All-Delco Boys Basketball: Haverford School’s Ray didn’t need a break to earn Player of Year honor

HAVERFORD — On each wrist, Christian Ray carries a reminder of Dec. 29. On his right wrist is a tattoo of the date, the birthday of his mother, Sharon. His left wrist sports the remnants of a game on that date — against Cherokee High School in a holiday tourney at Widener, when the Haverford School forward went up for a dunk and came down awkwardly on his arm.

He hoped the injury was merely a sprain, to be treated with rest and tight taping. Only after the season did Ray find out his wrist was broken, requiring surgery to insert a screw.

“I knew it hurt at first, and the next day I wasn’t able to dribble using the left hand, but I figured it was just a sprain,” he said last week. “It hurt, sometimes more than others, especially when I re-aggravated it. But I kind of just put tape around it because for the most part that worked throughout the year.”

It’s not easy to make Ray’s 2018-19 season seem any more impressive, but the injury does the trick. That Ray averaged 23.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, shooting 61 percent from the field and leading the Fords to a second straight Inter-Ac title, the PAISAA championship and a perfect 28-0 season … those numbers speak for themselves. But Ray did it with his wrist braced, for a team carrying a target on its back as the reigning Inter-Ac champs and the kind of unbeaten run that makes opponents salivate at the prospect of being the first to beat them.

It’s exactly the kind of season Ray envisioned as a sophomore at Octorara when he decided to transfer to Haverford School and reclassify.

To that long list of achievements, Ray can add the distinction of being selected Daily Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

Joining Ray on the first team are Bonner & Prendergast’s Isaiah Wong and Tariq Ingraham, Chester guard Michael Smith, Sun Valley guard Vinny DeAngelo and Penncrest wing Malcolm Williams.

All six are seniors. Wong was the Player of the Year in 2018, joining Ray and Smith as two-time All-Delcos. Ingraham and DeAngelo were second-teamers a season ago. Ray is the first Haverford School Player of the Year since 1999, when Henry Fairfax earned the honor.

The All-Delco team is selected in consultation with area coaches.

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The decision to transfer to Haverford School wasn’t easy for Ray and his family. He excelled at Octorara, winning a District 1 Class AAA title in 2015 as a freshman playing with his older brother, Jackson (now a junior baseball player at La Salle). Haverford School, though, represented a chance to reach another level, athletically and academically.

READ: All-Delco: Repeat season just as good as the first for Bonner’s Wong

But it required sacrifices — hence the birthday tattoos for his parents, Scott and Sharon, as a constant reminder of all they’ve done for him. The trip each morning from the outskirts of Lancaster County to Haverford could take up to an hour and 45 minutes, but Ray knew that fulfilling his potential was the reward for those travails.

“I think I would’ve definitely regretted not doing it,” he said. “I think I would never have decided to go earlier, though. I think that when I came was the right time. I did what I had to at Octorara. I played with my brother and I played with some people that meant a lot to me for a community that meant a lot to me, but I would come back and do this every single time in my sophomore year.”

Ray started with a new coach in Bernie Rogers, arriving from Archbishop Ryan, and a chance to remake a program that hadn’t won an Inter-Ac title in nearly two decades despite generating a bevy of Division I talents. With Kharon Randolph and company, Ray helped end the drought last year, the Fords posting a 10-0 league record to claim the elusive first title since 1999.

It proved merely an appetizer for this season, steeling the Fords for the adversity that 2019 had in store. As Ray coped with his aching wrist, senior guard Gavin Burke battled a nagging ankle issue, and a meniscus tear cost Jameer Nelson Jr. 14 games.

“The second one was harder than the first one,” Ray said. “… We knew we had a target on our back, but it wasn’t like this is going to be the first time since 1999 again. That’s where people like Kharon Randolph and the seniors we had, they did a great job of us with the first one to get our feet wet so that when we came in, and it’s my job to help (Jameel Brown) and help Tyler (Seward) and those kids. They knew that when Jameer stepped down, they had to step up. They did that. It was harder but it was just as relieving, and I don’t think we could’ve done it without winning that first one.”

READ: The full list of All-Delco Boys Basketball honorees

That reliance on team helped Ray settle in when he arrived, and he’s never forgotten it. Randolph (who graduated last year), Nelson and Asim Richards were among the first players to embrace Ray at Haverford School, and the bonds between the veteran corps have translated into success.

“I remember the first day, it was really hard, because this is like going to college,” Ray said. “You not only have to worry about fitting in socially and basketball-wise, but I’ve got to worry about a school that’s probably top five in the state in education. So it was very hard. There’s a lot of different things. But the faculty accepted me, and I got in contact with Kharon, Nasir Smith, Jameer and Asim, and they really kind of helped me walk.”

Ray pointed out with pride that few teams have four Division I athletes among their starting five. While Ray (La Salle) and Nelson (George Washington) are the only basketball recruits, the competitive fire of Burke (a lacrosse All-Delco and Villanova signee) and Richards (a football All-Delco and North Carolina signee) translate onto the court around the basketball-first players.

The results were comprehensive. The Fords ran through opponents, outscoring them by an average of 13.7 points per game. They won 13 games by 10 points or fewer, including two in overtime. Ray scored in double-figures in each game. The Fords beat Germantown Academy by one, then Episcopal by two before a double-overtime tilt with Malvern Prep that they won 93-90 behind 36 Ray points. Ray capped the outright title with 23 points, 14 rebounds and five assists to down Malvern by one. The capstone was a 17-point outing in the PAISAA final, downing Westtown in overtime.

It was a perfect ending for a perfect season and a career that was pretty close to perfect.