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Powers, Malvern's high-octane sytem lead to win over 'Stoga

12/13/2015, 12:15am EST
By Jeff Griffith

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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When John Harmatuk became the new head coach at Malvern Prep, he brought a system that was completely new to what the Friars had been working with prior to his arrival.

And now it’s front and center, in large, white letters on their navy blue warm-up shirts.

Malvern has developed a team mantra of “Run MP,” based off of Harmatuk’s system of playing fast, uptempo, high-octane basketball that has slowly permeated through his program, and has played a vast role in a successful start to the season.

Harmatuk’s senior captain, Will Powers, who dropped 25 points in the Friars’ 80-53 victory over Conestoga Saturday night, is one of the few players who was around during the pre-Harmatuk days, when Jim Rullo was in his final year as Malvern head coach before taking his current job at Neumann University.

“Coming from my freshman year playing in a totally different system, at first I wasn’t used to it, but now in my third year of playing with Coach ‘Tuk I’m really starting to mesh with him and starting to like it," said Powers. "It really keeps the game going, it’s fast-paced, a lot of teams aren’t used to it coming into the game so it definitely hits a lot of teams with a surprise and gives us an advantage.”

Under Rullo as a freshman, Powers quickly acquainted himself with a slow, organized brand of basketball, but had to adjust as a sophomore when, in his words, “Literally everything I had ever done wasn’t going to be what I was doing before.”

“I was used to more of like a system game,” Powers added. “Coming from a lot of sets, now it’s uptempo, a lot of fast breaks, getting the ball up the floor, get a shot up. Before that I’d never really played in that, I was more get the ball across half court and set up a play. It’s a totally different system from what I was used to.”

The players are buying into the system Harmatuk has brought because not only is it working, but simply put, it’s fun. And according to Powers, it’s working the best it has in all three years since the “Run MP” message went into effect, likely in part to how much the players are thriving in and enjoying the new playing style.

Powers’ role specifically this season has not only been as the primary leader of his team, but also as the leader on the score sheet, averaging over twenty points a game, with his season-high of 26 coming in a three-point season-opening loss to Friends Central.

That being said, like any coach would want his lead man to be, he’s nothing but humble when it comes to his performance on the court.

“It’s better to win than self-play, everyone played really well and we fought throughout the game, it was good to pull away and get a good team win.”

The senior’s post-high school plans are still foggy, but he’s been developing some interest from schools like Johns Hopkins and Franklin and Marshall; he's considering majoring in economics or law.

“They’re both very good schools academically, which really appeals to me,” he said.

Harmatuk, unlike Powers, is much quicker to recognize the impressive ability his captain has displayed on the court, whether the senior sees it or not.

“Will’s one of those special guards, I don’t even think he knows how good he is,” said Harmatuk. “He’s a three-year starter, he’s scoring twenty a game, we’re putting a lot of emphasis on him to create shots and do things, he’s confident, that’s just the kind of guard he is.”

Powers’ 25-point night started with 14 points in the first quarter alone, which provided a spark that opened up a dominant performance for the Friars, who ripped off a 16-2 run and led 30-14 after the first quarter. He didn’t put up another point again until after halftime, but by then it was already a 20-point lead for Malvern. 

Senior big man Mike Hollingsworth dropped twelve points of his own on the win while snatching ten boards for the Friars, while Conestoga's lead scorer was Charlie Martin with eleven.  

Once the early run put the Friars up by double-digits, they were well on their way to a very impressive against a Conestoga team that, while they’re still filling in for some lost seniors, is always a tough program to play under the leadership of head coach Mike Troy.

For a Malvern team who suffered close losses to talented teams like Friends Central, Bonner-Prendie, and St. Joseph’s Prep, but bounced back to take down their cross-town foe, the Phelps School, beating Troy’s Pioneers is a huge step as Harmatuk, Powers, and their upstart, uptempo Malvern Prep team prepare for a dog-fight of an Inter-Ac schedule.

“We’re 3-3 now, and our 3 losses were all one-possession games, we had threes to tie all of them, and our two five-point losses were free throws with, you know, 0.7 seconds left or something like that,” Harmatuk said. “So we’re right there, making that next level, and I think beating Phelps gave us confidence, because this is year three, and the first two years we could just never get over the hump of winning close games, we had Episcopal in overtime, we always lost those games. I think we’re going to be able to build on that confidence.”


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