Hill School handles Haverford in battle of last two PAISAA champs

POTTSTOWN >> The past two Pennsylvania Independent Schools champions met up Wednesday afternoon at Hill School, but many of the faces that guided those squads were missing.

While 2018 champion Hill School and 2019 champ Haverford School both have returning experience from those title teams — notably brothers Caleb and Gabe Dorsey for Hill and Jameel Brown, Christian Clover and Tyler Seward for Haverford — both squads are relying on a group of inexperienced players around them as they try to get back to the top of Pennsylvania’s prep hoops programs.

Led by 17 points from Daniel Nixon and a stout defensive effort, Hill (4-2) showed it’s a step ahead at the moment, locking down Haverford (3-2) in the fourth quarter for a 56-45 victory. It was just the third loss in the past year and a half for the Fords, two of which have come at the hands of the Blues, the other defeat coming in the 2018 title game.

“We just grinded it out on defense,” Hill School senior Caleb Dorsey said. “We hit shots down the stretch, got to the foul line, and I think that’s how we were able to finish the game.”

“This year we have a lot to work on, but once we get everything tightened up, it’s going to be great,” he added.

The Dorseys, co-captains this year, and Nixon, who missed time with an injury last season, are the only other key contributors back from last year’s team that advanced to the PAISAA semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. (Only Westtown School has a longer active streak.)

Post-grads Zach Lezanic, a point guard who graduated from Conestoga, and Toni Buchmann, a forward from Germany, have helped bolster the Blues’ rotation.

Buchmann woke the Hill offense up after a sleepy start, scoring seven of his eight points in the first quarter to help the Blues to a 12-9 lead after one. Lezanic did most of his damage in the second half, when he scored eight of his 10 points to help Hill pull away after letting a 24-18 halftime lead get cut down to three (35-32) with 1:20 to go in the third quarter.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Lezanic drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key and then saved a ball going out of bounds underneath the baseline on the next possession, which led to two free throws. Caleb Dorsey followed with a midrange jumper to give Hill its largest advantage of the game, a 52-38 lead with just under four minutes to play and help put away the game.

“When the game comes down the stretch, it’s kind of in the point guard’s hands to make plays for not only himself but his teammates,” Lezanic said. “I thought it was on me to make a play at the end and kind of close out the game.”

Brown, who missed Wednesday’s game with an injury, led Haverford in scoring in last year’s title game, but Haverford graduated 2,000-point scorer Christian Ray (La Salle), Jameer Nelson Jr. (George Washington) and more from last year’s perfect season.

That has meant an increased role for juniors Clover and Seward. Clover led the Fords with 15 points and Seward added 11. Junior guard Bernie Rogers followed with eight points.

Seward said he is handling the ball a lot more this season and will likely be leaned on to score a bit more, but the biggest hole left by last year’ seniors is on the glass.

“Last year, you didn’t even notice when you were playing with them,” Seward said of the rebounding of Ray and others. “They were definitely a big role. They definitely controlled the rebounds a lot.”

“Rebounding is the most important thing because we’re a smaller team this year,” he added. “We’ve gotta be a gritty team because most teams are bigger than us. We’ve gotta be gritty, rebound and also we’ve gotta be efficient on offense. Get the right shots and make our shots.”

Along with its veterans and post-grad players, Hill is bringing along six sophomores this year. Gabe Moss, a 6-foot-8 sophomore forward, scored five points Wednesday, while providing a consistent presence in the paint on the defensive end. Classmates Anthony Wise and Oliver Hutchinson also saw action Wednesday, and junior Paul Henson, a Royersford native, chipped in with two points.

The group has Caleb Dorsey excited about the potential for this year’s team and the program’s future.

“Since I’ve already signed for Penn State, this year is just about getting better, try to win championships and help develop this team as much as possible,” Caleb Dorsey said. “We have a very young squad…I’m just trying to help them for their next step and just trying to win games.”