McCloskey finds shooting touch in time to help GA past Souderton

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FRANCONIA >> Germantown Academy senior Kyle McCloskey hadn’t shot well in his first two games of the season, with good reason.

The Villanova-bound quarterback of the Inter-Ac co-champs estimated he hadn’t touched a basketball in six months during his preparation and play during football season until he got back in the gym the Monday after his last game. So, it made sense his touch was a little more tight spiral than good rotation and backspin.

Saturday however, McCloskey found his stroke and just at the right time as he put in 20 points to lead GA past Souderton 57-46 in the championship of the Jim Church Classic.

“I had been struggling a little bit just finding my stroke,” McCloskey said. “I think I got it back. I realized I had to step into my shot and that was the big part, step in, follow through and shoot it confidently. Once I get the first one to go down, it’s so much more confidence for the rest.”

Church, the tournament’s namesake, is a well-respected supporter of athletics in the area and has been in poor health recently. To that end, GA warmed-up in the same tournament shirts both Souderton teams wore all weekend as a gesture of recognition.

McCloskey’s breakout day, which included four made 3-point shots, came at a good time with Souderton keying in on GA guard Evan-Eric Longino after he had put in 40 points Friday night. Souderton coach Tim Brown didn’t have any fault with his team’s execution on defense, he just said McCloskey made the shots to beat them.

What hurt the Indians was a slow and messy start to the game. Germatown Academy’s defense got Big Red sped up and out of sorts, letting the Patriots fly out to a 17-2 lead.

“We’ve had a slow start the first two games, we just have to do a better job of getting ready and into the right mindset before the game,” Brown said. “I think most of this is the guys coming in excited for the season and they’re getting their shots up too quickly in the first couple possessions.”

Like Souderton was keying on Longino, the Patriots were well-aware of where Indians sniper Mike Bealer was at all times. GA rotated a three-man unit of Brian Basile, Andrew Towne and Ben Garcia on the Souderton guard, who still managed to put in 20 points.

Towne in particular drew a lot of minutes and defended Bealer very well.

“I really feel like the key to the game was Andrew Towne, Brian Basile and Ben Garcia,” GA coach Jim Fenerty said. “That kid is a major shooter and we knew we had to make him work hard. Those three guys were really, really important. It’s a senior, junior and sophomore and we just kept rotating them on him.”

McCloskey echoed his coach in saying that the team’s defense was the deciding factor, especially after Souderton settled in and started making some shots. While Bealer was working to be a factor, teammates Noah Horas and Jake Groller stepped up to lighten the load.

Groller made his first five shots en route to 11 points and Horas gave the Indians 12 and both played with plenty of energy and hustle along with point guard Matt Cartwright, who had six assists.

Brown said he was proud of his team’s effort all weekend and saw a lot to build on before they face Perk Valley at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday.

McCloskey felt that his team played better Saturday than it did Friday because of its effort on defense. The senior believes the Patriots get better offense when they ramp it up on defense and wants that to be what they take out of the weekend.

As far as him finding his shooting touch again, GA will take that too.

“For a while there he was shooting the ball like it was a down-and-out pass,” Fenerty said. “Now he’s getting into the flow and when he does, if you get 40 points from (McCloskey and Longino), you’re in a lot of games. And, the other guys are all getting better.”

Germantown Academy 57, Souderton 46
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 17 15 15 10 – 57
SOUDERTON 4 17 13 12 – 46
Germantown Academy (57): Kyle McCloskey 7 2-5 20, Evan-Eric Longino 3 9-10 15, Josh Brownstein 4 1-2 10, Cole Storm 1 2-2 5, Andrew Towne 1 1-2 3, Khalil Ashley-Diarrah 1 0-0 2, Jack D’Ambrosio 0 2-2 2. Nonscoring: Brian Basile, Ben Garcia, Colten Smith. Totals: 17 17-21 57
Souderton (46): Mike Bealer 6 4-6 20, Noah Horas 4 0-0 12, Jake Groller 5 0-1 11, Matt Cartwright 1 0-0 3, Mitchell Finkenbeiner 0 0-1 0. Nonscoring: Thomas Hanrahan, Kaleef Blackwood, Antonio Rodriguez, Trevor Watts. Totals: 16 4-8 46
3-pointers: GA – McCloskey 4, Brownstein, Storm; S- Bealer 4, Horas 4, Cartwright, Groller

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Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson
Montgomery Media/Lansdale Reporter sports writer.

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