Boys Basketball Notebook: Springfield’s impressive, but facing uphill battle
The high school basketball season is so comparatively brief that sometimes the luck of the injury draw plays an outsized role.
So it is this season at Marple Newtown. The Tigers’ route to an 8-6 record tracks nicely with who has and has not been available to play.
A 1-4 start came without two key figures in guard PJ Esposito and forward Ryan Keating due to injury. Esposito and sophomore Matt Gardler are the only two varsity holdovers from the team that made the PIAA Class 5A tournament last year.
Once those guys returned and got back into the flow, Marple Newtown rattled off five straight wins, including Central League crossover victories over 6A teams Conestoga and Haverford.
“It’s huge,” Marple Newtown coach Sean Spratt said. “From Keating, it’s just the physicality standpoint. He gives us something that we don’t really have in terms of height and weight without him and length, covering space, but also the athleticism he brings.
“PJ, just the experience was critical because he was one of two players with varsity experience. That just puts a lot more pressure on Matt Gardler and Steven Tansey to handle the ball.”
Their importance is being tested again with Esposito getting injured against Haverford and missing four games since. That, coupled with Tansey missing both wins at their holiday tournament, means Marple Newtown has really only been at full strength for three games. It has won all three.
While Gardler has been excellent, averaging 18.5 points per game, the pathway to sustainability and a state return for the Tigers requires full health. That is never a given in such as short snippet of a season. It is, as ever, the hope.
“But in high school sports, you never really know what’s going to happen, especially with multi-sport athletes,” Spratt said. “… The hope is that you have your full roster healthy and ready to go no matter what point of the schedule you’re at.”
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The game of the season so far in the Central League – for quality and intrigue – might be Springfield’s Jan. 7 trip to Lower Merion, won by the Aces in overtime, 74-71.
You might not suspect, then, that the Aces, as of Tuesday night, sit first in the District 1 Class 6A rankings while the Cougars are mired in 32nd.
It’s an illustration of this year’s Cougars, a team that has proven it can play with anyone but is stuck at 5-10, with an uphill climb to reach the 24-team District 1 field. What’s more, all five wins have been by double-digits. In games decided by single-digits, they’re 0-6, with all margins six points or fewer. That includes a three-point loss at Harriton, a one-point loss to Bishop Shanahan and a three-point loss to Coatesville, in a game they kept in the 30s.
And then there was Lower Merion, not just an OT loss but requiring the Aces to erase a 15-point deficit and get a Sam Wright 3-pointer to tie at the regulation buzzer.
“We can hang with people,” coach Kevin McCormick said Monday after a six-point loss at Class 5A front-runner Chichester, “but now we have to get over people.”
The results are particularly unforgiving given that Springfield is in Class 6A. Were it in 5A, as the Cougars were as recently as three years ago, a near-.500 record would warrant playoff inclusion, and they would be a tough out. But 6A offers no such leniency.
Some of that volatility in results owes to Springfield’s style, which is heavily reliant on 3-pointers. When they’re falling – Mike O’Donnell had 29 points against the Aces – things are much different than when their shooting goes cold. But as a team that prefers games in the 40s, they’ve been fairly effective in imposing their pace on opponents.
“I have confidence in every guy on the floor that they’re going to hit those shots, that they’re going to make plays,” forward Colin Treude said. “I’ve been playing with these guys for a while, so I’d rather go out there with these guys over anyone else.”
McCormick offers some needed perspective: Springfield went 1-21 in 2019-20, when the current seniors were freshmen. That rose to 11-11 last season, and this year’s team might be better in some key areas. But the results just haven’t been there yet.
“Think about where they’ve come since their freshman year to where they are now,” McCormick said. “They’re competing with the top teams in the districts. We’re trying to get over that hump.”
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If you’re looking for common threads among teams in the Super 7, scoring balance seems a crucial one.
Radnor has three players averaging at least 9.6 points per game – Jackson Hicke at 19.3, Charlie Thornton at 10.5 and Danny Rosenblum at 9.6. Seeing as their 14 wins have come by an average of 19.4 points, those numbers are artificially depressed by lack of a need to push starters for long minutes.
Chichester has a clear leading triumvirate. Maz Sayed at 16.8 ppg, and Akhir Keys and Vince Wildrick at 13 per outing. Same for Upper Darby’s three-headed monster of Nadir Myers (22.4 ppg), Yassir Joyner (19.6) and Niymire Brown (13.4). Garnet Valley (with Jake Sniras and Logan McKee north of 15 ppg.) and Penn Wood (with Nasir Washington hovering around 25 ppg.) are more top heavy, but both have excellent supporting casts.
Full scoring leaders will be available with next week’s notebook.
Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com; you can follow him on Twitter @sportsdoctormd.
