City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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WILMINGTON — Ryan Pegg hears it constantly.

From his dad in between games, from head coach Paul Romanczuk before games, from assistant coach Neale Boyle on the bench during games and even his teammates, the message is the same: ‘Stay ready.’

Malvern Prep’s junior guard isn’t sure when or how long he will enter the game on a given night. In his first varsity season, the mission is just to be ready when his number is called.

“I know when big times come, sometimes I gotta step up for my teammates,” Pegg said. 

With his team trailing and two starters, including older brother Hayden Pegg, fouled out, Ryan re-entered Wednesday’s game against Middletown (Del.) in the final minute. Not long after he unleashed a three from the corner, putting his team ahead by one. Just seconds later he made sure that advantage stood with a block.

Pegg hit the go-ahead three and added the game saving stuff in the 59-56 come-from-behind win to cap Wednesday’s Play-By-Play Classic at the Chase Center.

“Unbelievable, right?” Romanczuk said. “It’s one of those things you just gotta stay ready. You gotta stay ready, and I’m glad Ryan had confidence in himself and was there for us to make big plays. 

“That’s a tough spot to be in. It’s really difficult when you don’t know when your number’s going to be called, but he showed a lot of maturity tonight, no head hanging or anything like that and he made some huge plays, obviously game-winning plays for us. I’m really, really proud of him.”

Not much separated the two teams, both taking turns with the lead through the first three quarters. Middletown, led by 18 points from senior guard Amir Hite and 14 points from senior forward Jaiden McGhee, built a seven-point lead with 3:50 to go and had a chance to go to the line and extend the advantage to nine.

The Cavaliers squandered the opportunity to put the Friars away, missing both free throws, and Malvern junior Ryan Williams scored on the other end, giving the Friars some life. Then Williams scored another bucket and the Friars were within five. He added another and all of the sudden MIddletown’s lead was down to three, 54-51.

Williams scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth.

“I wasn’t really playing that well in the first three quarters I don’t think, but in the fourth quarter,” Williams said. “But in the fourth quarter, I kind of just relaxed and tried to play through everybody first, trying to get Andrew (Phillip) to his spots, trying to get Hayden corner shots and then trying to get Ryan his shots. Once that worked I finally tried to get my shot last.”

Malvern’s momentum shift appeared to hit a snag when senior forward Andrew Phillips (12 points) was called for a charge around the one-minute mark, allowing Middletown to extend its lead back to five. Then freshman guard Rowan Miller hit a three (56-54) and the comeback charge was back on.

Phillips picked up his fifth foul after the Cavaliers broke the press, and in came Pegg. McGhee missed both foul shots to leave the door open for Malvern. After Miller collapsed the defense, he found Pegg in the corner for a three that swooshed through the net with about 19 seconds to play, putting Malvern ahead 57-56.

“We fight together. We just held on,” Williams said. “That’s the thing about us. We have a lot of depth in our lineup. Just like Ryan. A game ago, Ryan, he didn’t really get in that much because we were clicking, but when someone isn’t clicking we have so many players. He can click and he can get in any time we need him and like that shot he just hit, he stays ready.”

Middletown came back down and appeared ready to get off a good look before Pegg swatted it away and the Friars secured the ball before getting fouled with 2.2 seconds left.

Williams knocked down a pair of free throws and a last-second heave by Hite rattled off the rim to finish off the victory.

“When it went in, I couldn’t even think at the time, but we still had a couple seconds on the clock, so we still had to win the game,” Pegg said.

“There’s 10 seconds left, run back down the court. If they scored that, they would have been up, so I hit the shot, but we gotta win the game on the other end too. It’s not just one side.”

Pegg was a swing player last season, so this season is his first in the varsity rotation. His minutes come and go, but he’s making the most of them.

He tallied six steals in a win two games ago. Despite coming off the bench, he was the team leader in blocks entering Wednesday night and added the most important one of the season thus far to the resume.

“He’s a very gifted offensive player,” Romanczuk said. “He can shoot the basketball. He can make plays offensively, but what I’m most proud of is his growth defensively. He’s got some athleticism and length to him. … He’s really focused on getting better in a variety of ways and I think where it shows up most is the defensive end.”

Pegg and his older brother Hayden both started at Malvern in eighth grade with Ryan following a year after Hayden.

Hayden, a standout on the football field, is in his second year starting for the Friars, but this will be it for his hoops career as he has college suitors on the gridiron. 

Ryan’s doing everything he can to make his final season with his brother a memorable one, surely adding to their long list of memories on Wednesday night. Hayden was one of the first ones to greet him with a hug after the final buzzer sounded.

“This is his last basketball season, not just for himself, but for me and him, so we just gotta be grateful for everything,” Pegg said.

“We’ve played together our whole lives so this is special. I’m just taking everything in and I’m really grateful for it.”

By Quarter:

Malvern Prep:  10 | 18 | 14 | 17 || 59

Middletown: 11 | 15 | 18 | 12 || 56

Scoring:

Malvern Prep: Williams 25, Phillips 12, H. Pegg 6, Miller 5, R. Pegg 5, Oschell 4, McFadden 2.

Middletown: Hite 18, McGhee 14, Cunningham 8, Rogers 6, Hynson 6, Edmund 4.