Central League Boys Basketball: Radnor readjusts focus on Lower Merion

RADNOR — The losses ultimately didn’t mean much, but the lessons were well-taken.

Radnor’s boys basketball team started the 2021-22 season 13-0. It stumbled twice in the regular season, reached the Central League and District 1 Class 5A finals and the second round of states before meeting the buzzsaw that is Imhotep Charter. By any measure, Radnor maxed out its talent.

But the rare setbacks in a 23-5 season left an impression, for a nine-strong senior class determined not to feel that sting again. And so a motto was born in the locker room, among a group in the rare position of being the favorite just about every time out this season.

The focus, forward Jackson Hicke says, is on trying to put together a one-game winning streak.

Twenty-three of them have led the Raptors back to the Central League final, against a familiar foe in Lower Merion, Monday night at Harriton (7:45 tipoff).

“We kind of forget the past games, focus on the one we have,” Hicke said after dispatching Springfield, 64-35, in the semifinals Saturday. “We really can’t take anything for granted. Last year, we lost a couple of bad ones when we weren’t really ready to play. We’re in the mindset now where we know we can’t take a game off, can’t take a play off, because there’s too much on the line.”

Radnor is 23-0, the wins by an average of 21.3 points per. Only two games have been decided by single digits – in overtime against Garnet Valley and a two-point win over North Worcester of Massachusetts in a Christmas tournament in Florida. Their next closest brushes against Pennsylvania opposition is a trio of 15-point wins, over Archbishop Ryan, Holy Ghost Prep and Harriton. The warnings about letdowns from coach Jamie Chadwin have been heeded.

Second-seeded Lower Merion (20-3) accounted for two of last year’s losses: A 60-48 humbling at home in the regular season, then a 59-49 handling in the final. That team had Penn State freshman Demetrius Lilley as its central focus. This one is talented if less star-driven. It has lost to three different Central League foes, a rarity for the league’s perennial presiding power.

One of those was when Radnor visited on Jan. 24, a measuring-stick game between teams that would end up as the top seed in District 1 Class 5A and second in Class 6A. That night belonged to the Raptors, who led by one at halftime and turned on the afterburners on the way to a 64-41 decision. Hicke, Radnor’s leading scorer at 19.5 ppg, had just five points. But Charlie Thornton stepped up with 15 and Jackson Gaffney added 14.

Depth has been a hallmark for Radnor, however rarely it’s been tested. It pays dividends defensively and in a tireless work ethic to move without the ball on offense. And the mentality behind it has elevated all the talent to new levels, one win at a time.

“I think we’re just focused on each game ahead and not looking too much at our overall record and looking in the past,” Hicke said. “It’s on the next play.”