Jenkintown falls to Delco Christian in District 1-A final

WHITEMARSH — Both Jenkintown and Delco Christian entered Saturday’s District 1-A boys basketball championship game coming off of dramatic semifinals games. Delco Christian knocked off Christopher Dock in double overtime while Jenkintown defeated Phil-Mont Christian, a team that beat the Drakes twice in the regular season.

“It was a monkey off our back to beat Phil-Mont,’ Jenkintown coach Wes Emme said. “The boys did such a great job to get to this point. 4-18 four years ago and now you’re in the district finals.’

Jenkintown struggled early from the offensive end. The Drakes were doing a solid job on defense but could not get their shots to fall on the offensive end. In typical Jenkintown fashion it was very hard to put away down the stretch, but Delco was too much as the Knights lifted the District 1 trophy with a 50-41 victory.

“We came out really excited,’ Emme said. “There were a lot of nerves. That shot selection in the first half was not where it needed to be.’

All season Jenkintown looked to Colin Mulvaney for his scoring. Like the rest of the Drakes, Mulvaney struggled to find his rhythm offensively and just when it looked like the Drakes were heading for a run, Mulvaney — again like most of his teammates — was forced to sit as he picked up his four foul early in the third quarter.

“Player control fouls are difficult because you want to tell the kid to be aggressive and get to the rim,’ Emme said.

Defensively, the Drakes only had to worry about two players in the second half. Delco Christian guard Danny Browne and forward Grant Fischer. Browne and Fischer accounted for all but five of the Knights’ second-half points.

“We wanted to mix defenses a little bit and give them some different looks,’ Emme said. “We went with a little matchup zone in the second half and seemed to catch them off guard but they adjusted and they did what championship teams do and they made shots when it counts.’

For now, Jenkintown will deal with the sting of falling one game short of the district title, but a PIAA playoff berth should soothe the sting a little as the Drakes’ season remains alive with at least one more game left to play.