PIAA State Basketball Tournament Boys AAAA

District 1 continues it dominance in AAAA; Norristown smothers Moon to get rematch with Chester in state final
By Gorden Blain
SHIPPENSBURG -- When the Philadelphia Public League joined the PIAA in 2005, it meant a potential bonanza for the District 1 AAAA boys basketball teams which saw its chances of playing in the PIAA State basketball championship game double.

And they have taken advantage of it.

For the second time in the past four years, two District 1 AAAA boys teams will play for the PIAA state championship.

And it’s a rematch of the District 1 championship game. Both 32-1, Chester and Norristown will battle for the state title Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center. In the District 1 championship game three weeks ago, Chester defeated Norristown 61-47, the Eagles only loss this season.

“After that district final with Chester, we wanted to see those guys again,“ said Norristown coach Mike Evans. “They worked extra hard to have an opportunity to get that one loss back this year.”

The Clippers and Eagles kept the rematch intact with hard-earned solid semifinal victories Wednesday night.

At the University of Pennsylvania’s Palestra, Chester and Pennsbury were tied 56-56 with just over four minutes left in the game when the Clippers launched a crushing 19-8 finish to the game to defeat the Falcons 75-64.

Guard Karon Burton led the Clippers with 19 points. Rahlir Jefferson scored 17, Kevin Green-Germany had 14, Nasir Robinson 12 and Russell Johnson 11.

At Shippensburg University on Wednesday night (paid crowd of 597), Norristown smothered Moon 52-33 with a relentless suffocating man-to-man defense.

The Eagles shut down Moon guard Brian Walsh, an Xavier recruit who averaged 20 points per game this season, holding him to nine points.

Averaging 60 points per game for the season, Moon was held to a season-low 33 points. Draining the energy from Moon with a free-wheeling substitution of a 10-man rotation, the Eagles forced the Tigers into 15 turnovers and Moon made just 15 of 41 shots (37 percent). They made just two of 14 three-point shots.

“That’s our plan,” said Norristown coach Mike Evans, “just to wear them down. It’s worked in our favor so far this season. You got to think chess. Think every move you make, use our 12 guys and eventually wore those guys down in the course of the game.

“Their offense ran through (Walsh). James Ramsey did a great job challenging every shot he put up. That was our goal defensively. (Sheldon Mayer‘s) pressure on the ball kept them out of a comfort zone. They couldn’t get an offensive rythym. The pressure Sheldon had on the guard, he did a great job doing that.”

It was another display of the strength of District 1 AAAA teams, who have flexed their muscle throughout the AAAA tournament and now reap the benefit of the new bracket alignments.

The inclusion of the “Pub” teams in the PIAA state tournament threw the east-west balance of the basketball brackets in AAAA and AAA out of whack. Too many schools were now competing for too few spots in the east.

To reestablish balance, the PIAA moved teams from District 1 and District 3 into the west side of the brackets and took away slots from WPIAL teams.

This reshuffling of the deck created the potential of two District 1 teams or two District 3 teams playing against each other in the state championship game. Before this year, Chester defeated Lower Merion in the 2005 state final.

And for the first time in AAA, it’s an all-District 3 state final on Friday night between Susquehanna Township and Steelton-Highspire.

Moon wasn’t in awe of this show of force. Until the pressure began to take its toll, Moon was tenacious in the face of Norristown’s man-to-man defense. The Tigers trailed 21-18 at halftime and when Keir Jeter took a pass from Walsh and made a turnaround jump shot, Moon was within one at 23-22 with 6:24 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers had a chance to take the lead on the prior possession but Norristown’s sophomore point guard Sheldon Mayer stole the ball and fed Ramsey for a fast break layup to maintain the Eagles’ slim lead.

Mayer had three steals and scored 10 points and now gets his chance to flash his defense against one of the top guards in Pennsylvania in Chester’s Karon Burton in the state championship game.

“It’s incredible,” said Mayer. “ It’s something we wanted to accomplish and we were able to do it.

“It all starts with the guards. Pressure hard, play your all, you need a quick breather, you’ve got a sub coming in. When you’re in, give it all you’ve got. It’s something I love to do. I love the sport. I’m going to go out and give it my all, defense, offense, anything they need me to do.”

Moon flat-out ran out of gas and answers to Norristown‘s pressure, going scoreless for eight minutes after cutting the lead to one. When Moon’s Aaron Johnson snapped the scoreless stretch with 6:15 left in the game, Norristown had a 36-24 lead and the game by the throat.

That Walsh had to leave the game with an injured knee late in the third quarter didn’t factor in Moon’s chances to rally. He later returned in the fourth quarter with his knee wrapped but Norristown had built the lead to 40-26.

Moon coach Jeff Ackermann lamented that the Tigers “never got the big shot.” But realistically, Moon was outmanned and did well to hang around into the second half.

“We turned the ball over four times the beginning of the third quarter and then when Brian got hurt,“ said Moon coach Bill Ackerman. “Brian scored nine points, that’s unheard of.

“That’s the most athletic team we played all year,“ said Ackermann. “They’re quick. They’re athletic. We don’t see a whole lot of teams that are that quick. You don’t see height and athletic ability like that in western PA. There’s not a whole lot of guys 6-5, 6-6 who can move like that and athletic. Even the 6-foot kid can jump.”

Maurice Briggs and Khalif Wyatt each scored 11 for Norristown, which has the daunting task of derailing Chester, which has won 24 straight and has drawn national attention with its No. 3 ranking in the USA Today.

This is the Clippers’ fifth state final since 2000. They lost to Schenley 78-71 last year and last won the title in 2005. Norristown hasn’t reached a state final since 1990 and won its only state championship in 1948.

“Soak it in all today and tomorrow go to work,” said Wyatt. “Defense wins championships. Offense wins games. That’s what we’re thinking all year. We work hard on defense in practice and it carries over to the games.”