Edwards, Eagan provide wild finish for Bonner-Prendergast

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MARPLE — For the first 80 percent of the fourth quarter and the first half of overtime Monday night, it would’ve been easy to confuse which team held which pedigree at Cardinal O’Hara High School.

The team that went nearly seven minutes without a field goal in the fourth quarter, that bricked three of four free throws to start overtime – surely that had to be the nine-win team last year. And the team that made clutch shots, leading by six with 1:28 to play in regulation and by four in overtime, wasn’t that the team that made a state final last year?

Bonner Prendergast’s Connor Eagan, left, looks to pass in the third quarter as O’Hara’s Jax Trickey defends Monday evening. Eagan hit a three-point shot in overtime for the game winning basket. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)

The roles were temporarily reversed Monday. And if not for a couple of veteran moments provided by Malik Edwards and Connor Eagan, it might have finished that way.

Instead, Edwards, the Bonner-Prendergast junior guard, scored seven points in the final 70 seconds of regulation, then Eagan provided both a knockdown 3-pointer to put Bonner up for good and a block to keep them up in a thrilling, 66-64 overtime win before a raucous, packed house at O’Hara.

Edwards stepped to the fore first. Bonner (13-4, 8-2 Catholic League) had led by as many as 15 points in the first half, including a 16-2 margin after one quarter. But it found itself down six points with less than two minutes to play in regulation, thanks to going 6:51 without a field goal to start the final quarter, leading to a 17-4 O’Hara run.

The moment required someone to step up and rouse Bonner from its stupor. Edwards was happy to oblige. He hit a runner to break the dam, then Eagan came up with a 3-point play to make it 56-53.

Edwards tied the game with a 3-pointer off a Donovan Rodriguez feed, then answered Anthony Purnell’s runner off glass with 12 seconds left with his own lay-up with two seconds left, sending the game to OT tied at 58.

“Coach always tells me to go out there and shoot with confidence,” Edwards said. “He told me we needed some big-time shots. He drew up a couple of plays for me to get some 3s, and I knocked them down.”

For Edwards, who spent his freshman season at O’Hara before transferring to Bonner to be part of last season’s run to the PIAA Class 4A final, there was a little something extra in it.

“I needed to get a win here,” said Edwards, who scored 17 points. “It was my first game back at O’Hara. I needed to show them that I was a guy and I needed to get a win as a team.”

That set the stage for Eagan, who like Edwards battled early foul trouble and who isn’t always the top offensive option for the Friars. But with Tyreese Watson (20 points, nine rebounds, three assists) filling the facilitator role and Rodriguez (nine points) having an off night by his standards, Eagan stepped up.

O’Hara (14-4, 7-3) started OT with four straight points, then two straight turnovers. Edwards nailed a 3-pointer from NBA range to briefly tie the game at 62, but Adrian Irving untied it with a blow-by.

Up stepped Eagan, with 15 seconds left. Watson drove, drew enough attention to leave a window for Eagan on the left wing, and the junior made no mistake in burying the 3-pointer for a 65-64 edge.

“I was just thinking, if it comes to me, I’ve got to hit my shot,” Eagan said. “We practice it every day.”

Eagan wasn’t done. The ball found O’Hara guard Jameel Burton, who hadn’t attempted a shot on the night. But characteristic of a Lions attack that moved at such breakneck speed as to cause 19 turnovers, Burton went right at Eagan. Eagan, with four fouls, stood his ground and denied the shot, Watson controlling the rebound to shoot two at the other end.

Cardinal O’Hara’s Tre Dinkins blocks a shot by Bonner-Prendergast’s Connor Eagan in the second quarter. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)

“I saw he was coming with a full head of steam down half-court,” Eagan said. “I decided to step up. Made a good play on the ball, straight up. He missed, lucky we got the rebound and then iced the game with foul shots.”

“He does everything,” Edwards said of Eagan. “He’s a hustler. He goes after every rebound. He does all the little things: He talks to us, he keeps us hyped, he keeps the energy, and he knocks down open shots.”

Watson hit one free throw, and off an inbounds with 2.4 seconds left, Purnell missed a corner 3-pointer that would’ve won it.

It was that kind of back-and-forth game, the established power, Bonner-Prendie, which not too long ago was attempting a similar rebuild, against the upstart Lions. The first quarter was all Friars, leading 16-2, but O’Hara counter-punched, led by Tre Dinkins.

Dinkins scored 14 points in the second quarter, outscoring Bonner by his lonesome, 14-11. That included a stepback 3-pointer, which featured between two and five steps from last dribble to release, to beat the buzzer.

“Coach told everybody that we have to keep our heads up, need to keep fighting,” Dinkins said. “Even though we only scored only two points in the first quarter, we had to keep our heads up and just play ball. And that’s what we started to did in the second quarter.”

Bonner appeared to reassert control in the third, leading by as many as eight when Edwards closed the frame with consecutive buckets.

Dinkins tallied a game-high 21. Irving added 20, and Purnell provided 13. Jax Trickey provided a boost with five of his seven points in the fourth quarter.

It’s the latest measuring-stick game for the Lions, who last year lost at Bonner by 17 points. But Bonner is ahead of that curve, and even after losing stars like Isaiah Wong and Tariq Ingraham last year, it summoned enough resolved to step up in crunch time.

“Malik’s a great player,” Eagan said. “He stepped up big tonight, taking over, doing his thing, getting the confidence to score the ball. He started it and we all finished it together.”

In nonleague action:

Strath Haven 50, Henderson 47 >> Luke Edwards scored 14 points on four made 3-pointers, Will George added nine points and Ibo Pio supplied seven for the Panthers (11-6).

Chichester 56, Harry S. Truman 50 >> Josh Hankins went off for 22 points to go with eight steals, and Andrew Monroe (eight points, 10 rebounds, four steals) flirted with a double-double for Chichester (8-10).

Chester Charter Scholars Academy 85, Coventry Christian 49 >> Damir Baez paired 17 points with seven rebounds, and Davon White and Timmy Evans added 11 points each for the Sabers.

Oxford 57, Interboro 25 >> The Hornets limited the Bucs to single digits in every quarter. Connor Hughes led Interboro with a career-high 10 points.

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Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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