Sun Valley on point early in win over Marple Newtown
ASTON – For all the senior talent on the Sun Valley roster, there’s one commodity missing from last year’s squad that earned a berth in the PIAA Class 5A tournament. It just happens to be one of the hardest-to-fake entities in high school hoops.
Six of the top seven scorers are back for the Vanguards, but the missing piece is a point guard, after the graduation of floor general Shair Brown-Morris. It’s a void rarely filled by committee – either you have an adept and stable ball-handler, or you don’t.
Turns out that Sun Valley has one, just not always the same one. And more than anything, years of experience built between a veteran corps seems to be steadying that role, as in Saturday’s 63-47 nonleague handling of Marple Newtown.
Vinny DeAngelo and Isaac Kennon rotated having the ball in their hands. Kennon held it down in the first half, DeAngelo sitting with two fouls. DeAngelo, who excelled as an off-ball player to tally 1,000 career points by the end of his junior campaign, took the reins in the second to jumpstart his offensive game.
With Sun Valley off a 5-0 start, the early returns of the time-sharing are certainly encouraging.
“Me and Vinny both can handle the ball, so we can help each other, we can get the team into the offense,” Kennon said. “It’s not that bad. Even though Sha was a real good point guard last year, he helped us out a lot, we’re real good this year and we can both handle the ball.”
“We’ve been playing together since we were in third, fourth grade,” DeAngelo said. “So we kind of know that if someone’s hot and can take his man off the dribble, he’s going to get the ball, no questions asked. And the same thing if say I’m hot but I’m drawing a double-team, I’m going to kick it out to him.”
Nick Giannakopoulos the rejection and DeAngelo the run out bucket. 53-36 SV. pic.twitter.com/QU4PieUJ7J
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) December 15, 2018
DeAngelo had just one point in the first half but erupted for 20 in the second to go with six assists and six rebounds. Kennon tallied a game-high 22 points, with nine boards and three steals, plus the defensive assignment of locking down Marple’s leading scorer, Tommy Gardler.
With senior wing Marvin Freeman, who poured in 16 points, the Vanguards were 8-for-12 from beyond the arc.
The success stems from balance in their games. That trio has grown together on varsity for three years. While they miss the Brown-Morris’ tenacity, they’re doing their best to replace the on-court contributions. And the multi-faceted threat Kennon and DeAngelo present – as drivers, shooters and passers – forces defenses to pick their poison.
“If they help off of one of us, than we’ve got shooters ready to shoot,” Kennon said. “Marvin can shoot the ball, Vinny can shoot the ball, and we create for each other.”
Marvin Freeman making it rain. 3-for-3 from the arc. 11 pts. 26-16 Sun Valley pic.twitter.com/byJDfdcjGD
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) December 15, 2018
Freeman set the tone Saturday with two 3-pointers in the first four minutes. Kennon had 14 points at the intermission, and Freeman added 13, the Vanguards holding a nine-point edge despite minimal contributions from DeAngelo, who has games of 39 and 36 points this season.
So the second half brought a change: More of DeAngelo with the ball, more of Kennon on the off wing ready to shoot. The result was 13 third-quarter points for DeAngelo and a comfortable 15-point bump as the fourth arrived.
Marple Newtown (0-4) didn’t let the game get out of hand in the first three quarters, especially after spotting Sun Valley the game’s first 10 points. Deep reserve Justin DiBona canned a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers, and Joe Pettinelli hit three triples in the third. Even with Gardler held to 11 points (on 4-for-16 shooting) plus four assists and seven boards, he continued to open space for others.
“He makes my job really easy because he draws in a lot of defenders,” said Pettinelli, who scored a career-high 17 points. “So it makes my job a lot easier with open 3-pointers and things like that.”
The Vanguards are switching off their roles just about as well as any team in the area right now, and the reason is all about the connection between their big three.
“It helps a lot,” Kennon said. “We have good communication. We know each other’s games, and we’ve played together for a while now.”
In other nonleague action:
Chichester 60, Audenreid 45 >> Josh Hankins scored 18 points and pocketed six steals, an Calvin Church augmented 17 points with six assists and five steals as the Eagles (1-4) got their first win. Jasir Shaw chipped in a career-best 10 points.
Delco Christian 70, Harry S. Truman 54 >> Jacob Bronkema paired 20 points with eight rebounds, and Jackson Piotrowski and Tyler Rossini chipped in 17 points each for the Knights (2-2).
Great Valley 51, Glen Mills 43 >> Nafis Smith and DeAndre Wright scored 13 points each, but the shorthanded Bulls (1-4) were outscored 20-6 in the final frame to fall.
At the Mercer Invitational:
Episcopal Academy 73, Peddie School 58 >> Matt Dade and Alex Capitano scored 22 points each, and Colin Chambers was 8-for-9 from the line for 11 points as the Churchmen built on a 17-5 edge after one quarter and never looked back. Andrew Alikakos chipped in eight points for EA (4-5).
