City of Basketball Love

Jon Bodack (@JBodack92)
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It looked like it was going to be a tough night offensively for both Delco Christian and Holy Ghost, as both teams scored a combined nine points in the first period of play of a Bicentennial Athletic League matchup.

With Winter Storm Jonas having just blanketed the Northeast with snow, most teams couldn’t practice over the weekend. Holy Ghost head coach Tony Chapman credits this to the offensive struggles that his team faced early on.

“We practiced Friday, we didn’t practice Saturday or Sunday. We didn’t have the opportunity to have a shoot around today either,” Chapman said.

When the second period started it didn’t take long for Holy Ghost to find their stride, as the Firebirds pulled away for a 58-48 win.

Both teams struggled to get much going through the first  eight minutes of play. Delco Christian managed to get up only four shots, one of which went in, while Holy Ghost made only three out nine from the floor in a quarter that ended 7-2.

Chapman’s team responded to the poor first period with an offensive barrage in the second, posting 20 points in eight minutes. Most of the scoring coming from the hands of senior guard/forward Jack Coolahan, who put up 11 points in the period; he finished with a game-high 21 points.

“He means everything, he’s certainly our go to guy and he is an all around player as you can see,” Chapman said. “He can play defense he can get rebounds he can get the ball to right people, and obviously he can score inside and out.”

On the other side of the court, Delco Christian (8-8, 5-7 BAL) found a little rhythm in the second period putting up 13 points to go into the half down 27-15. Good shots were hard to come by for the Knights as they faced a tough Firebirds defense.

“Their defense against us just got us to slow down, we were not crisp on offense,” head coach Don Davis said. “We’ve got to move the basketball and we’ve got to move our feet.”

During the second half the Knights got the ball into the hands of their playmakers, senior guard Wyatt Harkins and senior forward Grant Fischer. These two provided a spark for Delco Christian early in the fourth, leading a 14-5 run that brought the Knights within six points.

Harkins, who finished with a team-high 19 points, sparked the run with a tough layup that resulted in an and-one, then added four more straight points for his own 7-0 run. Fischer,at 6-6, did most of his work on the offensive glass, cleaning up a number of his teammates’ misses on his way to 16 points.

“They are incredible basketball players, they’ve poured their heart and soul into this program since they were in third grade,” Davis said.

Unfortunately the duo’s combination of offense wasn’t enough to put them past Holy Ghost, who got points from junior guard Mike McFadden late to put the game away. McFadden would finish the game with 16 points, six of which came down the stretch at a crucial time for the Firebird’s when Delco Christian was within ten points with under three minutes to play in the game.  

While Coolahan was the leading scorer, it was another player, John McCrane, a 6-foot-2 junior guard who proved to be the difference-maker in the win Holy Ghost (15-3, 10-1 BAL). He posted just 12 points, but that was a much-needed dozen alongside the team’s two usual scorers.

“John McCrane was probably the difference tonight,” Chapman said. “He really stepped up and penetrated a lot more than he has in the past, and he got the ball to the basket and scored a few times.”

Delco Christian’s defense allowed McCrane to play his style of basketball as a driver because they pressured the ball handler and didn’t have much help defense past that.“[McCrane] was smart to enough to know when to pick up and go and when not to go,” Chapman said.

Both teams are still in good shape respectively in their divisions--Holy Ghost in the Independence and Delco in the Presidents--following tonight’s game. For Delco Christian it’s all a matter of moving on to the next one following this loss, which is a quick turnaround as they travel to MaSt Charter tomorrow.

This is a program that’s used to turnarounds. Last year, they started off 2-10 last season before going 10-2 to end the year and winning the District 1 Class A championship.

“I think these guys have the character and understand that the season is not over. It has not gone the way we had hoped, but there is plenty of season to play for.” Davis said. “I think they have big enough goals and have enough character that they are going to play very well, and I think It’s going to come together for us down the stretch.”

As for Holy Ghost, they get a day in between games and will travel to Valley Forge Military Academy on Wednesday. For the Firebirds, it’s all about keeping their composure moving forward to the playoffs.

“Most of the games we have played this year have been competitive games. Our record’s nice, but this isn’t the type of thing where you’re beating teams by 20 or 30 points every night.” Chapman said. “They know, we have to work very very hard in order to be successful, and it will be the same thing Wednesday when we play at Valley Forge.”