O'Rourke Esquire Boys Take Narberth National League Basketball Title

Nothing says competitive basketball like folk music.

Wednesday night at the Narberth athletic complex, with a small concert in the next door providing the soundtrack, O'Rourke Esquire topped Kelsey S.A.T. Test Prep 62-52 to take the National League championship in the Narberth Boys Basketball League.

O'Rourke Esquire's Ed Powell led all scorers with 22 points and took MVP honors.

"It was a really good game for us," said Powell, who will begin his junior year at Boys Latin in the fall and hopes to start at shooting guard for the Warriors in the winter. "We came in strong and we stayed focused."

Though the squads had split the first two games of the best-of-three championship set (Kelsey took game one 50-46 while O'Rourke bounced back 57-52 in game two), O'Rourke took control early on Wednesday and didn't let go.

After finishing the first two quarters of play up 24-22, O'Rourke, led by Powell and soon-to-be Masterman sophomore Eric Williams, slashed their way to a 43-34 lead by the end of the third, then further expanded the advantage to 52-36 after Powell swished a 12-footer mid-way through the fourth.

Though Kelsey S.A.T. Test Prep managed to trim the deficit to seven after Bonner's Chris Goggin hit a three-pointer and drew a foul, O'Rourke's strong defense and interior muscle were ultimately too much for Kelsey. It was one test the S.A.T. Prep team couldn't pass.