Archbishop Wood, Imhotep win at Hoophall Classic; Perk Valley girls make District 1 statement

It was a thrilling weekend of high school hoops in the area — and Springfield, Mass., where two of the city’s top programs traveled to compete in the annual Hoophall Classic, arguably the premier in-season high school boys’ event in the country.

Here’s a roundup of City of Basketball Love’s coverage from this weekend’s games.

In front of scores of NBA scouts and a packed house at Springfield College’s Blake Arena, Archbishop Wood’s Jalil Bethea had 40 points, including the game-winning foul shots, in a 73-71 win over Corona Centennial (Calif.).

“There were a lot of words going around that I’m not this, I’m not that,” Betha said Saturday after the game. “I just came out here, played basketball, and proved a lot of people wrong.”

On Sunday, Imhotep Charter took out Maryland powerhouse DeMatha Catholic, 58-41, behind a 17-point, nine-assist performance from Ahmad Nowell.

It wasn’t until a couple of hours after his Perkiomen Valley girls’ basketball team knocked off Archbishop Wood, 50-46, that coach John Russo understood the magnitude of what had happened on Sunday afternoon at Arcadia University.

Perkiomen Valley became the first PIAA public school to beat Wood since March 2018 in the state championship game, only the third team to do it in the last 10 years after Blackhawk High did so in the 2014 and 2015 state championship games. The last time Wood lost to District 1 teams was against Council Rock North and Upper Dublin during the 2006-07 season.

“Our team knows the sky’s the limit and the only people who can stop us are ourselves,” said junior forward Quinn Boettinger.

Academy of Notre Dame’s Lizzie Halligan and Conestoga’s Marisa Francione have been teammates in the offseason for the Lady Runnin Rebels, an AAU team, and they’re going to be playing together at the University of Scranton. But for an afternoon, for one final time, they were opponents.

Francione’s Pioneers topped Halligan’s Irish, 32-30, as part of the Hoops for Hope Classic at Arcadia on Sunday,

“I’ve always been on the same team as her,” Francione said. “For our first time playing against each other, it was a lot of fun.”

Halligan added: “It was a showcase game for a good cause. It was serious, but maybe not as serious, so it stayed fun.”

Bensalem’s boys have found all sorts of crazy ways to win this year.

But on Saturday, there were no triple digits in the final score, no viral video of a game-saving shot or buzzer-beating winner. The Owls secured a 63-55 victory over Wissahickon behind a group effort, extending their win streak to nine games.

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“This is a really resilient group and they’re fun to coach,” Ron Morris said. “We have so many different options offensively and defensively. It’s a culture, it’s something we’ve been striving to work and grow and we can always get better, but it is a culture of a family.”

Last year was supposed to be Kam Waters’ first varsity season and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s breakthrough in the Inter-Ac. Neither of those things happened — but maybe they were delayed by a year.

The junior guard is healthy, starting, and becoming a major reason the Blue Devils are taking opponents by surprise. His 16 points, including a few clutch plays down the stretch, led SCH to its biggest win of the season Friday night, 69-66, against Penn Charter, making it clear that last year is well in the past.

“This win means a lot to us,” Waters said. “We’re the underdogs in the Inter-Ac. … It sends a message that we’re not done.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.