Wednesday night: back at Stevens College with Jerry Johnson and another La Academia home game, the last of three straight with one more scheduled in January. The club had won on Tuesday in my absence, on this night Devon Preparatory School visited from the suburban Philadelphia area. It was LA's Senior Night (in December?), before the game Aiden Mattern was recognized as the team's lone senior. Jerry Johnson Jr. (the coach's son, more affectionately known as "J.J.") entered the game needing six points for 1000, he reached the magic number on a three-point goal midway through the second quarter. The program has only been in existence since 2019, J.J. is the first player in school history to reach 1000 career points. Devon Prep is one of the top "small school" programs in the entire state, they ruined the party with a 50-41 win. On Thursday we were back at McCaskey, after two straight on the road the Red Tornado hosted Manheim Township. Both JV and varsity entered the evening at 2-5 and exited 2-6, the JV lost by eleven and the varsity went down 95-87. The game was played at a blistering pace and was somewhat inequitable in terms of fouls (nothing unusual for us, we've been dealing with since 1972), it just makes you wonder how one team can make more fouls shots than their opponent even gets to attempt. Jaloney Porter continued his torrid pace with forty points (that's 4-0), Deandre Jones also hit doubles with 21. Eddie Bencosme had nine, Avery Stauffer (back from a four-game injury absence) added eight, Amir Thompson-Hanson had six and Anthony Jimenez rounded out the book with three. The club has off until after the holiday break, the next game is on Friday the 27th in the annual holiday tournament. Take care, thanks for reading.
