City of Basketball Love

Tyler Sandora (@tyler_sandora)
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It was at this time a year ago The Haverford School had started out 5-0 in Inter-Ac play. The Fords had sole possession of first place in a league they haven’t won since 1999, and before that 1978.

But in the sixth game of the regular season, the Fords dropped a five-overtime thriller to Germantown Academy, which sparked a downhill slide.

Haverford ended up finishing the regular season with a record of 7-3, but that was only good enough for third place. Germantown and Episcopal Academy split the league title with records of 8-2.

“We couldn’t handle a run,” junior guard Christian Ray said on his team’s meltdown last season. “When they went on a run we couldn’t respond with our own run. That’s on me and Kharon (Randolph) for leadership, we just couldn’t handle a run.”

This season, the Fords are in a familiar place. With experience returning from last year -- they didn’t graduate a single varsity player -- Haverford has once again gotten out to a strong start in Inter-Ac play.

Entering Friday night’s contest at Malvern Prep, also previously undefeated in the Inter-Ac, Haverford was hoping to continue its winning streak unlike last season.

They did just that.

Neck-and-neck for the majority of the game, The Haverford School (13-4, 4-0) broke away in the fourth quarter and put away Malvern Prep (10-5, 3-1) for a 62-59 win, advancing to 4-0 in the league and gaining sole possession of first place in the Inter-Ac.

Ray led the Fords with 26 points, 17 of which came after halftime. Freshman Christian Clover scored 13, and senior USciences commit Kharon Randolph added 12.

Since all of this year’s team went through last years devastating downfall, they are all motivated to not let that happen again this year.

“We went through a tough 10 days or so last year,” head coach Bernie Rodgers said, “and I hope the kids still remember that. This year we’re a year older and a year stronger. Going through that makes us better. I think it is there without saying, the kids know. It feels like unfinished business.”

“We just need to face adversity better,” Ray added. “I think that, me included, the team started separating towards the end of last year. Coaches put us in a great position to win every game so we need to stay together and win.”

Since the Inter-Ac league title is decided by the results of the 10 regular season games, no playoffs, every game has a playoff-type atmosphere. With the win over Malvern, The Haverford School has now beaten every team in the league except for Penn Charter, which it plays next Tuesday.

Because of last year’s losses, the members of the Fords learned what it takes to withstand the competition of the Inter-Ac on a nightly basis. This year, though, the Fords have a much more confident player in Ray. In four games of league play, the 6-5 junior is averaging 22 points per game.

“I didn’t have the dog in me to put the team on my back and say we are going to win regardless,” Ray said. “This year it is more of, make them stop me and make them win the game instead of us giving them the game. Kids see what I do, and the more energy I give, the more energy they give. They see that I play hard and get every loose ball, rebound and they’ll be on my back.”

Before the season, Ray and Randolph came to the conclusion that if they didn’t want to fall down the standings, they would need to take a step up in terms of leadership.

Over the summer, both Ray and Randolph played their AAU ball for K-Low Elite, and were mentored on how to bring leadership to The Haverford School. So far this year, the two guards have implemented some new actions to the team’s everyday agenda.

“We have been trying to do as much as we can,” Ray said. “We have started to huddle after every play, high-fives, random high-fives, doesn’t matter. Just staying together as much as possible.”

Although it’s too early to tell -- as shown last year, anything can happen -- the Fords look to be off to a great start in Inter-Ac play, and have the motivation of defeat to try and bring home a league championship to Haverford for the first time since 1999; when most of this year’s team wasn’t even born yet.

“The Haverford community needs one,” Ray said. “Once we get one, we can get things rolling. We have some great young talent, so we win this and keep it going.”