RADNOR — Follow along for the full list of things and people that touched the basketball on the decisive possession of Wednesday’s District 1 Class 5A quarterfinal:
Sun Valley forward Blaize Eldridge, receiving the inbound pass.
Guard Noah Griffin on the dribble handoff.
Radnor’s Henry Pierce with a deflection.
Roman Rivera of Radnor, briefly, on an attempt to tie up Eldridge.
Then, off the dribble-drive from Eldridge, the side rim, the backboard, front rim, back rim and finally … bottom.
That last part is all that registered for the ecstatic Sun Valley bench with 1.9 seconds left. It brought about a beautiful result from a game that was anything but, seeing the Vanguards to the district semifinals and their first state tournament since 2019 with a 35-34 upset of Radnor.
“We’ve done that play before, and obviously we had Noah trying to get the basket,” Eldridge said. “Once they tried to double it, I just figured, seven seconds left, I’m going to cut and try to make something happen. I kind of just threw it up. I was trying to shoot but it slipped. But the way that it fell in, I don’t even know.”
It was the perfect encapsulation of a game that was … rugged. Some was due to Sun Valley’s attacking 1-3-1 zone defense that made third-seeded Radnor uncomfortable. Some was Sun Valley shooting 3-for-14 at the line. (Not to be outdone, Radnor was 2-for-6). Some of it was turnovers, mistakes, forced shots – or maybe just the pressure of playoff basketball.
For Eldridge, who scored nine points and added six rebounds, the time for pretty basketball is at an end. More important for the sixth-seeded Vanguards (17-9) is that their season is not.
“We worked so hard that game,” Eldridge said. “Not everything went our way. That score is low. But we know how to play in those types of games.”
Sun Valley visits Upper Dublin, the second-seeded Cardinals 44-33 winners over Penncrest in a similar slog, in Saturday’s semifinal. No. 3 Radnor will host the 10th-seeded Lions in a make-states-or-go-home affair.
Neither team did much offensive execution. Radnor scored the game’s first eight points, then went cold. It had five points in the second quarter to trail 18-17 at half, shooting 2-for-12 from the field in the frame (both makes from Alex McFadden). Radnor shot 16-for-43 (37.2 percent) from the field, but more damning was a 13-for-30 (43.3 percent) effort from 2-point range.
The only exception was Elijah Sellers, who shot 6-for-10 for 13 points, plus eight rebounds.
“It was kind of hard to pass through,” Sellers said of the zone. “It wasn’t what we’re used to with the 1-3-1. We were kind of unfamiliar with it.”
Sellers had six points in the fourth, including a bucket in the post off a Kessy Cox feed to get Radnor within 33-32, and the lay-in of Henry Pierce’s feed with 19 seconds left to put them up. Pierce had nine points, six rebounds and three assists.
Griffin kept Sun Valley in it with 11 points, though he was just 2-for-10 at the line. Kaiden Robinson had eight points and six rebounds.
The Vanguards built a 30-24 lead after three quarters, then didn’t score for the first 4:47 of the fourth. Robinson ended that drought with a lay-in. The Vanguards still led by three and, most importantly, still believed.
“We literally said in the fourth quarter, this is our game,” Eldridge said. “This is what we wanted our game to be. And it was.”
