City of Basketball Love

Thomas Primosch (@ThomasPrimosch)
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Adam Holland is more used to driving in runs than driving to the basket. On Friday night he showed he can excel at both.

Holland, who has been the starting centerfielder for the Penn Charter baseball team since he was a freshman, was the driving force behind a 52-36 win over Episcopal in the first league game for both teams this year.

He finished with a team-high 14 points as the Quakers knocked off a Churchmen team with eyes on a league title.

“I’ve been begging the kid to shoot, he hasn’t shot all year,” Penn Charter coach Jim Phillips said. “He made a couple shots and I think when you’ve got to run at him, he’s got enough quicks with the ball where he can get to the rim on you.”

Holland is starting for the Quakers (8-3, 1-0) after not playing basketball at all last year in order to focus on baseball. It’s a move he felt was necessary, but he’s glad he decided to play basketball again this year.

“At that time it was the best decision for me but looking back at it, I kind of regret it. I knew for a fact I had to come back this year because I knew we had a good team,” Holland said.

The game got off to a slow start and the score after one quarter was a mere 6-5 in Penn Charter’s favor.

Neither team shot the ball well but the Churchmen (10-4, 0-1) shot an ugly 4-19 (21.1 percent) from the field in the first half on their way to only 13 points in the first half.

Holland had a quiet first half for Penn Charter, as he shot 0-4 and didn’t record a basket over the first two quarters. Despite his struggles, the Quakers went into the break with a 19-13 lead and tons of confidence after playing excellent defense on the Churchmen in the first half.

The Quakers came out firing in the second half and a 12-3 run highlighted by multiple layups from Holland gave them a 31-16 lead with 2:58 left in the third quarter.

“Shots weren’t falling in the first half. We got a little frustrated but when we came back to the locker room we just talked about playing our game,” said Holland, who is attracting Division I looks for his play on the diamond. “I know I’m best when I go to the basket so I started going to the basket a little bit more and they started playing off me a little bit, waiting for me to go to the basket.”

Episcopal made a run midway through the fourth quarter and they cut the score to 45-36 with 1:40 to go but Holland recorded an impressive and-one to put his team back up by double digits for good.

The Quakers clamped down on defense for the rest of the quarter and didn’t allow Episcopal to score again. They also shot well from foul line down the stretch, nailing 10-14 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Holland was instrumental in the second half for the Quakers. The junior recorded seven points in both quarters and he played tenacious defense on Episcopal’s guards. He also made all four of his free throws in the second half.

Senior Harrison Williams had 10 points for the Quakers and sophomore Mason Williams added eight.

The Quakers were able to hold Episcopal's 6-foot-7 junior forward Nick Alikakos, a Division I hoops recruit, to just eight points in the first half. Although the reigning Inter-Ac Player of the year finished with 17 points, Phillips was pleased with the job his players did on him, especially junior Dylan Burnett, who also chased Episcopal’s 3-point shooters off the line all game long.

“He has all kinds of energy. He would probably tell you himself he’s a little bit of an offensively challenged dude but he’s a long, deflection-getting, anticipating, strange bird of an athlete,” Phillips said.

Burnett only finished with three points but he played tough defense on Alikakos, forcing him into difficult shots for the majority of the game.

The Quakers will look to build on just their second league win in the last calendar year when they take on Malvern Prep next Tuesday and they are excited at what the rest of the season holds.

Phillips, who’s in his second stint with the program after leading it from 2000-2011, thoroughly enjoys coaching his group of players and this win showed him how good they can be at their best.

“I think they’ve really brought into being all in. The problem is: how many times are we going to be able to bring that. If we can bring it nine more times, we’re going to be okay,” he said.