Surowiec’s defense key to Henderson win over Haverford in district playback

WEST CHESTER >> Coming into Tuesday night’s playback game at Reichert Gymnasium, the West Chester Henderson boys basketball team knew they had to slow down prolific scoring Haverford High guard Googie Seidman.

The difficult job went to junior Danny Surowiec. The West Point Academy baseball commit  responded brilliantly as he harassed Seidman into scoring just 14 points and effectively taking him out of the game.

Along with the tenacious defense, the Warriors received a big offensive night from senior K’Mari Smith who had a game-high 23 points, including four three-pointers. Connor Fleet added 20 points as Henderson came away with a 61-44 win.

The win assures the Warriors (16-10) of being no lower than the 10th seed in the PIAA 6A playoffs. They go into Friday’s game at Coatesville for the ninth seed. Coatesville defeated Perkiomen Valley, 51-50 on Tuesday. Haverford (14-12) will play Perkioemn Valley in the 11th-place game on Friday at PV.

“I mean, I knew I was guarding a great player,” Surowiec said. “I just tried to cut him off and deny him the ball. It is both a mental and physical effort when you are guarding a player as good as he is. It really was a total team effort on defense. I knew I could gamble at times because we have Evan (McFadden) back there to block shots.”

The Warriors were down, 21-20 at halftime, but outscored the Fords, 41-23 in the second half. The Warriors shot a blistering 14-for-18 from the field with Smith and Fleet leading the way.

Smith got things rolling for Henderson by scoring the first basket of the third quarter with a driving layup for a 22-21 lead. After the teams went back and forth for the next three minutes, Smith drained a long three to put Henderson up, 34-26, late in the third.

Haverford shot 18-for-48 from the field on the night and was throwing up a lot of outside shots to no avail. Smith drained a very long three at the buzzer to end the quarter with the Warriors up 41-32.

“There was a little more emotion for us tonight,” Smith said. “They beat us a few weeks ago (63-54 on Jan. 21) and they celebrated on our floor because they thought they knocked us out of the playoffs, so tonight things were a little more energetic.”

The Warriors six of their nine attempts from the field in the fourth, with Fleet registering nine points. Haveford kept fighting, and when Gorman Bright scored in the lane, Henderson led 50-36 with 3:23 to play.

But, Fleet knocked down two more baskets and four free throws to complete the win.

“Danny did not play against them when we lost to them,” Warriors coach Jason Ritter said. “He is our best on-ball defender and a real tough kid who is going to West Point to play baseball. When Kmari’s shot is falling like it did tonight, it gives us a triple threat at the guard position and makes us that more tough to play against.”

WC Henderson 61, Haverford High 44

HAVERFORD: Weiner 5 0-1 11, Bright 4 0-1 9, Seidman 5 1-2 14, Heinerichs 0 1-2 1, Wright 3 1-2 7, Gannon 1 0-0 2, Cascarina 0 0-2 0. Totals 18 3-10 44.
WC HENDERSON: Ralph-Bayer 2 2-2 7, Smith 0 1-4 23, Fleet 5 10-12 20, J.Smith 1 0-0 2, Surowiec 2 3-5 7, Nelson 0 0-0 0, McFadden 1 0-0 2, Bell 0 0-0 0, DeLucia 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 16-23 61.
Haverford       4 17 11 12-44
WC Henderson   11 9 21  20-61
3-point goals: Weiner, Bright, Sideman 3, Ralph-Bayer, K.Smith 4.