City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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There was a championship atmosphere inside Germantown Academy’s gymnasium on Friday night. With no space in the seats, an overflow of fans poured along the baselines as well as the corners and two hectic student sections had their own back-and-forth.

At the end of 32 minutes of basketball, though, one of those student sections joined its team in celebration with fans and players alike holding up four celebratory fingers.

Germantown beat Episcopal Academy, 64-51, on Friday night capturing at least a share of the team’s fourth consecutive Inter-Ac title.

“These seniors have won an Inter-Ac championship every year of their high school career, and that’s pretty special,” Germantown coach Jim Fenerty said following the celebration. “They’re such great kids. …We knew we had to play very well, and we did.”

The Patriots did, indeed, playing some of their best basketball in the fourth quarter when they outscored the Churchmen, 22-11. Evan-Eric Longino led the way for GA with 21 points and the team went 21-for-30 from the foul line.

Germantown used the foul line to pull away in the game’s final two minutes, but make no mistake, it was a tightly contested game for 30 minutes.

The Patriots held the halftime lead after a 14-2 run in the second quarter, but it was by the slimmest of margins (24-23) after Episcopal’s Nick Alikakos banked in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to close out the first half. Alikakos, the league’s leading scorer, ended up with a game-high 22 points, going 10-of-18 from the field.

While the Churchmen hung right with the Patriots in the second half and tied the game late in the third quarter, GA never relinquished the lead. Germantown led 42-40 at the end of three quarters and scored the first four points in the final period.

Germantown hit just one 3-pointer in the entire game, getting most of its scoring in the paint and at the charity stripe. Point guard and leading GA scorer Devon Goodman had a quiet night by his standards, scoring nine points after being shut out in the first half. Luckily for the Patriots, two other starters stepped up.

Junior forward Kyle McCloskey made his presence felt inside, scoring 12 points and snagging seven rebounds. Meanwhile, senior Gabe Alter made sure his tenure at GA was capped with a fourth conference title as he scored 14 points and, with eight rebounds, was a big reason the Patriots held a 29-19 advantage on the glass.

In addition to the offensive boost, Alter was tasked defensively with slowing Episcopal sharp shooter Matt Woods. Woods, who scored 12 points in Episcopal’s win over GA earlier in the season, was held to eight points on Friday night, hitting two of his seven 3-point attempts.

“Alikakos is going to get his, but you can’t let Woods and (Conner) Delaney get theirs,” Fenerty said. “I thought Gabe Alter played an absolutely great game on Woods. He killed us the first time, and he shut him down.”

Delaney scored 12 points and knocked down a triple which cut Germantown’s lead to three with six minutes left, but the Churchmen would not get closer. Both Goodman and Longino hit some clutch jumpers down the stretch for the Patriots, who started getting sent to the foul line with about a minute-and-a-half remaining. They hit enough to seal the game and the festivities on their home floor started as soon as the final buzzer sounded.

“It was packed, I loved it,” Longino said. “I loved it from the jump. These kind of games are just fun, I had a smile on my face the whole time.

Added Fenerty:  “I thought tonight was a great environment for high school basketball, especially the Inter-Ac. People say nobody comes to the Inter-Ac games, they should come to this. …“They brought busloads of people over here and people were excited. I just think it’s great for high school basketball, it’s really a great thing.”

All hope is not lost for Episcopal, as the team could still tie GA for the title. At 6-2, the Churchmen have two games remaining – both against Springside Chestnut Hill. Meanwhile, the 8-1 Patriots have to face Malvern Prep on Tuesday afternoon. Two wins for Episcopal and a slipup by Germantown, and there are co-champs.

And as much as Fenerty respects Craig Conlin’s Episcopal team and the way it competed on Friday night, he doesn’t want his friend to have a hand on the conference trophy.

“Four in row in any league is something special,” Fenerty said. “We have a tough game at Malvern. If we were to go out there and lay an egg – Malvern is good. If we have to share the championship with somebody, Craig Conlin would be great. But we don’t want to share it. He’s one of my good friends and I might share a beer with him sometime. 

"But I don’t want to share this.”