Gerhart, No. 4 Hill School boys basketball fend off No. 5 William Penn Charter in PAISAA quarterfinals

POTTSTOWN >> Augie Gerhart knew his squad had evolved since December. And he wasted no time proving it on his own court.

Hill School’s basketball team had dropped a game at William Penn Charter, 62-55 on Dec. 3. With the No. 5 Quakers in Gillison Gym on Saturday, the No. 4 Blues had a chance to test their growth in the Pa. Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament quarterfinals.

Gerhart — a 6-foot-9 forward and Penn commit — opened the game with nine points for Hill in a 9-3 run. While the Quakers came close in the end, the Blues never trailed once in the game following Gerhart’s explosion out of the gate.

Hill School defeated Penn Charter, 68-63 to avenge its loss earlier in the season and punch its ticket back to the PAISAA semifinals on Friday, where top-seeded Perkiomen School National awaits in a rematch of last year’s semifinal stage, time TBD.

“Penn Charter is a hefty basketball team. They beat us at their place earlier in the season, so it felt really good to beat them,” Gerhart said. “All the credit to the guys, they made the commitment over the course of the year to keep getting better and keep working on their game. Heck of a basketball team, we’re feeling really good heading into the semis.”

The Blues (19-8) had to fend off a wild effort from the Quakers (23-4) at the end of the game. After trailing by as much as 12 points on the night, Penn Charter cut the contest to a single point, 64-63 with 22 seconds left.

Some clutch rebounding from 6-foot-7 Bronx product Josh Cameron (12 points) and free throws from Justin Molen (14 points) iced the game from there. Gerhart amassed a game-high 25 points — bookending the contest with nine-point quarters in the first and fourth frames.

“It was really the whole team,” Gerhart said. “We just found our flow and (the ball) happened to find me, but anybody can be getting hot. They just couldn’t help off because our shooters were too good and we have a really good team.”

Q1, 3:43 — Angie Gerhart is a force.

The 2023 Penn pledge has scored Hill’s first nine points.

Hill 9, Penn Charter 3 pic.twitter.com/YELiEvFolK

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) February 19, 2023

Penn Charter began chipping away in the second quarter and continued to nip at Hill’s heels the rest of the night. Having led 17-7 late in the first quarter, the Blues saw their cushion diminish to 18-15 midway through the second frame as 2023 point guard Mark Butler began to heat up.

Butler — a Lafayette pledge who won MVP of the Inter-Ac last season after leading Penn Charter to its first league title in 18 years — balled out with 22 points. Eleven of them came in the third quarter to close the gap.

“We knew that was gonna be a wire game,” Hill coach Seth Eilberg said. “They have a veteran team that knows how to win. They’re quick, they’re athletic, they’re tough and they play bigger than they are. They kept making plays and I thought Butler was phenomenal.”

Q3, 4:45 — Butler pulls up and cuts it 36-25 for Penn Charter. pic.twitter.com/APwtt34SgN

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) February 19, 2023

Whenever the Blues made flashy plays, Butler matched them to keep his squad in contention. After Hill took a 28-21 halftime lead, he traded buckets through the next eight minutes, matching whatever the Hill School threw at him.

Following a six-point run for the Quakers in the third quarter, Butler came up with an and-one to cut Penn Charter’s deficit to 43-38 with 45 seconds left in the period. Hill’s response was a two-handed dunk from Gerhart before Butler retaliated with a fade-away 3-pointer at the buzzer, entering the fourth frame with a 45-40 Blues advantage.

“He was awesome,” Eilberg said on Butler. “I thought we kept him in check for a little bit and then he kinda brought them back. We never really could extend the lead much because we turned the ball over too much. We have to be better with the ball.”

Mark Butler opens the fourth quarter with a scoop and score. He cuts it 45-42 for Penn Charter. pic.twitter.com/XCqATtsUvp

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) February 19, 2023

At multiple different points in the night, Hill saw 10-point leads diminish back down to single digits, Penn Charter getting near surface level but unable to breach.

Penn Charter was able to get the pieces around Butler going, too. The Quakers had big contributions from Kai Shinholster and Trey Shinholster, the duo tacking on 11 points apiece. Isaiah Grimes bolstered the Quakers with 16 points.

But Molen and Cameron — who were both named to the All-Mid Atlantic Prep first team alongside Gerhart — combined for 12 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Blues’ heads above water through to the finish.

In last year’s PAISAA semifinals, Perkiomen School National ran away with a 75-39 win over Hill. The two have yet to have gone head-to-head this season, but the Blues know they’ve come a long way since the start of the winter, having ridden a 10-game win streak and reaching the MAPL championship since that first matchup at Penn Charter.

“We’ve grown up a lot since (Penn Charter) beat us in December at their place,” Eilberg said. “That was a game that, watching that to get ready for this, it’s like we’re a totally different team. We’ve really improved and to beat a group like that is really, really difficult. They just know how to win and they kept making plays to the final whistle. We were fortunate to come out with the win.”

Hill School 68, William Penn Charter 63

Penn Charter: K. Shinholster 5 0-2 11; Butler 10 2-3 22; Gee 0 3-4 3; T. Shinholster 4 2-3 11; Grimes: 6 0-0 16; Schumm 0 0-0 0; Doran 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 7-12 63
Hill School: Cameron 4 4-8 12; O’Neil 2 0-0 6; Gerhart 9 7-9 25; Meachem 1 5-6 8; Molen 3 6-6 14; Field 1 0-0 3. Totals: 20 22-29 68
3-point goals: K. Shinholster, T. Shinholster, Grimes 4, O’Neil 2, Meachem, Molen 2, Field