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BOYS BASKETBALL: Final Standouts and Friends School League Playoff Pairings

By Marc Narducci, 02/01/23, 10:00PM EST

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Photos: Donna Eckert, Lennie Malmgren, Kathy Leister & Jack Verdeur

By: Marc Narducci

Abington Friends Ife West-Ingram has truly grown as a player

Ife West-Ingram is a much different player than he was as a 5-8 freshman at Abington Friends. West-Ingram has literally grown as a player. Now a 6-6 senior, he has become one of the better players in the Friends League.

One thing that helped him when he was shorter was that West-Ingram developed guard skills. He can still use them effectively but is also an inside threat for Abington Friends.

“When I grew to 6-6 it was a big jump but developing guard skills when I was smaller really helped,” he said.

It has helped so much that West-Ingram is a future Division I player as a Rider commit. He said Rider sees him as a wing player, playing shooting guard and small forward. He said making an official visit to the campus sealed the deal for him.

“Rider is more like a family environment,” he said. “They were really confident in me, and I know they watched me play a lot.”

What Rider had to like was the versatility in his game and the fact that he helps winning in so many areas.

This season he is averaging 14 points, 7.6 rebounds. 1.0 steals and 1.3 blocked shots.

As with most players who make a commitment, West-Ingram said he felt a great sense of relief afterwards. He was being recruited by several schools, something he greatly appreciated and also made an official visit to Quinnipiac. He made his decision in late November, right before the season.

“I thought recruiting was fun but I didn’t want it to interfere with my season,” he said.


Abington Friends senior Ife West-Ingram #15 - PSD Photo by Donna Eckert

West-Ingram has had to display plenty of versatility for the Kangaroos this season. At one time or another, he has played all five positions, and often gets assigned to defend the opponent’s top offensive player.

West-Ingram says he has been playing basketball since he was six when his father introduced him to the game. He also used to play tennis.

“I was really good in tennis,” he said. “That was before I grew.”

He stopped playing tennis as a freshman and devoted his time athletically to basketball.

Now he is looking forward to each and every game left in his high school career before beginning training for college.

At Rider, West-Ingram says he plans to major in architectural engineering.

“I was heavy into drawing when I was younger and when I got to eighth grade, I took architectural and engineering classes,” he said.

He has designed a good basketball career, one where he grew as much as a player as he actually did grow, period.

More on Abington Friends

A 27-11 second quarter advantage turned the game around for Abington Friends in last week’s 64-49 win at Germantown Friends. West-Ingram led the balanced attack with 15 points and nine rebounds to lead the effort. Ethan Hodnett Bell a 6-2 sophomore, added 12 points. One of the unsung standouts was 5-9 junior Jared Shanken, who had eight points, but was a team-best +14.

George School’s Weise commits to D-2 St. Rose

One of the more underrated players in the area is 6-1 George School senior point guard Dante Weise. This is a high scoring team, one that earned the top seed for the upcoming Friends League playoffs and a lot of the success is due to the distribution skills of Weise.

Weise began the week averaging seven points, but more impressively a team-high seven assists. He also was averaging five rebounds and had taken 24 charges.

This is a player who only cares about W’s and does what it takes to win.

In addition to enjoying a strong senior year, Weise was also dealing with the rigors of recruiting. At least the recruiting part is over as Weise recently committed to Division II The College of St. Rose in Albany, New York.

“It feels like a weight lifted off my shoulder,” Weise said. “It was a kind of stressful process, but I am super excited.”

Not surprisingly, St. Rose told Weise they value all the intangibles he brings to the court.

“They like me more as a point,” he said. “I feel I have a unique style of play, where I like getting teammates involved and that is what they said they liked.”

As pumped up as Weise is about his future, the present offers plenty of excitement, especially with the Cougars earning the top seed.

“We are super excited, but the job isn’t finished,” he said. “We want to win the league and cement our legacy. When the postseason starts it is an entirely new season and we have to attempt to finish what we started.”

Germantown Friends Update

Germantown Friends suffered a 64-49 loss to Abington Friends but the young players really stood out. Naz Tyler, a 6-0 eighth grader had 18 points while 6-0 freshman Jordan Dill added 15. During Saturday’s 77-41 win over Science Leadership Academy, Dill and Tyler both scored 28 points.

In an earlier win over Moorestown Friends Dill had 25 and Tyler added 21.

On Tuesday GFS suffered a 69-31 loss to Academy of the New Church, with Tyler and 6-2 junior Darius Frazier each scoring 12 points.

Playoff Pairings:

The top five teams earn a playoff berth with the first three teams receiving first round byes and No. 4 vs. No. 5 battling for the fourth semifinal spot.

Here are the parings:

1. George School (7-1) – Will meet the winner of the 4/5 game on Tuesday. Earned the top seed with a head-to-head win over ANC.

2. Academy New Church (7-1) will host Friends Select on Tuesday in the semifinals.

3. Friends Select (6-2) – earned the third seed with a head-to-head win over Westtown

4. Westtown (6-2) will host the 4 vs. 5 game on Saturday, time to be determined.

5. three-way tie all at 3-5 – Abington Friends, Friends Central and Shipley.

A draw was conducted, and Shipley will receive the bye

Abington Friends and Friends' Central met Wednesday at ANC. Friends' Central won the game 61-59. The Phoenix now host Shipley on Friday at 4. That winner will earn the No. 5 seed and visit Westtown on Saturday.

The reason it was a three-way tie for fifth was that Shipley, Friends' Central and Abington Friends all finished 3-5 with wins over each other. This is the tiebreaker used.

Following Tuesday’s semifinal at the higher seed, the championship will be 8 p.m. on Friday Feb. 10 at La Salle University.

The four teams that didn’t make the playoffs, will compete for the Quaker Cup.