PW’s Malone, GA’s Goodman named All-State

Philadelphia and its suburbs are one of the biggest and best basketball hotspots in the entire country.

District 1, District 12 and leagues like the Inter-Ac and Friends Schools League churn out high-caliber players year after year and plenty of southeastern PA teams are among those competing for state titles. Making an all-state team in Pennsylvania isn’t easy, but athletes from the region are usually well represented when those lists do come out.

It was no different this year when the Pennsylvania Sports Writers All-State boys basketball teams were released on Saturday. Expectedly, District 12 teams had heavy representation but the Times Herald, Reporter and Montgomery Media areas also got their share of nods.

Prior to the season, plenty of people pointed to Plymouth Whitemarsh as a likely District I AAAA champion. With an experienced core, a veteran coach in Jim Donofrio and a star in senior Xzavier Malone, there was plenty to like about the Colonials.

PW delievered, winning an SOL American title, the district title and advancing to the state semifinals before falling to eventual state champ Roman Catholic. All season long, Malone came up big time after time for his team, building on a breakout junior season after he had transferred from Martin Luther King.

Averaging 20 points per game with a smooth outside shot and usually at least one highlight dunk, the 6-foot-3 Malone was a second team all-state selection. Athletic and talented, Malone will play collegiately at Division I Rider next year.

The last two years, one of the hidden gems in District I resided in Lower Moreland. Adopting a high-tempo, perimeter-shot seeking style, the Lions rolled up plenty of wins and sank a lot of 3-pointers. The catalyst for all of it was point guard Danny Duffey, a guy capable of doing it all.

Surrounded by an army of 3-point shooters and scrappy defenders, Duffey made the undersized Lions hum, averaging 20 points as he reached 1,000 points and 500 assists for his career. Lower Moreland reached the District I AAA title game, then went on a fun ride through the state playoffs, falling to state champ Neumann-Goretti in the quarterfinals.

In his last game, Duffey scored 33 points against a team loaded with Division I prospects and three all-state players. Duffey is still weighing his college options, but closed his stellar high school career as a third team all-state pick.

While Germantown Academy isn’t part of the PIAA, its players were eligible for all-state consideration. Good thing, as senior guard Devon Goodman certainly warranted it and got it. Named the Inter-Ac MVP, Goodman had a marvelous senior year as he led the Patriots to the PAISAA title game where they fell to Westtown School.

The 5-foot-10 guard has pledged to play at Penn next year after averaging 19.8 points per game as a high school senior. Athletic and capable of scoring in any way imaginable, Goodman kept all his teammates involved too as GA built a multi-faceted offense around him.

Goodman’s standout campaign earned him a spot on the all-state second team at Class AA, where GA would have been slotted in the PIAA.

Phil-Mont Christian Academy has been a consistent player in the Bicentennial Athletic League and District 1 Class A scene the last half-decade and especially the last four years. A big reason was their big man, 6-foot-8 center Sean Griffin, a long and springy athlete who impacted the game on both ends.

Able to get up and down the floor with ease and speed, Griffin threw down plenty of lobs from buddy and teammate Noah Baldez while crushing plenty of shots on the defensive end. Griffin averaged 15.3 ppg for the District I champs, helping his team to the state quarterfinals.

The center was named second team all-state in Class A but has not made his college choice yet, weighing several offers as the April signing period approaches.

CLASS AAAA

Player of the Year: Tony Carr, Roman Catholic
Coach of the Year: Buddy Valinsky, Taylor Allderice

First Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Nazeer Bostick	Roman Catholic	Senior	6-4	11.6
Tony Carr	Roman Catholic	Senior	6-4	14.8
James Jackson	Taylor Allderdice	Senior	6-3	21.0
Dylan Painter	Hershey	Senior	6-10	22.5
Lamar Stevens	Roman Catholic	Senior	6-7	15.0
Lonnie Walker IV	Reading	Senior	6-5	16.9

Second Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Eli Brooks	Spring Grove	Junior	6-1	24.7
Austin Butler	Greater Latrobe	Junior	6-3	27.0
Ramon Creighton	Taylor Allderdic	Senior	6-2	13.0
Kobe Gantz	Lancaster McCaskey	Senior	6-4	19.2
Evan Horn	Cedar Crest	Senior	6-1	20.8
Sam Iorio	Parkland	Junior	6-6	18.0
Xzavier Malone	Plymouth Whitemarsh	Senior	6-4	20.0

Third Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Jawan Collins	Academy Park	Senior	6-0	21.3
Tim Jackson	Taylor Allderdic	Senior	6-3	14.6
David Kachelries	Emmaus	Junior	6-0	20.8
DeShawn Millington	Carlisle	Junior	6-1	18.3
Nick Smith	North Hills	Junior	6-0	23.0
Kyle Stout	Parkland	Senior	6-6	17.1
Jared Wagner	Central York	Senior	6-0	18.8

