Bonner-Prendie achieves first PIAA boys’ basketball championship in school history

HERSHEY, Pa. — Each day heading to practice, Korey Francis would walk by Bonner-Prendergast’s glass-encased memorabilia wall.

It’s filled with all types of Monsignor Bonner lore, from 1973 Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti’s Friars No. 11 jersey to a faded black-and-white picture of Super Bowl III winner Al Atkinson on Joe Namath’s 1968 New York Jets team.

Each time, Francis, Bonner-Prendie’s 6-foot-3 junior guard, looked at the wall, he aspired to someday be a part of it.

On Friday night, Francis and his Friar teammates made sure that happened.

Bonner-Prendie earned its first PIAA state basketball championship in school history, when it dominated District 3 champion West York, 62-35, for the PIAA Class 5A title at Hershey’s Giant Center.

It’s the first basketball championship for Bonner in 38 years, since 1988 when the Friars last won the Catholic League championship.

Bonner-Prendie’s win gave the Philadelphia area a perfect 5-0 slate, following Sankofa Freedom (boys’ 1A), Devon Prep (boys’ 4A), Delco Christian School (girls’ 1A), and Upper Dublin (girls’ 6A) state titles.

“I always wanted to be a part of that wall, and winning [the state championship] means more to me because I grew up [at Bonner-Prendie], my father played here,” Francis said. “This means we did it. This team will one day be on that wall with everyone else who won something at Bonner.”

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It was Francis, the PCL MVP, who led the way, scoring a game-high 18 points followed by Jakeem Carroll’s 14, DeShaun Holden’s 11, and Kam Jackson’s 10, with a game-high 6 assists.

“I always thought we could win this,” said Bonner-Prendie coach Billy Cassidy. “We knew we had something special coming into the season, but when we held a 6 a.m. practice on a Saturday morning in December and everyone showed up on time, and it was one of the best practices we had all season, that tells you something.

“Who loves practice? These guys did. This is a team that loves basketball and they wanted to get better. It helped me as a coach when you have a team that loves being around each other, loves basketball, and were willing to buy in.”

Things began a little dicey for the Friars, who fell behind, 20-12, with 4:31 left in the first half. But Bonner-Prendie, with its trio of quick, small guards, have had the ability all season to back-door opponents with double teams. Once the Friars began speeding up West York, the Bulldogs began to wilt under the pressure.

Bonner-Prendie forced 20 turnovers, outscoring West York, 28-7, in turnover points.

“We were lazy on defense, we weren’t playing the way we could play, and we knew that when we went into halftime,” Jackson said. “We gave up 23 points at halftime, and for us, that is a lot. We were giving them hope. We had to take that hope away.”

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Bonner-Prendie did. The Friars held West York to 12 points in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 50-15 after trailing 20-12. West York hit 4 of 18 shots in the second half to Bonner-Prendie’s 14-of-22 shooting, including 9 of 12 in the fourth quarter.

“When you have a bunch of guys who love each other, and believe in each other, they can’t be stopped,” Carroll said. “We felt we should have beaten [Neumann Goretti] in the PCL semifinals, which made us more determined to win this. Now, we’re part of Bonner history. No one can take this away from us.”

Senior guard Megan Ngo did not know whether to laugh or cry after Upper Dublin’s 54-33 victory over Dallastown to win the PIAA Class 6A state championship on Friday afternoon.

It marks the second state title in Upper Dublin girls’ basketball history. The Cardinals won the Class 6A crown in 2018 as the District 1 No. 9 seed. This season, Upper Dublin concluded its greatest season in school history, winning a single-season school record 31 games, going 31-2 overall, while beating District 2 champion Hazleton and District 12 and reigning Catholic League champion Archbishop Carroll to win the state title.

“This is a great way to go out,” said Ngo, who is committed to Fairleigh Dickinson and plays with her younger sister Lexi, a sophomore. “I thought we had a good chance of winning the states. I remember having a meeting with me, Emilia [Coleman], Tamia [Clark], and the coaching staff in the beginning of the season. We spoke about winning this. It was about how we would do this, and keep everyone together. About keeping everyone dialed in and focused.

“But this is tough. I want to go to practice tomorrow. I want to continue playing with my sister and these girls. We have three Division I lacrosse commitments and it’s so special how we came together as a team. I’m going to miss these girls. It is so easy to get distracted and we didn’t get distracted. We were having so much fun together that we didn’t want this season to end.”

Upper Dublin got out to a 9-0 lead and never trailed. Coleman, who’s committed to La Salle, scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, followed by Lexi Ngo, who chipped in 11 points going 8-for 8-from the foul line.

The Cardinals forced Dallastown into 16 turnovers, while turning the ball over just once, and outscored Dallastown 23-4 in points off turnovers. Upper Dublin was highly effective double-teaming Dallastown’s freshman point guard Denyla Handy.

“That’s why we’ve pressed all year because we have the athletes to do it,” Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten said. “It’s mixed emotions because the season’s over, that’s the sad part. This group’s just been so fun to be around and obviously the goals they set out at the beginning of the season, they made it very clear they wanted to win four championships. It feels great but part of me is sad I don’t get to coach that group again.”

Delco Christian won its first-ever state championship, and second overall in school history, by defeating District 6 No. 4-seed Williamsburg, 39-36, behind a team-high 16 points from Ella Stringer and 14 from freshman guard Dominique Good.

The state title concluded an historical run for the Knights (31-2), who carry a 19-game winning streak into next season. Delco Christian, the reigning District 1 champions, is a team composed of freshmen and sophomores, and will graduate only one senior.

Delco Christian won by holding Williamsburg (26-6) to two points in the fourth quarter, where the Blue Pirates went 1-for-24 from three-point range, and outscoring Williamsburg 12-2 on fastbreak points.

“I knew we had the right recipe to have a good team, it was a matter of could it gel together,” said Delco Christian coach Jake Godino, a 2008 Delco Christian graduate in his third-straight year as coach and fourth overall with the program. “Once we realized these girls liked being around each other, and they were good teammates, we started to see it. The girls are floored making history. They’re going crazy, our families are going crazy.”