaging over 18 points per game and teammate Ricardo Brown ( 6'5") with a verbal commitment to Towson University against Prep Charter ranked #2 (AA) by the Patriot-News, and the twin brothers Markieff (6'10") and Marcus (6'9") Morris who both committed to play at Memphis. The question was could AA Penn Charter play with the "big boys" or AAAA Harrisburg which was undefeated.
In 2003, Maureece Rice from Strawberry Mansion High School in Philadelphia broke Wilt Chamberlain's scoring records in that city. He had individual games of over 50 and 60 points. But during that 2002-2003 season, LaBron James and his high school teammates from Ohio visited Philadelphia to play Rice and Strawberry Mansion. Maurice Rice was quick, athletic and talented. LaBron James was quick, athletic and talented, but 6 inches taller. In this nationally televised high school game, James was matched up guarding Rice and he held him scoreless for the first three quarters.
The same scenario played out Sunday, part of Dawson and Brown's game is crashing the boards and converting offensive rebounds. Offensive rebounds did not exist with the Morris boys patrolling the paint. For most of the game Harrisburg was forced to rely on the outside game. Shots around the basket were rejected or were altered by the reach of the Morris brothers.
It was the hard work of Harrisburg coach Kurt Smallwood that kept Harrisburg in the game, he constantly changed defenses to force Prep Charter turnovers. But, relentless Harrisburg pressure could not overtake the Huskies of Prep in the end.
The Morris twins, Marcus and Markief showed why they have been recruited to play major college Division 1 basketball. When all things are equal: quickness, athleticism, and talent-taller usually means better! It makes the difference between just playing Division 1 basketball, and playing for a top 10 team in Division 1. Maurice Rice learned that from LaBron James and Ricardo Brown and Alphonso Dawson learned that from Marcus and Markief.
In
2005, 
