February 26, 2010

Three of the King of Prussia Youth Foundation's Patriot teams advance to the ICBA playoffs.

The 9 year old Lady Patriots team will play Doylestown. Winner of this game will play the number one seed, Lenape Valley.

The 10 year old boys Patriots team (seeded 6th) will host 10th seeded Upper Moreland. The Patriots finished up with a 9-3 season after an impressive win over Upper Makefield, 51-26. After dropping their first 3 games, the Patriots won 9 straight games!

The 13 year old boys Patriots team received a bye for the first round of the playoffs and are seeded #2. After winning the ICBA tournament in December, the Patriots continued their winning ways and finished with a strong 9-3 record.

February 20, 2010

In Game 1, the 9 year old Lady Patriots, coached by Kelee O'Malley, faced first place undefeated Spring-Ford. The Lady Patriots stayed close in the first half, only trailing by 4 points, 8-4. However, the strong Spring-Ford team overpowered the Lady Patriots and coasted to a 20-5. The Lady Patriots will be playing Lenape Valley on February 27th.

Game 2 saw Dave Allen's 10 year old Patriots play Springford. The Patriots entered the game in second place with a 6-3 record. Thanks to Ethan Miller's 10 points and 5 points each by Martin Crowe and Adain Newell, the Patriots led 19-15. Springford tied the game 26-26 at the end of the third quarter. The Patriots appeared to have the game won as they lead 33-26 near the end of the game. However, Springford refused to quit and closed the gap to 35-33 with 27 seconds left. After an offensive foul was called against Springford, Vito Vincent sealed the win with a layup in the last few seconds as the Patriots won 37-34.

In game 3, the Lady Patriots, coached by Michelle Michael, faced Audubon in an 11 year old girls contest. Strong Defense gave the Lady Patriots an 8-4 lead at halftime. Audubon charged back in the fourth quarter cutting the lead to 17-10. Jessica Michael nailed a field goal late in the game as the Lady Patriots prevailed, 19-10. Anna Davis led all scorers with 8 points and Shreya Dalal had 5 points for the winning Lady Patriots.

The 12 year old boys, coached by Jerry Mangan, faced second place Upper Dublin in game 4. The Patriots tenacious defense kept the game close, as they trailed 19-16 at the end of the third quarter. The Patriots cold shooting doomed them in the fourth quarter as Upper Dublin won, 30-16. Jerry Mangan led the Patriots with 5 points.

Paul Kubler's first place 13 year old Patriots were challenged by the Paoli Wildcats in the final game of the day. Early on, Paoli could not handle the Patriots strong zone defense, as they raced to a 7-0 lead. The Wildcats quickly gained their composure and actually led at the end of the first quarter, 14-13. After trading leads, the teams were dead even at 25-25 at half time. The Patriots proved to be the superior team as they won 52-43 improving their record to 9-2. Nelson Blickman had the hot hand throughout, pouring in 15 points. Zach Yonda finished with 8 points and Chris McNeal contributed 6 points for the victorious Patriots.

January 17, 2010

The King of Prussia Youth Sports Foundation, home of the Patriots, hosted 5 Basketball games at the Upper Merion Middle School on Saturday, January 16, 2010. The Patriot teams play in the Inter-County Basketball Association (ICBA). The Patriot teams were victorious in 2 out of the 5 contests.

In the opener, the 9 year old Lady Patriots, coached by Kelee O'Malley, were looking for their first victory against a difficult Montgomery Squad. Montgomery raced to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter. However, in the second quarter, the Lady Patriots' tough defense shut out the Montgomery team and closed the gap to 12-6. In the second half, Montgomery scored 16 points and coasted to a 28-10. The Lady Patriots were led by Emma Andraka with 8 points.

In game 2, Dave Allen's 10 year old boys Patriot team faced the White team from Deep Run. Both teams struggled offensively in the first half as the Patriots led 9-7. However, Andrew Persuad and Matin Crow nailed 3 pointers and led 21-14. Deep Run stayed in the game in the fourth quarter but the Patriots hung on to win 29-21 and improved their overall record to 2-3.

The 11 year old Lady Patriots faced Whitpain in game 3, coached by Michelle Michael. The Lady Patriots jumped out to an 8-3 lead as Whitpain struggled against the Lady Patriots' 3-2 defense. In the second quarter, the Lady Patriots shots were not dropping as Whitpain took the lead 19-15. However, the Lady Patriots made a game out of it in the fourth quarter but Whitpain held on to win, 26-23. Haly O'Malley led the Lady Patriots with 9 points while Anna Davis poured in 6 points and Hope Roehrs had 4 points.

Game 4 saw the 12 year old Patriots team, coached by Jerry Mangan and Ted Pruskowski, challenge Spring Ford. Despite 6 points by Jerry Mangan, 4 points each by Tyler Klicka and Brian Loane, the Patriots never led and lost to Springford- 37-19.

In game 5, the 13 year old Patriots, coached by Paul Kubler, hoped to continue their winning ways as they faced Huntingdon Valley. The Patriots, winners of the ICBA tournament in September, entered the contest at 5-0. Chris McNeal and Zach Yonda both had the hot hand in the first half, leading the Patriots to a 40-22 lead. McNeal hit 2 three pointers in the first quarter while Yonda nailed a long range 3 pointer at the buzzard at the end of the second half. Huntingdon Valley refused to give up and cut to lead to 56-51 in the fourth quarter. However, Zach Yonda hit 6 straight free throws as the Patriots hung on to a 66-56 and remained undefeated. Yonda finished with 25 points; McNeal had 13, while Brett Paul poured in 9 points for the winning Patriots.