Recap
Jonathan Vander Lugt
PHILADELPHIA
For about 28 minutes on Friday night, Penn Charter played Germantown Academy’s equal.
The second, third, and fourth quarters saw just a combined 43-41 margin for the Patriots, and for roughly the first half of the game’s first frame, the Quakers kept the pace.
Problem is, high school basketball games last 32 minutes. Those unaccounted four featured a monster 15-1 GA run, and supplied the main difference in the outcome of the Patriot’s 64-48 win.
“I though we played really well,” said GA coach Jim Fenerty. “Any time you play Penn Charter, you’re going to have a game of runs.”
The rivarly game did feature particularly physical play, hot streaks from both sides, and a raucous student section—from both teams.
The Patriots yo-yoed a double-digit lead for much of the game’s final three quarters. It ballooned to as much as 20 in the third before PC battled back to cut the deficit to 10 late in the third, but the game never got any closer.
“I’m just so proud of the way my guys played,” Fenerty said. “In our first two league games, I don’t think we played as well.”
They did win each—10 and 17 point wins over Haverford School and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, respectively—but weren’t fully up-to-speed without sharpshooter Evan-Eric Longino.
The junior sustained a minor injury during their winter-break road trip to South Carolina, and tried to initially play through a deep bruise just above his right knee.
His leg wasn’t having it, so he sat the first two league games and came back Friday for the first time, at nearly 100 percent.
“That’s 18 points per game that we have back,” Fenerty said.
He scored 21, but the point remains the same.
“People know that with him out, they can try to take away Devon (Goodman), or Kyle “McCloskey,” Fenerty went on, thereby limiting the Pats to just one true scoring threat.
“They try to make someone else beat us,” Fenerty said.
The aforementioned Patriots wound up doing most of the work for GA. McCloskey netted 12, and Goodman also dropped 21, tying Longino for the team lead. No other Pat scored more than four. Mason Williams led Penn Charter with 14, and Adam Holland knocked down 12, with Harrison Williams chipping in with nine. Next up for PC is a Tuesday-night date at home against Springside Chestnut Hill.
For the Patriots, it doesn’t get any easier given that they’ll take on Friends Central Saturday at Philadelphia University in a local showcase. From there, they’ll spend next week concluding their first tour through the Inter-Ac with games against Episcopal Academy and Malvern Prep.
“We’ve got to get ready to play up at Episcopal,” Fenerty said. “It’s a 10-round fight, and we’ve only been through three rounds.”
“We’re a little bloody,” he went on, “but we’re still standing.”
