Garnet Valley expects loss to Gratz eventually will pay dividends

PHILADELPHIA — A basketball season can be measured in multiple ways. Since one is always to accumulate learning opportunities, coach Mike Brown left Lincoln High Saturday satisfied his Garnet Valley team had gathered something of value.

Though a tense 56-51 loss to Simon Gratz would end their season in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament, the Jaguars were more thankful than exasperated by the experience.

“In our league, we don’t face that quickness, that speed,” Brown said. “I told the guys they are so small in the backcourt, so you don’t think it’s a problem. But they are quick. Their hands are even quicker than their bodies. They are jet quick.”

The Bulldogs are also the No. 1 seeded team out of District 12, the class of the Public League, city champions after a victory over talented Roman Catholic. Saturday, it took them a long while, but eventually they showed why.

After trailing at halftime, 31-15, Gratz expanded its defense, began to create live-ball turnovers and uncorked a 22-point fourth quarter to advance to Round 2. The Jags’ season ended at 23-4, a school record for victories, according to Brown.

Neel Beniwal provided 20 points, including three message-delivering three-pointers in the first quarter that would have the Jags on upset alert for most of the evening. Max Jackowsky chipped in with 15, including three three-pointers.

But while Gratz shot a frustrating 2-for-19 from behind the arc, it used balanced open-floor and inside scoring to improve to 24-5, with Yassir Stover scoring 14, Ross Carter adding 12 and Kyyron Gordon supplying 11.

The Jags shot with confidence and success to open their lead, but once the Gratz rally began, every phase of the Garnet Valley offense was affected.

“Yeah, because we don’t have the size to say, ‘Let’s pound it inside,’” Brown said. “We’re a three-point shooting team. That’s what we do.”

That was clear in the first quarter, when the Jags used four three-pointers to sculpt a 12-6 lead. That was a vivid contrast to Gratz’s 0-for-6 opening-period distance-shooting strife. The Bulldogs made to close out three-point shooters, Garnet Valley enjoyed some second-quarter success inside, with Beniwal finishing with his left hand with 2:59 left in the second, good for a 26-12 lead. And with three seconds left in the half, from a spread offense, Carl Schaller would accept a crisp pass from Jackowsky for a layup and the 16-point halftime bulge.

“We thought we were really, really good and had done what we should have done,” Beniwal said. “We all had confidence in each other and we all thought we were going to win the game. We just thought we had them really down and that we were going to win.”

Gratz struck quickly after halftime, with Stover fashioning an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the deficit to 33-25. Seconds later, Yasir Rowel made a steal and breezed in for a layup to trim the difference to six points. Before the quarter was up, Stover would deposit a three-pointer to make it 37-34, breaking the Bulldogs’ 0-for-14 distance-shooting ice.

With that, there would be the kind of fourth quarter that Brown, and some of the Jags, expect will pay a dividend next season. Nor were they out of place as the speed of the game increased. With a minute left, Schaller would score inside off an inbound play cut the Gratz lead to 53-48. Some imperfect Gratz free-throw shooting would keep the Jags around long enough for Jackowsky to deposit two late three-pointers and draw within 54-51 with 13 seconds left. Garnet Valley had a late three-point attempt tipped before Gordon would drop a pair of free throws to send the Jags into next season.

Brown is anticipating further program growth in 2020-2021, when Beniwal, Schaller, Gannon McKee, Max Koehler and Justin Langan among those expected to return, hardened by the experience of a successful season … and even from an unsuccessful final game.

“At the beginning of the year, no one thought we would be that good,” Beniwal said. “But today we proved that we are a basketball school now.”