City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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RADNOR — Jackson Gaffney is as calm as any high school player with four years’ worth of experience but considering that he was only reinserted into the Radnor lineup last week makes his tranquil demeanor befuddling.

The 6-foot-8 senior forward suffered a foot injury prior to the start of the season and was in a boot for over a month. After building a rapport with teammates he has known since he was young, Gaffney saw his first action of the season against Conestoga nine days ago but even in that game, he never tensed up or seemed lost in what head coach Jamie Chadwin was trying to run at either end of the floor. 

He meshes well in the middle of the Raptors defense and he’s continuing to showcase more of his offensive repertoire as his comfort level increases with each minute he logs.  

The Radnor native is back, and he may be the missing piece in the Raptors’ pursuit of a Central League and District 1 title.

“I feel good, and the rest of the team is helping me out a lot,” Gaffney said. “They’re integrating me back into it. Practices are a big help and just getting out there on the floor every day keeps me going.”

Gaffney tallied 10 points and seven rebounds in his most effective game since his return from injury as Radnor remained unbeaten with an emphatic 61-33 victory over Upper Darby. In a contest that featured two of the top four teams in the Central League, the Raptors jumped out to a 10-0 advantage as Princeton commit Jackson Hicke scored four of his game-high 21 points in the opening four minutes. 

The 6-5 senior standout, who also corralled 13 boards and dished out seven assists, has been matched up against some of the bigger forwards that Radnor (15-0, 10-0 Central League) has faced like Archbishop Ryan’s Thomas Sorber or Garnet Valley’s Jake Sniras, but with Gaffney officially a focal part of the lineup, there’s an added dimension to the Raptors’ scheme now.

That’s something that Chadwin hopes to unveil as the postseason draws near and he sees Gaffney as an active participant in Radnor’s drive to a district title game return.

“Skill-wise, he can shoot it and he can go inside,” Chadwin said. “He can do all those things that everyone has seen here. The most important thing is he’s a willing part of the team. He wants to add to, not take away from, what’s already here and that’s a very hard thing to do. You have to respect that, and it’s incumbent upon us as coaches to make that as easy for him as possible.”

Gaffney sank two free throws for his first points of the night to give Radnor a 15-point lead in the second quarter then later scored four straight points, including a putback off a miss by Harvard lacrosse commit Michael Savadone (five points), and the Raptors were rolling with a 27-13 lead with 2:59 left before halftime. He got out in transition, kept his footing as the Upper Darby defense was barreling down on him and finished through contact to make it 35-18 — one of the many facets he now brings to this Radnor lineup and something he perfected at previous stops along the way.

He began his career at The Haverford School, where he played alongside Jameel Brown (Penn State) and Zach Genther (Washington College) then spent his junior year at St. Joe’s Prep where he teamed with Jaron McKie, Olin Chamberlain Jr., Tristen Guillouette and a host of young, talented guards under Jason Harrigan. 

Gaffney averaged 6.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 20 games (16 starts) at St. Joe’s Prep and made 22 three-pointers while shooting 37.3% from behind the arc. As Chadwin noted, “offense is not a problem for him,” and performances like his 25-point outburst against Philadelphia Catholic League semifinalist West Catholic a year ago are indicative of that. 

According to Chadwin, the next step in Gaffney’s maturation, especially as the district and potentially state playoffs loom, is becoming more adept with Radnor’s defensive concepts such as help-side rotation and turning stout defensive possessions in fluid offense.

“He’s very gifted offensively and as you saw tonight, we do everything based on our defense,” Gaffney said. “For him, it’s gelling with this group. It’s not a lack of effort or focus but it’s about getting reps with that group defensively because that’s what we hang our hat on.”

Gaffney is a long and rangy, and that allows him to go up and get the ball at its highest point off the glass or even go backdoor for an alley-oop, which Radnor attempted a few times but Hicke, D-III Rochester (N.Y.) commit Danny Rosenblum and Princeton lacrosse commit Cooper Mueller could not find the connection. Those passes will eventually find their target but for now, Gaffney is going to find where he can be the most impactful.

“[Coach Chadwin] has me playing everywhere and wants me to shoot the ball and attack while getting others involved,” Gaffney said. “This group is really helping me get back out there to play my game.”

Upper Darby (10-4, 6-4) was hoping to come in and upset the Central League’s top team but they shot an abysmal 9-for-47 from the floor and turned the ball over 15 times on the night. The high-scoring tandem of Nadir Myers (13 points) and Yassir Joyner (12) got their points, but they really had to work for them against a staunch Radnor defense that continually trapped Myers at the top of the key and on the wing. 

Myers hit the Royals’ first field goal of the night on a trey from the wing at the 3:58 mark of the first quarter then Joyner was finally able to put a stop to the Raptors’ 11-0 run to start the second half with a layup 4:22 into the third. Mueller turned one of his five steals into an easy assist to Charlie Thornton to make it 49-20 then Gaffney converted his final basket of the night on a tough finish inside to give Radnor a 26-point advantage before shortly exiting the game for good.

Radnor lost to Chester in the District 1-5A title game last season, falling just short of the school’s first district title since 1961, then lost in the second round of the state playoffs to eventual champion Imhotep Charter. 

Installing Gaffney into a system that had Radnor on the precipice of history last year has been almost seamless with this senior-laden group. Chadwin feels that with Gaffney giving his offense another scoring threat, the rest of the 2023 class will get him up to speed on where he needs to be at the opposite end of the floor.

“It’s a testament to the leadership in this program,” Chadwin said. “You can’t dream up better leaders than our four captains in Danny, Jackson Hicke, Charlie, and Cooper. I think the credit goes to them in helping this process because they’ve grown up together in the township and they know each other. It’s not a brand-new piece as far as their relationship.”

While Gaffney can certainly perform at this level, he was previously known for his ability on the lacrosse field. He will play his final lacrosse season with Radnor in the spring, but his focus is on how he can help the Raptors basketball team win and “focus on basketball the rest of the way.” He has received interest on the hardwood from Fairleigh Dickinson as well as West Chester University, and Gaffney notes that those programs “like how I can handle the ball at 6-8 because it’s not something you see very often. They also like that I can stretch the floor and shoot it.”

Before even thinking about the possibility of playing at the next level or picking up a lacrosse stick again, he wants to achieve something great with this pack of Raptors.

“I want to hop in and play my game because I really gel with them,” Gaffney said. “We played together in the summer, and I want to keep that rolling.”

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By Quarter:

Upper Darby 5 I 13 I 6 I 9 II 33

Radnor 18 I 18 I 15 I 10 II 61

Scoring:

Upper Darby: Nadir Myers 13, Yassir Joyner 12, Khysir Slaughter 2, Niari Hodges 2, Alex Brown 2, Niyimire Brown 2

Radnor: Jackson Hicke 21, Jackson Gaffney 10, Henry Pierce 9, Charlie Thornton 6, Michael Savadone 5, Cooper Mueller 4, Danny Rosenblum 4, Elijah Sellers 2