Guard trio leads Titans into team’s first state tournament
March 1, 2010 • By Lamar Smith, Staff Reporter
Filed under Sports, Top Stories
After closing the regular season with a 13-7 record, the Pencader Charter High School boys basketball team has been rewarded with the 16th seed in the state tournament.
The Titans, making their first post-season appearance, will face 17th-seeded Brandywine (13-6) in the first round. The game will be played at McKean High School on Wednesday at 7 pm.
The winner of that game will face top-seeded Sanford (19-1) on Friday at 7 pm.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Pencader coach Jeff Seryaka. “I’ve been here ever since the school opened (four years ago) and our goal has been to make the playoffs. This is a really good group of kids to have the chance to go.”
The tournament consists of 24 teams and is single elimination. The seedings were announced Sunday by the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association. Seedings are determined based on a team’s winning percentage and the winning percentages of its opponents.
The Titans have been a very strong team at home this year, going 6-2 on their home court. However, they will not enjoy that advantage against the Bulldogs on Wednesday night. Although the higher seed is rewarded with a home game in the first round, this game has been shifted to McKean to accommodate a larger crowd.
No matter the location, Pencader has not had much luck with Brandywine thus far. The Titans are 0-4 lifetime against the Bulldogs.
The Titans will be led into battle by senior guard John Yates, who has started for Pencader his entire high school career. Yates recently reached a milestone when he became the first player in the school’s brief history to score 1,000 career points.
Needing just 13 points to reach the milestone as his team took on Dickinson, Yates put up 27 points to help the Titans topple the Rams 86-79.
Yates is not the only threat on this year’s Pencader squad. The Titans can dominate games with their speedy three-guard combination, with Yates joined in the backcourt by Taariq Cephas and J.W. Lawson. The trio often causes havoc for opposing ball handlers, leads fast-break opportunities, and scores a good share of the team’s points.
Cephas, the Titan’s point guard and primary ball handler, was thrilled about his team’s accomplishment of reaching post-season play.
“It feels really good,” said Cephas. “I’m super excited that this is my junior year. I’m glad we didn’t wait until my senior year to go to the playoffs. And I know that it has to be a good experience because a lot of my friends (from other schools) have made it to the playoffs. They have told me about how fun it is to play at the Bob Carpenter Center (where the later rounds are held). So I made it my goal this year to make it to that point. Now we just have to take it one game at a time.”
Despite this being Pencader’s first trip to the state tournament, the Titans do have some experience in post-season play. Lawson and forward Cameron Richardson transferred to Pencader this year, and both played in the state tournament with their previous schools last season. They plan to shed some light on the experience for their teammates.
If the Titans can put an end to the lifetime 0-4 slump against Brandywine, they will advance to the sweet-sixteen round of this state tournament and their first playoff experience will taste even sweeter.
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