City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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HORSHAM — Kyle Dittus put it all on himself.

Early in the first quarter of Tuesday’s SOL crossover clash with visiting Springfield Township, the Hatters saw their heart and their engine in senior Noah Schlosser leave the game for good after getting raked across the eye while blocking a shot. 

Wins have been hard enough to come by with Schlosser — an All-SOL-caliber athlete in each of his three sports — on the floor this season but Dittus wasn’t going to let another one slip away.

The senior guard saved his best for last, scoring seven of his 17 in the fourth, including the go-ahead layup, and drew a pivotal charge to help HH top the Spartans 50-47 for just the Hatters’ fourth win this winter.

“Noah’s our top rebounder. I was focusing on rebounds, defense, I took two charges this game, which I haven’t done all season, I was trying to fill the roles Noah usually plays,” Dittus said. “I wasn’t going to let us lose this game. That would usually be Noah’s mentality when he’s in that situation so I tried to pick it up in his absence and tried to will us to the win.”

The win, which wasn’t secured until Springfield Twp’s Dylan McKenzie’s long three to tie went just a hair too long off the back rim, also came with an extra prize for the Hatters. Head coach Richard Fedele, who called a timeout to set up the inbound play that netted Dittus the game-winner, claimed his 200th career victory thanks to his team’s no-quit effort.

“It was more than a game, we were doing it for them,” Dittus said.

Dittus was the driving force late — emphasis on the driving part with his will to attack the rim fueling the late-game offense — but it wasn’t a one-man show. Crazily enough, one of the Hatters’ most pivotal players on Tuesday started his night playing in the JV game before being sent to the locker room after three quarters of work.

Had sophomore Mason Bynum not been pulled, it may have been a very different ending for the varsity team. As it was, the guard not only played varsity, but got the start and spent much of his time shadowing Spartans’ lead scorer McKenzie and a little time sparking a third quarter run alongside fellow reserve Vaughn Craig.

McKenzie, a 6-foot-2 guard who did just about everything possible for the Spartans on the football field this fall and has seven games with 20-or-more points so far this winter, did finish with 18. However, he had to do it with at least one defender — usually Bynum or freshman Ken Lutz — in his airspace.

“I’m super proud of the way Kenny Lutz and Mason Bynum defended tonight, they both locked their man down and scored too,” Dittus said. “Vaughn Craig, he came off the bench and got some big rebounds, he had two put-backs for us that really got our run going.”

The Hatters took a 10-point lead midway through the third quarter and two strong takes to the rim by Dittus early in the fourth had the host team ahead 40-35 with 6:23 to play. With his teammates limiting McKenzie’s touches, the Spartans settled for a lot of isolation offense and some tough shots that helped the Hatters take the lead.

Dittus, who also plays baseball as an infielder, said the Hatters’ record doesn’t show it but this is a different team than in years past. There’s a bond between the players and even if the wins aren’t coming, Dittus believes this group is playing with the right effort and mentality.

In the second half, it came from recognizing that the Spartans weren’t taking great shots on one end and were in foul trouble on the other, so the Hatters put their heads down and kept going to the lane.

“We took our season-low for 3-pointers in the second half,” Dittus said. “We really just eliminated that from our game and were straight attacking the basket.”

Springfield kept pressuring the ball, led by Brett Smith, who collected eight straight points for his team to pull within 44-43, then had back-to-back assists that put the Spartans back in front 47-44. However, the visitors would make a costly turnover with 23.8 left as Fedele called a timeout.

The play call was one the Hatters were expecting, even if Schlosser wasn’t on the floor as an option, Dittus was plenty comfortable taking it himself. The senior, who always inbounds, passed in to Matt Wingen, who came up to catch the pass and give it right back to Dittus rolling to the rim for the go-ahead score.

“That’s our number one side-in play,” Dittus said. “It really catches the other team sleeping when the screen comes up from the block and I think we called that play at the perfect time.”

Earlier in the quarter, Dittus was none too pleased with what he felt was some extra-physical play by the Spartans and needed his teammates to cool him off after getting fouled under the basket. He would get a measure of payback by playing the visitor’s over-aggression against them the very next play after he had put his team ahead.

Knowing whichever Springfield Township player brought the ball over midcourt would likely try to power into the lane trying to score or draw a foul, Dittus sprinted back and baited his trap. Having already taken one charge and with the officials in a giving mood as far as offensive fouls, Dittus stepped in front of Smith, took a shoulder to the chest and drew the charge with nine seconds to play.

“The second I saw him driving at me, I set my feet,” Dittus said. “I knew if I didn’t get my feet set, he was going to go through me and get free throws, so I had to take that charge.

“That one was personal.”

Dittus, who played AAU with East Coast Power, is undetermined on his college future. The 5-foot-11 senior has applied to and been accepted at a few larger schools thanks to his strong academic standing but he hasn’t enrolled yet in case a late opportunity comes his way to play at the next level.

It would be a monumental task for Hatboro-Horsham to climb into a playoff position but there’s still opportunity to have a say in the SOL Liberty division race once crossover play concludes

“This gives us the confidence we can win without Noah,” Dittus said. “It shouldn’t matter who’s on the floor for us, if we play the way we just played, then we can play with any team. We’re going to take it one game at a time and try to level out our record.

“Don’t count us out just yet.”

By Quarter

HATBORO-HORSHAM 10 12 14 14 - 50

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 7 16 8 16 - 47

Scoring

HH: Kyle Dittus 17, Mason Bynum 8, Vaughn Craig 8, Ken Lutz 6, Jake Grier 6

ST: Dylan McKenzie 18, Brett Smith 10, Trey Mapp 8, Will Cooney 5, Miles Goodwin 3, Will Hastings 2, Muneer Pigford 1