City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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BRYN ATHYN — Academy New Church freshman Dior Carter couldn’t buy a basket for chunks of Wednesday’s game.

The Lions’ freshman forward missed his first five attempts from the field and didn’t have a point until the final seconds of the first half.

Moments like that aren’t uncommon for a first-year player in the Friends Schools League, particularly one in his first league game. There’s a reason Carter is out on the floor though.

While senior guard Deywilk Tavarez (26 points) did most of the heavy lifting, Carter (11 points) aided a strong fourth-quarter finish for a 71-65 victory over Abington Friends to start FSL play.

“I can tell at times when his shots are not falling or he’s getting blocked around the rim or something like that he gets a little down on himself,” Tavarez said. “But that’s just because he knows what he can do. We all know what he can do, so we hold him to a high standard even though he’s a freshman. … It’s just his confidence, and once he gets that rolling I think he’s going to develop real well and once we get to playoff time he’s going to be an even bigger factor than he is now.”

Abington Friends jumped on the Lions (8-1, 1-0) early, but trailed 39-31 at halftime after Tavarez and Nolan Waldon got going in the second quarter. Waldon had all nine of his points in the period on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting.

Jared Shanken, who finished with a team-high 21 points, sparked the Kangaroos  (5-7, 0-1) with seven of his points in the third and 14 total after halftime. AFS stormed all the way to grab its first lead of the second half with 3:04 left in third and led 50-47 entering the fourth.

Carter had just four points through the first 24 minutes before getting going with seven in the final period of play to help his squad rally ahead.

“My shots were rushed a lot, but that was me overthinking,” Carter said of his early struggles. “That’s all it was. Once I started getting emotion and seeing that my team needed help, I just needed to show a little more energy coming out of halftime. That’s what I was doing when we were talking about, ‘Who is gonna show that energy?’ Somebody has to do it. Once I bring my energy it rubs off to everyone on the court. That’s what it was, helping my team out. That’s what I’m best at.”

ANC retook the lead early in the fourth after Tavarez sunk a pair of free throws following a technical foul. The Lions led by four with 2:37 left in the game, but buckets from AFS’ Kaydin Ford and Angel Otero (13 points) tied the score 65-65 with 1:30 to play.

The Lions pushed the ball down the floor in response and Carter was aggressive, driving with his left hand and putting a layup in past Rider commit Ife West, who had six blocks, to give ANC a 67-65 advantage with 1:05 left.

Jarell Keel came up with a swat on the other end and Tavarez helped put the game away with FTs before one final dunk by Bahsil Laster (17 points) finished things off in style.

“We were tough on him at halftime because he really wasn’t making his mind up to be assertive,” ANC coach Kevin Givens said of Carter. “That’s what freshmen do. We try to encourage him to be a little more aggressive and don’t worry about the spotlight. 

“Ife’s a real good defender, real good shot blocker and I think that was in his head, but he pulled it through down the stretch.”

Carter, who hails from South Philadelphia, played at the City School last season before the ANC staff saw him at one of his workouts with Philly Pride. There’s a large talent gap going from playing at a PIAA Class A school to the FSL.

Without any big men in the starting lineup, the Lions play the young, powerfully built 6-4 wing inside and thus far he’s holding up. Givens said he is typically among the team’s leading rebounders and plays with a toughness. Tavarez said the energy he brings is indispensable, part of the reason he is rarely off the floor.

Carter walked away from his first FSL game on Wednesday with a busted lip and knows he’ll take some more bumps and bruises against the front courts of the league.

“It’s a major jump,” Carter said. “Everything’s different. You have to be a little bit prepared to come into this league. First play of the game, I got elbowed and my mouth busted all open, but I gotta get used to that going forward. It was a major jump going from there to here. I just gotta be prepared, be ready moving forward.”

The Lions have now won five straight games since a loss to St. Benedict’s (N.J.). They play Moorestown Friends on Friday and then have a loaded stretch that includes Malvern Prep, Westtown, Perkiomen School and George School.

Whether Carter is up for the task right now or not, Tavarez believes his young teammate has a bright future and more clutch buckets ahead of him — hopefully some more this season.

“I always told him when I met him that he’s going to be a McDonald’s All-American,” Tavarez said of Carter. “Just so he can get that confidence as a freshman. I think he is the best freshman in the state. Plays like that aren’t really surprising for me from him because I know he has the potential to be better than a lot of people that I know. … Once he gets everything rolling like I know he can, he’s definitely going to be a problem.”

Notes >> Tavarez suffered a significant knee injury against Abington Friends last January so Wednesday's game had extra meaning to him. Along with his 27 points, he added 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals. (Read more about his recovery in Jared Leveson's story earlier this season here)

By Quarter

Abington Friends:  14  |   17  |  19  |  15  ||  65

Academy New Church:  15  |  24  |  8  |   24  ||  71

Scoring

Abington Friends: Jared Shanken 22, Angel Otero 13, Ife Ingram 10, Ethan Hodnett 7, Kaydin Ford 5, Marcelus 4, Jason Green 4.

Academy New Church: Deywilk Tavarez 27, Bahsil Laster 17, Dior Carter 11, Nolan Waldon 9, Trey Medley 5, Jarell Keel 2.