Geoghegan: A generational talent, Carr leads W.C. East to district supremacy

PHILADELPHIA – It’s difficult to overstate the impact Andrew Carr’s had on this, the greatest basketball season in West Chester East history.

All you need to know is that the 6-foot-10 senior can have an effect on a game even when he doesn’t have the basketball.

“I didn’t know when we would see this (kind of defense), but I knew it would happen in the playoffs,” Carr said. “I had two people on me even when I didn’t even have the ball. But that opens things for other people.”

With Carr drawing most of the attention, the balanced Vikings went on to topple Penn Wood, 67-43, on Saturday in the District 1 5A Championship Game. Carr was clearly the focal point at Temple’s Liacouras Center as East captured the schools’ first-ever district crown.

“(Carr) is just a great player and a great role model,” said teammate Mike Dedda. “We certainly wouldn’t be here without him.”

Carr has faced extra defensive attention all season, and Saturday was no exception. Penn Wood double- and triple-teamed him on every catch in the paint, but that opened room for teammates like Dedda, Kieran Hefferan and Jack Kushner. The trio combined to score 34 points as the Vikings notched the most impactful victory in program history.   

“At the half we were only up by one point and I said to our accompaniment guys: ‘You have to step up, keep shooting and play with no fear,’” said East head coach Tom Durant. “And they knocked down some big shots.”

In the early going, Carr was actually employed as more of a decoy. But he still finished with a game-high 22 points and added 12 rebounds and six blocks.

“At the start of the game I really wanted to try to get my teammates going. Once that happened, everything opened up for me,” Carr said.

“Teams will ask me, ‘how did you beat this team, or game plan versus that team?’ And I’m like: ‘we have Andrew,’” Durant added. “He is not just an offensive threat, but a defensive presence.”

Carr has developed into the type of player that comes along once in a generation — if you’re really lucky. Especially at a place like West Chester East, who hasn’t been a hoops’ power in more than two decades.

“This means the world,” Carr said. “I never really expected this, thinking back to seventh-eighth grade. I never thought I’d ever be able to make this type of impact on the program.

“This (championship) cements us in more history. This is the first time East has ever done this.”

Without the big guy, W.C. East would probably be a middle of the pack Ches-Mont squad. With him, the Vikings captured the program’s first-ever league championship going all the way back to the school’s debut in the early 1970s.

And a year after falling to Sun Valley in the 2019 district final, East has now fulfilled a promise Carr and fellow senior star Tym Richardson made to not just make it back to Temple, but to win there as seniors.

“I’m motivated by failure and last year was a big disappointment,” Carr said.

To get an accurate idea how hard it is to do what the Vikings did, consider this: W.C. East just captured Chester County first boys’ district title since 2002.

“The stage is getting bigger and bigger, and that’s where you have to show your best stuff,” Carr pointed out. “As a team we’ve been able to do that, and individually I’ve been able to do that.”

And please understand, none of the praise for Carr is a knock on the rest of the Vikings. Richardson would be the number one option on most teams in the region, and the rest of the supporting cast is filled with hard workers who have roles to fill, and have filled them capably.

Carr and Richardson are the squad’s only seniors. A junior point guard, Dedda is crafty and classmate Hefferan can shoot. And Kushner and fellow freshman Destined McCray play a lot and could develop into future stars.

But for East, the future is now. And with Carr leading the way, the Vikings could make some serious noise in the PIAA Playoffs.

“Figuring out our roles is where we’ve really grown from the beginning of the season,” Carr explained. “We’ve tried to figure out where everyone fits in, especially guys like Mike (Dedda) and Jack (Kushner) – those guys have stepped up big, especially in this game.”

Long and lanky, Carr is a dominant player for many reasons other than just his height. He has the post moves to score inside as well as the skill to handle the basketball. He can hit the turn-around jump shot, score on the inside, connect from beyond the arc and is dangerous on the fast-break.

“I feel like I’ve exponentially continued to get better,” he said. “This summer some schools like Westtown reached out to me, but I was always committed to East.”

Just 6-foot as a freshman, Carr grew by seven inches by the time he was a sophomore. And like Carr, W.C. East’s program has also grown by leaps and bounds.

“My freshman year we were 3-21,” Carr recalled. “It’s been a great change. We’ve come a long, long way. It was unheard of for East teams to go to districts and three years later we win the district and are moving on to states.”

He’s signed to play Division I college ball at Delaware, where his father, Phillip, and uncle, Tim, also played. And Carr has a big up-side, especially if Blue Hens’ head coach Martin Inglesby can beef him up in the weight room. He is a stringy 205 pounds, but Carr would be going to a major college power if he had another 20 pounds of muscle.

“I’m sure Delaware is going to love him as a stretch four player,” Durant said. “He doesn’t have girth, but he will put on 15-20 pounds in college, but keep his speed.

“They know they got a good one.”