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Sports

Harriton Overcomes Slow Start To Down Sun Valley

The Rams advance to the District 1 Class AAA semifinals.

Harriton’s boys’ basketball team could have used the 10-day rest between the Rams’ last Central League game and their opener in the PIAA District 1 Class AAA playoffs. It just took Harriton a half to bang off the rust of the layoff to find its shooting touch again, before the Rams made a route of the first-round game blowing out No. 10 seed Sun Valley, 53-31, Wednesday night.

Harriton, the No. 7 seed, now improves to 12-11 overall and the Rams will advance to the district semifinals and play powerhouse Holy Ghost Prep, the No. 2 seed, Saturday night at 7 p.m. The season will end for the loser of that game while the winner will advance to the district finals.

The Rams could thank sophomore guard Matt Sherman, who scored a game-high 19 points, followed eight points each from Marquis Baker and Mike Allen, for advancing.

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Harriton didn’t start well. There was one lead change, before the Rams took a 13-10 lead on a Sherman three-point shot and kept it. But Harriton was 2-for-16 from the floor in the first quarter and 8-for-37 shooting in the half.

“They were all good shots, I thought, we got a ton of good looks, the shots weren’t dropping,” Sherman said. “We relied on our defense, even if our shots weren’t falling. We didn’t play our best game against Sun Valley the first time we played them. We gave up 31 points and that’s good defense. I think that’s one really good thing we can take can take from this.”

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The Rams’ Ryan Kelly was a force inside, taking three charges in the first half and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds, to go along with his seven points.

“It’s the playoffs, we survived and advanced,” said the 6-foot-3 junior forward. “We know we’re a good team and we know we could have shot better. But we also know our shots will fall. We needed a half to find our shot.”

The teams ended the first quarter with Harriton holding a 6-3 lead. The two teams were stuck on 3-1 for better than half of the first quarter. Sun Valley held one lead, 10-8, on a Sean Nelson basket. The Rams’ Sherman began heating up, scoring the next five points and finding his shooting touch. That was pretty much it for Sun Valley.

“I think we suffered from a little bit of nerves, but the key for us was to relax and keep shooting the ball,” Rams’ coach Jesse Rappaport said. “We wanted to attack the basket. Our match-up zone looked good at times, but what did concern me was going 14-for-33 from the [free throw] line.”

Rappaport knows that won’t work against Holy Ghost.

“Holy Ghost has a great program and they’re very well coached,” Rappaport said. “I think everyone knows we have to ratch it up against them. We know we have to play better. I think we’ll be ready for Saturday night. We know it will be a test.”

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