Boys Basketball: Showing some ‘Flash,’ O’Hara dashes past Haverford School

HAVERFORD — For the second full week of the season, Thursday’s first quarter against Haverford School was right about what you might draw up if you were Cardinal O’Hara coach Ryan Nemetz.

In those first eight minutes away from home, O’Hara scored 23 points. It led by 12 points and hit 5 of 7 looks from 3-point range, the opportunities created by heady off-ball motion and unselfish sharing of the ball.

“We had a lot of conversations as a team, to move the ball better,” said guard Josh Coulanges, one of the prime beneficiaries of the outburst that led to a 71-46 nonleague win over the Fords. “We struggled a little bit in the beginning of the season, playing with each other and trusting each other. But we really focused on it. … We’re playing as a team, and everyone is getting the shots they want.”

With the Lions’ length, ability to press defensively and floor-spreading shooters, there’s not much to slow them when they get rolling like Thursday. Aasim Burton, the junior Math, Civics and Sciences transfer, led the way with 20 points, plus seven rebounds. Coulanges added 19 points. Together they were 9-for-14 from 3-point range.

Add in a typically outstanding day from Izaiah Pasha – 15 points on just nine field goal attempts, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals – and the Lions gained separation from the Fords early and never let them sniff a way back into the game.

The offensive fluidity shouldn’t be a surprise. The Lions return four starters from last year’s PIAA Class 4A qualifier, led by Pasha, the Daily Times Player of the Year and a recent Iona commit. Using the space created by the rangy 6-4 guard is what defined last year’s season success. Adapting to the arrival of Burton, who goes by the nickname Flash, is the new wrinkle this year.

“Flash has been with us since the beginning of the summer,” Coulanges said. “At first, it was a little bit of a struggle getting to learn his play and fitting him in, but he’s definitely an x-factor for us, and it’s coming along pretty well.”

Against a Haverford School team that is young and was missing two key players, the hosts had little opportunity to get a foothold in the game. Two baskets in the final 11 seconds of the first quarter – Coulanges with his third triple, then a steal of the inbounds pass by Burton that led to a lay-in off an inbounds play – turned a seven-point lead into 12.

It stayed at 10 at half and dipped briefly to nine in the third quarter with a Billy Rayer 3-pointer at 41-32. But O’Hara finished the quarter on an 11-2 run to banish any thoughts of a rally.

The Fords were without two rotation cogs, Duke Cloran and Luke Rasmussen. Given that the team is rebuilding off a six-win campaign in 2021-22 and integrating a raft of new players, learning to play with that duo and then coping without them is a particular challenge.

“We’re a young team but we try not to use that as an excuse,” Rayer said. “Every day, we’re going to go out and compete, whether they’re here or not.”

Sophomore point guard KJ Carson led the way with 12 points, nine in the first half, and four assists. Rayer tallied 10 points. Freshmen Manny Butts (eight points despite foul trouble) and Silas Graham (seven points despite a 3-for-10 shooting day, plus seven rebounds and three steals) also contributed to the youthful rotation.

“It’s definitely a new team,” Rayer said. “I think over the summer, us being in the gym together was definitely an improvement, as opposed to last year with COVID and all that. The more we play together, the better we get.”

At this point, it’s not enough to slow down a team firing away like O’Hara did on Thursday. Not once Coulanges and company got going.

“It gets me in rhythm,” Coulanges said. “I practice that shot every day, a thousand shots a day. Once I get that shot in rhythm and open, it’s just a green light for me.”

In other nonleague action:

Chester 68, Newark 60 >> Breilynd White scored 17 points as the Clippers picked up their first win of the season.

Terrence Cobb and Kyree Womack scored 14 points each. Dominic Toy contributed 10 points. Chester was 14-for-18 at the line to seal the win.

In the Central League:

Radnor 73, Harriton 46 >> Jackson Hicke scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the first half as the Raptors added another lopsided league win to their ledger.

Charlie Thornton scored all 15 of his points in the middle two quarters. Danny Rosenblum supplied 13 points, and Cooper Mueller added 12 points.

In the Ches-Mont League:

Great Valley 48, Sun Valley 32 >> Kaiden Robinson scored eight points, but the Vanguards couldn’t get the offense in gear. Noah Griffin and Chris Kwaidah added seven points apiece.