skip navigation

BOYS BASKETBALL: Friends League Boys’ Basketball - Gearing Up For the Semifinals

By Marc Narducci, 02/02/25, 6:00PM EST

Share

Friends Schools League Notebook (Feb. 2)

Photos/Videos: Zack Beavers, Jeremy Goode, Lennie Malmgren, Ryan Nix & Krystal Williams

By: Marc Narducci

After Friday’s first round, there are only three basketball playoff games left in the Friends League. Here is the upcoming schedule followed by the standings for the regular season.

Tuesday’s Feb. 4 semifinals

(5) Friends Central at (1) George, 5:30 p.m.

(3) Academy of the New Church at (2) Westtown, 5:30

FSL Championship

Friday Feb. 7 at La Salle, 8

Final Regular Season Standings

1.George School 8-0

2. Westtown 6-2 (beat ANC)

3. Academy of New Church 6-2

4. Friends Select 5-3 (beat FCS)

5. FCS 5-3

6. Abington Friends 3-5

7. Germantown Friends 2-6

8 Shipley 1-7

9. Barrack Hebrew Academy 0-8

Huge win for Westtown

Westtown clinched the No. 2 seed with a 63-48 win over Friends Select.

Had Westtown lost, the Moose would have been the No. 5 seed, so this was among the biggest wins of the season.

“It was one of our better games this season,” Westtown coach Seth Berger said. “When we really needed it, the kids stepped up in a huge way.”

The difference was Westtown’s proficiency from beyond the arc. Westtown shot 13 for 23 (.565) from three-point range.

Cam Wallace, a 6-5 senior headed to Temple, led Westtown with 16 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds.

“He played great,” Berger said. “He really defended well.”

Sophomore guard Marshall Bailey scored 15 points, hitting 5 of 8 from deep.

“He is such a good shooter, and it was great to see him perform in a must-win game like that,” Berger said.

Jayden Forsythe, a 6-4 Xavier commit, had 12 points and six rebounds, while junior center Adam Walker contributed nine points and six rebounds, while shooting 4 of 5 from the field and hit his only three.


Westtown School's #4 Jayden Forsythe and #31 Adam Walker - PSD Photo by Zack Beavers

Now there is a playoff semifinal with defending champion Academy of the New Church. In the regular season, Westtown beat visiting ANC, 64-48 on Jan. 17.

“I think it is going to be a really tough game,” Berger said. “Beating a really good team twice is very difficult to do.”

A first for George School

When George School defeated Germantown Friends, 71-44 last week, the Cougars accomplished a first in school history – going unbeaten in a Friends League regular season. At 8-0, the Cougars are the top seed in the Friends League playoffs.

“It was kind of like icing on the cake, and it means a lot,” said George School coach Ben Luber, whose team won the 2023 Friends League title. “You could see the players were excited but not satisfied. They did something nobody in our school has ever done.”

Luber said the regular season crown was the result of many hours of dedication.

“At the end of the day it is a testament to how they prepared every day and have taken things one step at a time,” he said. “They never talked about 8-0 but it felt good to see all the hard work rewarded with that first place finish.”

George School vs. Germantown Friends - PSD game highlights by Ryan Nix and Jeremy Goode

In the win over Germantown Friends, 6-4 senior Luke Melniczak led the way with 17 points. Junior guards Peyton Miller and Kasey Fleming scored 14 and 12 points respectively, with Fleming hitting four, three-pointers.

Friends' Central Advances to Semifinal

No. 5 seeded Friends' Central earned a 70-67 opening round playoff win at No. 4 Friends Select to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal against No. 1 seeded George School.

In the Friends League the No. 4 and No. 5 seed play in the first round, with the winner heading to the semis.

Friends' Central shot 11 for 23 (.478) from three-point range.

Pat Feamster, a 6-4 sophomore, led Friends Central with 23 points. Feamster shot 8 for 14 from the field, including 4 of 7 from three-point range. Junior guard Gabe Moore scored 19 points, shooting 7 of 10 from the field, including 3 of 5 from deep.

Oben Mokonchu, a 6-6 sophomore, contributed 15 points, five rebounds, while 5-10 senior Evan Boyer had a team-high six assists.


Friends' Central #4 Pat Feamster - PSD Photo by Lennie Malmgren

Friends Select update

As mentioned above, Friends Select saw its Friends League season end with the 70-67 playoff loss to Friends' Central.

In losing 63-48 to Westtown during its regular season finale, Friends Select was led by point guard Jay Chiles, who had 18 points, including four, three-pointers. Micah Waters Jr. was the other double-figure scorer with 14 points.

Friends Select and Friends Central each finished 5-3, but Friends Select clinched the No. 4 seed with its 55-47 regular season win over the Phoenix on Jan. 21.

ANC a dangerous No. 3 seed

Academy of New Church, the No. 3 seed, finished its regular season with a 73-59 win over Abington Friends. A key to the win was a 25-13 third quarter advantage for the Lions.

Junior guard Bryce Rollerson led the way with 21 points, shooting 10 of 16 from the field, while 6-7 junior Cameron Smith scored 19 points and shot 9 for 13 from the field, while also grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.

Marquis Newsome, a 6-4 sophomore, also had a huge game. Newsome had 10 points, shooting 2 of 4 from three-point range. He also had seven rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots.

Now it’s on to Tuesday’s semifinal game at Westtown for the defending Friends League champions.

“It’s a monster matchup at Westtown,” ANC coach Kevin Givens said. “We have to do better than the first game, especially defending the pick and roll because that caused us problems.”

Westtown used the pick and roll to get shooters open and the Moose hurt ANC with its marksmanship.

“That pick and roll gave us problems and they have great shooters on the perimeter,” Givens said. “We have to defend well and rebound well and can’t give them second shots.”


ANC junior #4 Cameron Smith - PSD Photo by Lennie Malmgren

ANC will also have to get off to a better start. In the regular season game, Westtown jumped out to a 21-7 first quarter lead and that proved to be the difference.

A key for Westtown will be handling Smith, who had 21 points and 16 rebounds in the regular season matchup.

Quaker Cup Matchups:

Here are the games featuring the teams that didn’t qualify for the playoffs.

Wednesday Feb. 5

(9) Barrack at (6) Abington Friends, 4

(8) Shipley at (7) Germantown Friends, 4

Championship Friday Feb. 7 at 4 p.m. at the higher seed

Germantown Friends update

Germantown Friends ended its Friends League regular season with a 71-44 loss to regular season champion George School.

Junior guard Jordan Dill, the new career scoring leader, paced Germantown Friends with 18 points. Sophomore wing Billy Henighan added 10 points and freshman Isaiah Dill, the brother of Jordan, scored six.

Strong showing by Shipley

Shipley ended last week with two victories, defeating Science Leadership Academy at Beeber, 63-47 and then winning its final regular season Friends League game with a 63-42 victory over Barrack Hebrew Academy.

Against Science Leadership, Shipley used an 18-10 fourth quarter to put the game away. Drew Naegle, a 6-0 eighth grader, led Shipley with 17 points. Junior Stevie Maniatis scored 12 points, and 6-8 senior Henry Rasmussen had nine points and 11 rebounds.

In the win over Barrack, junior Jack Naegle led the way with 21 points, junior swingman Venkat Bayireddi scored 18 points and Drew Naegle scored 17.