Sat. Pa. boys' roundup: Prep beats Bartram in Dist. 12 final

Stephen Vasturia helped St. Joseph's Prep come alive in the second half as the Hawks rallied for their first District 12 Class AAAA basketball championship with a 63-56 win over Bartram in the title game at Lincoln.

Vasturia poured in 28 second-half points, making five of his six three-pointers after intermission, and rallied Prep from a 26-21 halftime deficit. Vasturia finished with 35 points and teammate Gene Williams added 14 points.

Bartram, which took a 44-42 lead into the final period, got 17 points from Tarrieck Williams.

District 12 Class AA. Communications Tech watched a last-second 60-foot shot by Bishop McDevitt's Markiese Chandler bounce off the rim before celebrating a 55-53 win in the district championship game at St. Joseph's Prep.

Tony Parker's basket with 30 seconds left gave the Phoenix a one-point lead, and he added one of two foul shots with 3.3 seconds to go to end the scoring, sealing Tech's second District 12 title.

District 1 Class AAAA. Abington won the battle for the third seed in next week's state tournament by beating host Wissahickon, 56-52.

Wissahickon, fueled by Jordan Reed's 23-point effort, led by seven points at halftime before the Ghosts came back to tie the game entering the final period.

Matt Penecale scored all of his 6 points in the third period. Abington made 12 of 14 fourth-quarter foul shots, including 7 of 8 by Anthony Durham, who had 11 points in the last 8 minutes to finish with 17 points.

Jordan Simmons paced the Ghosts with 20 points.

District 1 Class AAA. Pope John Paul II won the showdown for the final state playoff berth from District 1 with a 58-55 thriller over Bishop Shanahan at Plymouth Whitemarsh.

The Golden Panthers took a three-point lead with 12 seconds left when Brent Mahoney sank a pair of free throws.

PJP's Jamel Stinson had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Kyle Earley scored 15 points. Shanahan got 21 points each by Ryan Conrad and Dae'mond Pierce.

Districts 1/12 Class AA. Prep Charter capitalized on Fateem Brockington's 17-point game and a slow start by Devon Prep to grab the available berth in the state tournament, 60-49, at St. Joseph's Prep.

Devon, which got a game-high 22 points from senior Kyle Koehler in his final game, hit six three-pointers in the fourth quarter, closing a 26-point deficit to 7 points, but could get no closer.

Falcon Classic. Antoine Laster won the MVP award after scoring 21 points and leading International Christian to a 61-47 win at Tri-County Homeschool in the inaugural tournament.

Phil-Mont Christian's Richie Cerebe and Pottstown's Trenton Clifford each finished fifth in their weight classes as the top finishers from Districts 1 and 12 in the PIAA Class AA Southeast Regional championships at Wilson-West Lawn.

Cerebe won his fifth-place match at 126 pounds, 7-2, and Clifford earned a 5-0 verdict at 132.

The top four placewinners in each weight class advance to the state tournament.