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Morton's game-winner lifts Springside-Chestnut Hill past Friends Central

11/29/2022, 9:00pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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For his senior year, Jaren Morton’s goal is to “stuff the stat sheet.”


Jaren Morton (above) came up with the game-winning shot as Springside-Chestnut Hill beat Friends' Central. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The Springside-Chestnut Hill wing doesn’t have to be one of the Blue Devils’ leading scores, but wants to make sure he’s crashing the glass and making plays for his teammates, both for his team’s success and also to show what he can do at the next level. 

But that doesn’t mean, when the circumstances call for it, that Morton can’t also make an impact by putting the ball through the hoop. And so it was the 6-foot-4 wing who calmly recovered at the end of a nearly-broken play with the clock counting down on the road, knocking down a 3-pointer with 23.6 seconds left to lift SCH to a come-from-behind, 58-57 win at Friends’ Central on Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m not used to shooting in volume, I’m used to taking my time making my shots,” he said. “I feel like when I have to shoot, I’m going to lock in and make it.”

Morton’s fifth shot of the evening was his most significant by far, his 10 points complimenting six rebounds and four assists, a well-rounded game indeed from the former Bishop McDevitt wing, now in his second year at SCH following McDevitt’s closing.

That well-rounded effort, a few days after going for 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists against Germantown Friends, is why several Division I schools (FDU, UMBC and others) are staying on Morton’s tail.

“Jaren Morton is a winner,” SCH coach Julian McFadden said. “He’s one of those dudes that doesn’t get rattled by many things, and his leadership is starting to show through more and more. 

“A kid that good, if you don’t get the shots that you feel like you should get, sometimes it doesn’t go (well), you know what I mean? Jaren Morton has been everything for us so far, everything.”

The game-winning shot was almost a turnover, fitting on a night where SCH Academy (2-0) had 22 of them. A deflection on a pass meant the ball barely got to Morton, standing on the right wing; he nearly stepped out of bounds dodging a defender but found his footing, with nothing but open floor in front of him.

“I was a little nervous,” he said, “But [...] I got the ball, got comfortable, sat down, pulled up, I knew it was going in.”

 

Morton’s shot and a subsequent defensive stand capped off the exciting win for SCH, which also had to stage a comeback in its season-opening win at home on Saturday. The deficit was eight going into the fourth quarter on Tuesday, three more than it was over the weekend; both times it reached double-figures after halftime before things improved.

McFadden isn’t thrilled about the deficits his team has incurred, but considering he wanted his talented roster to develop chemistry more than anything else, he’s been happy to learn they’ve got some resolve.

“We need adversity moments like that, because in the past, this team wouldn’t have fought back like that,” the sixth-year coach said. “I do actually feel great — I’m sure it’s not good for my blood pressure, but I feel good.”

The addition of sophomore Keni’ ‘Bird’ Williams in the second half was key for SCH Academy to turn the tide against a suffocating FCS perimeter defense, led by Phoenix junior guard Reid Belcher, who had seven of his team’s 13 steals on the afternoon. Williams didn’t single-handedly solve the turnover problems, but it’s no coincidence that the Blue Devils scored 37 points in the half where he played a majority of the minutes and 21 in the one where he didn’t.

Slated to be the Blue Devils’ starting point guard, Williams missed the season opener as he was at Wake Forest with his family, visiting his brother; though McFadden had planned on working Williams back into the mix, his play in the second half made it clear he had to stay on the floor.

“That definitely helped us — him controlling the floor, controlling the tempo, it definitely helped us in this game,” Morton said. 


Cam Burns (above) had 18 points to lead SCH for the second straight game. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Junior guard Camden Burns led Springside-Chestnut Hill in scoring for the second game in a row, scoring 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, adding in four steals, three assists and two rebounds. Freshman guard Patrese Feamster completed the trio in double figures, adding 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Friends’ Central got 16 points from senior wing Collin Bowman, who hit four 3-pointers, plus 11 from Belcher and 10 from junior wing Muhsin Muhammad

In his return from a concussion, Marquette commit Alassane Amadou chipped in seven points, six rebounds and two blocks. The Blue Devils are still short one of their starters, junior guard Ron Brown III, who’s a few weeks away from fully recovering from a broken arm. 

“That was the biggest thing coming into the season, building that togetherness so when the tough times come, kind of like the ones we just had, we don’t just fall apart as a bunch of really individualized guys that are trying to get theirs, things like that,” McFadden said. “We kind of came together, so these feel like two really big wins for us — we didn’t play our best, I don’t believe, but big, big wins for us, specifically this one.”

By Quarter
SCH Academy:    16  |   5   |  18  |  19  ||  58
Friends’ Central:  14  |  11  |  22  |  10  ||  57

Shooting
SCH Academy: 20-38 FG (5-16 3PT), 13-18 FT
Friends’ Central: 24-52 FG (7-18 3PT), 2-7 FT

Scoring
SCH Academy: Camden Burns 18, Patrese Feamster 12, Jaren Morton 10, Alassane Amadou 7, Keni Williams 6, Ryan Kull 5

Friends’ Central: Collin Bowman 16, Reid Belcher 11, Muhsin Muhammad 10, Fazl Oshodi 8, Joe Green 6, Nigel Pierman 4, Liam Foley 2


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