Freeman at his best in OT for Sun Valley

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CONCORD — Though Marvin Freeman isn’t known as the quiet type, the situation can generally be left unsaid when Sun Valley games head to overtime.

Even Saturday afternoon against Garnet Valley, a game in which foul trouble limited Freeman to one second-half point, the extra session elicited an extra level from the senior wing.

“It’s something that, I’ve been born with that,” Freeman said. “My whole life, I love overtime. I don’t want to be in it, but when I get into it, there’s a certain drive in me that wants to thrive for the win. It makes me more hungry.”

His hunger led to five overtime points, including a decisive three-point play, to lead Sun Valley to a back-and-forth nonleague win over Garnet Valley, 64-57.

It wasn’t the most pristine game for Freeman, saddled with early foul trouble and shut out in a first quarter where Vinny DeAngelo did all of Sun Valley’s scoring and Garnet Valley led by 11. Freeman and fellow senior Isaac Kennon battled back with six points each in the second quarter to get the Vanguards into the break down just two, 29-27.

After a lone free throw in the second half, Freeman took the initiative in OT. Garnet Valley’s Neel Beniwal hit a 3-pointer to give Garnet a 56-53 lead, but Freeman answered with a drive to the hole. After DeAngelo hit two free throws and Sun Valley stitched together two stops, Freeman again took the ball to the basket, getting fouled while hanging in the air for a shot that bounced once, twice, three times off the rim before falling through. The ensuing free throw put Sun Valley up, 60-56.

“I know as soon as he gets in the game, he wants it,” DeAngelo said of Freeman. “Just sitting on the bench, it makes him more hungry and as soon as he gets in. He wants it more.”

Freeman’s late emergence epitomizes how Sun Valley (14-5) has so adeptly defined and owned their roles. All the contributors were on display in a 15-4 run to end the third. Reserve guard Billy Fisher hit a 3-pointer. Dom Valente dished four assists in the frame, including an inbounds play to Kennon with nine tenths of a second left to give Sun Valley a 46-35 lead.

“That was real big because everybody, we got riled up, we came into the huddle and got our momentum going into the fourth quarter,” Kennon said.

Valente took just one shot, a 3-pointer he banked in. Lance Stone made his only shot, a 3-point play in the second quarter, while the self-proclaimed 6-foot forward — the second-shortest of the Vanguards’ starters — provided important defense on Garnet point guard Carl Schaller.

The offense comes from defined sources — DeAngelo scored 30 points to go with 10 rebounds, Kennon scored 13 and Freeman tossed in 12. For the season, that trio has scored 77.8 percent of the Vanguards’ points. The rest of the squad does the dirty work and picks its spots. Saturday, they did so masterfully.

“We’ve been playing with each other for a while, since sophomore year, so we have a lot of experience with each other,” DeAngelo said. “So guys just step up when they need to step up and they know their role and when they have to get a big rebound, get a big stop, they do it.”

Garnet Valley (12-7) fixed a recent bugaboo by starting strong, running out to a 21-8 lead despite coming off a 77-57 loss to Lower Merion the night before. But they couldn’t sustain that pace.

Cade Brennan, who scored 10 first-half points, fouled out with 2:58 to play. Schaller, who had six points and four assists in the first half, was held scoreless in the second, leaving after getting hit in the face and returning with a hastily fitted protective mask.


Beniwal was the main offensive provider with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, seeming to exploit every brief instance that Sun Valley flashed into a 2-3 zone.

“It’s good because whenever they’re in a 2-3, Carl and my teammates know how to get me the ball and how to get everyone open shots,” Beniwal said.

Greg Vlassopoulos supplied the spark in the third quarter, scoring seven of his 17 points. Though they trailed by as many as nine, Garnet charged back with the aid of a full-court press. Vlassopoulos hung in the lane for two with less than a minute left, though he missed the free throw that would’ve tied the game at 51. DeAngelo answered with two free throws, and Beniwal laid in off glass to get GV within one with 1:17 to play.

Vlassopoulos hit one of two from the line to tie the game at 53 with 34.3 seconds left, a bit of foreshadowing for a team that was 2-for-7 from the line in the fourth quarter and overtime.

“We’ve been in a couple of overtimes,” said Beniwal, whose team has lost four straight. “We need to get better in the fourth quarter when we’re tired and get better at finishing the game out.”

Sun Valley missed two chances to win it at the buzzer, first from DeAngelo and then Freeman. But Freeman wouldn’t squander opportunities in overtime in a quality win for the Vanguards.

“I think this is a very good momentum booster,” he said. “Coach readied us very well. Our bench was really hype and we played together as a team.”

In other nonleague action:

Glen Mills 55, Upper Darby 54 >> Aaron Thompson went off for 29 points and 16 rebounds, including the game-tying basket with six seconds left in regulation and the game-winner in the final 10 seconds of overtime. Nafis Smith added six points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls (6-14).

Shareef Jones hit five 3-pointers to tally 18 points, Diby Keita added 15 and Mamadou Toure provided 12, but the Royals (7-12) saw their playoff hopes severely dented in a fifth straight loss.

Marple Newtown 53, Delco Christian 48 >> Joe Pettinelli (19 points) and Mike Tansey (15 points) each tallied career-highs by hitting five 3-pointers each as the Tigers (7-13) hit 11 3-pointers to prevail in OT for their third straight win.

Jacob Bronkema led Delco Christian with 18 points, and Obinna Nwobodo added 17.

Penn Wood 73, Central 35 >> Desman Johnson paired 20 points with 12 rebounds, and Davanta Smith added 17 points as the Patriots (13-7) led by 21 at half and coasted from there.

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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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