Delaware Valley boys’ basketball faces off against Wallenpaupack

I managed to make the trip to Wallenpaupack to watch the boys’ games. It was a rough night for Delaware Valley. At halftime Wallenpaupack was up 24-23 against the JV team.

I was expecting Delaware Valley to take charge in the second half. It was just the opposite. Wallenpaupack took off running well and raced out in the lead (34-26). Delaware Valley only scored 3 points in the period. They were uncharacteristically forcing shots, making bad passes, and not rebounding.

However, In the fourth period Delaware Valley turned it around. They got within 2 points with 3:24 to go. Then they tied it up with 2:04 to go and pulled out ahead by 2 points with 30 seconds on the clock. Wallenpaupack drove the lane and popped in a 3-pointer with 7.9 seconds left to go. Delaware Valley then drove down court and got ready to shoot when the Delaware Valley player was tackled to the ground. No foul was called. Wallenpaupack won it by one, snapping Delaware Valley’s undefeated run.

Delaware Valley scoring went like this: Colin McGarvy scored 12, Alex Calvalario had 11, Sam Wood put in 7, James Dabney made 6, and Ben Ioffe and LeBron Walker both managed 2 points each.

Now for the varsity game. In the first period both Delaware Valley and Wallenpaupack were not shooting well, but Delaware Valley did enough to take the lead at 11-5 in the second period.

Delaware Valley continued to lead in spite of some terrible calls by the officials. The lead was slim though, at 16-13. In the third period, Wallenpaupack started scoring better and kept the game close at 31-23.

At that point in the game the officials were calling Delaware Valley on almost every possession, yet calling almost nothing on Wallenpaupack. In some cases, it looked like Delaware Valley was getting mugged and still no calls, while the stands were screaming for the fouls to be called. The clincher that made me decide to call out the officials was the closing play. The score was tied at 38. Delaware Valley had the ball and Logan Olsommer was driving down court. Someone was hanging on him the entire distance. He was latterly being mugged the whole way, even knocked down at the end, and no call came. As a result, instead of Delaware Valley getting the final shot from the field or any foul shots in the last few seconds, time ran out.

The game went into overtime and again Delaware Valley was called for everything. Okay, granted Wallenpaupack shot well in the final period and Delaware Valley, well, just didn’t. How can you play well when the other players can hang all over you and you cannot play any defense at all because you’re called on everything against you?

So the game ended with Wallenpaupack winning 48-40.

The scoring for Delaware Valley went like this: Tommy Parker scored 14; Isiah Berrios got 8; Tyler Lombardo hit 7; Colin McGarvey got 5; then Alex Calvalario, Jackson Corrie, and Logan Olsommer had 2 each.

It is important to state here that anyone who steps into contests against a worthy opponent has to be able to accept defeat. I have competed myself and enjoyed two state championships and one national championship while losing one then coming in second place in the nationals. You have to accept that but no one likes playing against another competitor and then deal with the officials also. I really hope to see better calls in the future.