Friday’s Southeastern Pa. roundup: Imhotep Charter and Lower Moreland boys’ basketball advance to PIAA Class 4A semifinals

The Imhotep Charter and Lower Moreland boys’ basketball teams both advanced to the PIAA Class 4A semifinals on Friday, which could lead to the local squads playing in the championship next Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Lower Moreland edged Scranton Prep, 65-58, in the quarterfinals. Shane Cohen scored a game-high 21 points. The Lions will play Bonner-Prendergast in the next round on Monday.

Imhotep Charter topped Bishop McDevitt-Harrisburg, 63-51, at the Geigle Complex in Reading.

The Panthers controlled the contest from the start, and jumped out to a 34-20 lead halftime.

Imhotep Charter coach Andre Noble said his squad took exploited Bishop-McDevitt’s lack of size in the paint and fed the ball to senior forward Chereef Knox and junior forward Elijah Taylor. Knox scored 20 points and Taylor added 18.

“Those two guys really led us,” Noble said.

“Our guys did a good job of getting the ball inside and being aggressive at the rim,” he added. “Elijah is being aggressive and being the post player we need him to be on both ends.”

The Panthers will play Hickory on Monday in the semifinals. A time and location for the game have yet to be determined.

Noble and his squad have been down this road before. Two wins stand in Imhotep’s way of winning a third straight state championship.

But Noble is taking it one game at a time, starting with Hickory next week.

“They’re not going to come in and lay down for us,” Noble said. “So in order to be state champions we need to win two tough games. We need to do a great job in preparation and make sure we compete the right way.”

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Scott Spann’s 34 points led Sankofa Freedom past Faith Christian, 75-46, in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 1A playoffs. Rider recruit Khalil Turner notched 18 points and James Savage added nine. The Warriors will face Lourdes Regional on Monday in the semifinals.

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Daeshon Shepherd scored 16 points as Archbishop Wood defeated Pottsville, 55-43, in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs. Jaylen Stinson recorded 15 points and Rahsool Diggins tallied 14. The Vikings will take on Abington Heights, which beat Sun Valley, in the semifinals on Monday.

The Neumann-Goretti girls’ basketball team fell to Dunmore, 54-47, in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals. The loss ended the Saints’ opportunity to win a fifth straight state championship.

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In other Class 3A action, Imhotep Charter, which won the Public League title last month over Audenried, lost to Trinity, 47-43. Zamara Haynes scored 13 points and Alana Swift had 12 for the Panthers.

Downingtown West improved to 2-0 by beating Oxford, 7-0. Ben Kane and Rahul Manda both won their singles matches, 6-0, 6-0. All four of the Whippets’ doubles pairs earned 6-0, 6-0 victories. Tarush Nallathambi and Saket Varanasi competed in the top doubles spot.

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Avon Grove beat Sun Valley, 7-0, in a Ches-Mont League matchup. None of Avon Grove’s singles players dropped a game. Joe Yarbrough, Ben Nelson and Andrew Lisi picked up singles wins.

In doubles, Hayden Weber and Matt Cordell earned a 6-0, 6-2 win in the top spot. The pairs of Brady Buchwald and Max Dolan and Josh Mebane and Alex Farina both earned 6-0, 6-0 victories. Isaac Meth and Aidan Hannon won their match, 6-0, 6-2.

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Episcopal Academy earned its first win of the season by beating Friends’ Central, 5-0.

The Haverford School scored five runs in the third inning of its 10-0 win over Germantown Friends in six innings. Starting pitcher Zak Summy pitched three scoreless innings and struck out five batters for the Fords. Calvin Costner hit a home run and drove in two. Sean Clark also hit a home run and stole a base. Logan Keller had two hits and three RBIs for the Fords. ​