CLASS AAA

Player of the Year: Quade Green, Neumann-Goretti
Coach of the Year: Rob Carmody, Mars

First Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Sam Allen	Lewisburg	Senior	6-7	20.2
Robby Carmody	Mars	Sophomore	6-4	19.0
Josh Creach	Beaver Falls	Junior	6-7	20.0
Ryan Daly	Archbishop Carroll	Senior	6-4	21.7
Quade Green	Neumann-Goretti	Junior	5-11	18.6
Zane Martin	Neumann-Goretti	Senior	6-3	18.4
Daron Russell	Imhotep Charter	Junior	5-10	18.0

Second Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
John Castello	Mars	Senior	6-5	18.0
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree	Neumann-Goretti	Junior	6-9	14.4
Marquel Hooker	New Castle	Senior	5-11	21.0
David Morris	Strong Vincent	Junior	6-1	20.9
Josh Sharkey	Archbishop Carroll	Senior	5-10	14.5
James Williams	Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt	Senior	6-4	21.9

Third Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Danny Duffey	Lower Moreland	Senior	5-10	20.0
Taylor Funk	Manheim Central	Junior	6-8	21.3
Jaqui Jenkins	Steelton-Highspire	Senior	6-0	24.3
Donovan Jeter	Beaver Falls	Junior	6-6	16.8
Colton Lawrence	Eastern Lebanon County	Senior	6-3	21.2
Semaj Motlery	Delaware Valley Charter	Senior	5-10	15.0
Will Myers	Clearfield	Junior	6-3	17.2

CLASS AA

Player of the Year: De’Andre Hunter, Friends Central
Coach of the Year: Nick Lackovich, Aliquippa

First Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Mohamed Bamba	Westtown School	Junior	6-11	13.7
Nelly Cummings	Lincoln Park Charter	Junior	6-0	23.3
Chucky Humphries	Aliquippa	Senior	6-6	16.0
De'Andre Hunter	Friends Central	Senior	6-7	23.5
Jassir Jordan	Aliquippa	Senior	5-10	18.5
Brandon Randolph	Westtown School	Junior	6-6	17.5

Second Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Nick Alikakos	Episcopal Academy	Junior	6-7	22.7
Nathan Davis	Bellwood-Antis	Senior	6-3	21.7
Austin Gilbertson	Camp Hill Trinity	Junior	6-3	15.5
Devon Goodman	Germantown Academy	Senior	5-1	19.8
LaPri McCray-Pace	Conwell-Egan	Senior	6-3	17.4
Daeqwon Plowden	Mastery Charter North	Junior	6-5	15.0
Kody Trude	West Branch	Senior	6-5	18.5

Third Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Nick Aloi	Lincoln Park Charter	Senior	6-1	17.7
Jair Bolden	Westtown School	Senior	6-4	9.0
Andrew Bucheit	Kane	Junior	6-6	19.9
Vinny Dalessandro	Conwell-Egan	Senior	6-7	14.0
Tony Harding	Lakeland	Senior	6-3	27.0
Darton McIntire	Waynesburg Central	Sophomore	6-0	26.3
Cameron Reddish	Westtown School	Sophomore	6-7	11.0

CLASS A

Player of the Year: Sagaba Konate, Kennedy Catholic
Coach of the Year: Rick Mancino, Kennedy Catholic

First Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Kevin Anderson	Williamsport St. John Neumann	Junior	6-3	21.5
Malik Archer	Math, Civics and Sciences	Junior	6-2	15.7
Jason Austin	Kennedy Catholic	Senior	6-3	15.6
Jalen Gabbidon	Harrisburg Academy	Junior	6-5	37.2
Sagaba Konate	Kennedy Catholic	Senior	6-8	15.5
Malik Miller	Farrell	Senior	6-3	19.0

Second Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
DeAireus Brown	York Country Day	Junior	6-0	21.9
Tamir Green	Constitution	Junior	5-8	19.0
Chris Groetsch	Sewickley Academy	Junior	5-10	18.8
Sean Griffin	Phil-Mont Christian	Senior	6-8	15.3
Dwight Moore	Monessen	Senior	6-0	22.7
Lavalle Rush	Monessen	Senior	6-0	17.9
Joel Santana	Shenandoah Valley	Junior	5-8	22.5

Third Team

Name	School	Class	Height	PPG
Sam Brown	Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg	Senior	6-8	18.0
Brock Burleigh	North Penn-Mansfield	Junior	6-3	20.4
Kenny Fukon	Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic	Junior	6-2	15.0
Dylan Gordon	Southern Fulton	Junior	6-4	17.0
Rakwon Hinton	Ferndale	Senior	6-1	27.7
Justice Rice	Monessen	Junior	6-2	16.3
Erick Taylor	Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic	Senior	6-4	15.0
Maurice Waters	Constitution	Junior	6-6	14.3