Radnor tops Unionville, captures District 1 5A title

PHILADELPHIA>> The dream season for the Radnor boys basketball team continued Saturday afternoon at the Liacouras Center at Temple University.

The undefeated Raptors avenged a one point loss in last year’s District 1 5A title game to Chester by overwhelming Unionville, 61-36, to capture the coveted District 1 5A championship and keep their undefeated streak going at 27 games.

Radnor (27-0) turned the game around in the second period by outscoring the Longhorns 21-7 and closing the first half on a 19-0 run to take a 34-21 halftime advantage.

The Raptors defense forced 21 Longhorns (22-5) turnovers for the game and 14 in the first half.

“Defense has been our DNA all season,” Radnor coach Jamie Chadwin said. “It is 100percent our goal to change the game with our defense. It is a little atypical because we get our offense through our defense.”

Trailing 21-15 after the Longhorns Robbie Logan completed a three-point play, the Raptors got two long three-balls during the run. Jackson Gaffney and Cooper Mueller hit treys and senior Jackson Hicke, who led all scorers with 18 points, scored on two put back baskets.

Mueller added 11 points to go along with four steals and six rebounds. Unionville turned the ball over six times in the second period and did not look comfortable in its offense in the second period.

“We just had poor ball movement,” Unionville coach Chris Coiwles said. “We had a big lack of strong movement and in every game we have lost this season that has been the reason. Sometimes, we just lose it in parts of the game and today it really hurt us.

“We had some poor decision making on the offensive end that led to some turnovers and they scored a lot of baskets on our mistakes. And on the defensive end we allowed them way too many easy baskets.”

The start of the third period saw Radnor miss its first eight shots of the period and the Longhorns closed the gap. James Brenner drained a long there-ball to cut the Raptors lead to 34-26.

Then, after a Gaffney miss, JT Anderson scored on a floater in the lane and it was a 34-28 Radnor lead.

But the Raptors went inside to Hicke, who scored over Nick Diehl, and the Radnor lead was back up to 36-29 with 2:50 to play in the third period. Hicke, besides scoring 18 points, hauled in eight rebounds and had three blocked shots in a very impressive effort.

The Raptors, who shot 25 for 53 from the field for the game, shot just three for 10 in the third period and were outscored by Unionville 9-6 in the third.

Hicke scored in tight right at the buzzer ending the third period and Radnor still had a 40-30 lead after three periods despite missing its first eight field goal attempts of the period.

“We lost in overtime last year and we set as our number one goal this season to come back here and win this thing this year,” Mueller said. “We all have been waiting for this and it is an amazing feeling to finally accomplish this.”

Radnor came firing out of the huddle for the fourth period. The Raptors built a commanding 51-32 lead with 4:49 left in the third period as the Radnor bench contributed 20 points for the game.

Gaffney and Mike Savadove drained three-balls and the Raptors shot a torrid nine for 10 from the field in the fourth period while Unionville was just two for 11 and five for 21 in the second half.

“My role is to come in and add an offensive spark,” Gaffney said. “I was not here last season but I know all the guys really wanted to avenge last season’s loss and to get it with this group is really special.”

“We are fortunate to have guys that can come off the bench and give us different things,” Chadwin said. “Gaffney gives us the scoring part and Mike Savadove gives us the defensive part.

“And today he also gave us nine points. I told the kids to really appreciate the moment and to win in front of our fans and student section is really special feeling.”

Radnor will host the number eight seed from District 3 Friday night while Unionville will host the number five seed from District 3 Friday night in the opening round of the PIAA 5A playoffs.

Radnor 61, Unionville 36

UNIONVILLE (36) Brenner 3 3-4 10, anderson 4 1-2 10, Logan 2 1-1 5, Napolitano 0 0-0 0, Brown 1 0-0 3, Carson 1 0-0 2, Kammeier 0 0-0 0, Diehl 3 0-1 6. Totals 14 5-8 36.

RADNOR (61) Gaffney 4 2-2 11, Hicke 8 2-2 18, Mueller 5 0-0 11, Rosenbaum 0 3-3 3, Tyburski 0 0-0 0, Wolfington 0 0-0 0, Pierce 1 0-0 3, Savadove 4 0-0 9, Thornton 3 0-0 6. Totals 25 7-7 61.

Unionville 14 7 9 6-36
Radnor     13 21 6 21-61
3-point goals: Brenner, Anderson, Brown, Gaffney, Mueller, Pierce, Savadove.