City of Basketball Love

Ryan Coyle (@ryancoyle35)
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On Tuesday night, Academy of the New Church was playing for the right to go to their fourth straight Friends School League championship game. To get there, they needed to get past Friends School Select, the surprise team of the season, in the semifinals.

The Lions did just that, knocking off the Falcons in a game they led from start to finish coming out victorious with a 63-49 victory, setting up a chance to stake their claim as the new champion in the Friends School League, after going winless in their last six trips to the league championship.  

Coming into the matchup, the Lions knew the Falcons had a major size advantage in the matchup with 6-8 senior Christian Kirkland being a dominant presence in the middle of the floor for Friends Select. One way to combat that issue for ANC was to use the talented guards that they have at their disposal.  

With no player on the roster standing above 6-5 for ANC, head coach Kevin Givens designed an offensive game plan that relied on the quickness and athleticism of their guards to get some quick fouls on the Falcons athletic forward by attacking the basket early and often.

“That was one of the key ideas coming into the game,” senior guard Deywilk Tavarez said. “We knew he (Kirkland) is a very good player, a threat out there, the tallest guy on the floor. We wanted to get him in foul trouble like we did in the first game we played against them and we were able to do that and execute our gameplan.”

The first quarter was an up and down affair that saw ANC take an 18-17 lead into the second frame after a strong first quarter by Tavarez where he scored seven of his game high 18 points. 

Tavarez showcased some deep range on his jumpshot, knocking down two 3-pointers, including one successful four point play. ANC was also able to draw two fouls on Kirkland in the lane as they headed into the second quarter.

At the 6:09 mark of the second quarter, Kirkland picked up his third foul, ultimately sending him to the bench until halftime, allowing ANC to get more damage done at the rim and allowed them to attack the offensive glass and get a handful of second chance points. 

“Defensively I was expecting us to be more disciplined,” Friends Select head coach Percell Coles said. “We picked up a bunch of fouls early, especially to a couple of our key guys, which I think changed the momentum of the game.”

With Kirkland out of the lineup, evening out the size on the floor, Tavarez and his teammates saw an opportunity to take advantage when it came to some extra effort plays.

“That is something our coaches are always preaching to us,” Tavarez said. “When we give our 100% effort and energy and fight for those extra possessions, it is going to pay off for us. So, that is something we try to do every night to give us an extra chance to win. Things like crashing the offensive glass, diving for loose balls, if it gives us an extra chance to win, we are going to do it.” 

With the Falcons star forward on the bench, ANC was able to win the second quarter 14-10, with forward Bahsil Laster scoring five of his 16 points in the second frame. Friends Select guard Temir Davis led the Falcons with 12 points on the night, all of them coming in the first half.

In a physical matchup, between two teams fighting for a berth to the FSL championship game at La Salle University on Friday night, there was a huge disparity in the free throw margin though with the visiting Falcons only going 2-of-5 from the free throw line on the night and the home team Lions taking 27 foul shots, converting 14 of them.

“Some games you can get away with some things, others get called closer and tonight was just one of those nights that the game got called tight,” Coles said.

The second half started out eerily similar to the second quarter, as Kirkland picked up his fourth foul with 6:07 left in the the third quarter and a few moments later, sophomore guard Isaiah Marshall picked up his fourth foul of the game as well, sending both to the bench till the start of the fourth quarter. Despite the visiting teams strong start to the game, their lack of discipline on the defensive end of the floor is what did them in and didn’t allow them to have a fighters chance in this one.

Friends Select, who will compete in the private school state tournament after a breakthrough season that saw them go 17-5 in the regular season and earn the No. 3 seed in the FSL playoffs, still knows their identity lies on the defensive end of the floor and they have some things to clean up before their state playoff game comes around.

“In terms of the states, we are a defensive-oriented team, so I was preaching to them in the locker room that going into this next part of our season we need to be defensively sound,” Coles said. “We need to move our feet and not use our hands as much so we don’t get into foul trouble like we did tonight. We can force turnovers just with our ball pressure, because we are a fast team.”

Despite falling short in their league playoffs, Coles is extremely proud of the season his team has put together, including defeating perennial league powerhouse Westtown, along with Friends’ Central and many others, earlier in the year.

“I started coaching varsity in the 2015-16 season,” Coles said. “It means the world to me to where we are now, from where we began. My AD, the head of the school, they have all been amazing in helping us pursue this vision that we have for the program, giving us all the resources we need and supporting us.”

The Falcons did cut the lead to 42-36 in the third quarter and narrowly cut the lead almost down to three when Tiko Morris-Louis had a steal and a crafty take to the hoop, where he got fouled and his layup rimmed out. Morris-Louis was not able to convert either at the line and squandered the chance to put some real pressure on ANC. Friends Select was not able to get the game under six after that point, as ANC began to pull away.

The Lions shot 22-of-43 (51%) from the field on the night and saw the trio of Tavarez, Laster, and freshman Dior Carter combine for 48 of their 63 points. Carter had an especially strong fourth quarter, helping the Lions pull away for good, scoring six points, including an exclamation point slam. ANC moved to 8-0 on the season when holding opponents to under 50 points. 

While the Lions will be moving onto the title game, there are a handful of things that they noted they need to clean up before Friday night rolls around, especially taking care of the basketball. In the victory they turned it over 14 times, with ten of those coming before halftime.

“Those turnovers tonight were very uncharacteristic of what we usually do on offense,” ANC head coach Givens said. “I think we had some guys trying to force a little bit early, trying to do too much and we weren’t always strong with the ball. Four turnovers that we had in the first half was just we were getting rebounds and they were just ripping it out of our hands. At halftime we really emphasized to the guys that we needed to be more physical and strong with the ball.”

With the stage set now for a new team to hoist the trophy in Tom Gola Arena on Friday night, after George School knocked off Westtown 70-39 on Tuesday, ending the Moose’s run of eight straight Friends League titles, Tavarez is ready to help avenge ANC’s recent shortcomings in the big game.

“It means a whole lot to me having a chance to compete for a championship,” Tavrez said. “It means even more to me after not being able to participate last year due to an injury. I think if I played last year we would have won (60-52 loss to Westtown). I really want to get this win though for our coaches, especially Coach Givens. He has wanted this for super long. Having lost back-to-back-to-back finals, it would mean a lot to get this win for him.”

In the first matchup between ANC and George, ANC fell 75-52, but was hampered by some foul trouble of their own between Tavarez and Laster. This time around, Tavarez and his teammates know what they need to switch up to contain the  inside duo of Kachi Nzeh (Xavier) and Luke Bevilacqua, both who are 6-10 that the George School presents, as well as the deadly perimeter combo of Dante Weise (St. Rose) and Christian Bliss, a high-major Division I recruit.

“We just have to go out there and play with a lot of heart, give our 100% effort,” Tavraez said. “We know this is a do-or-die game for a chance to win a championship. They got the win last time, but I feel like if we go out there, execute our gameplan, and play hard, we can get them back.”

By Quarter
ANC: 18  |  16  |  14  |  15  ||  63
FSS:  17  |  10  |   9   |  13  ||  49

Shooting
ANC: 22-43 FG (5-15 3PT) 14-27 FT
FSS: 20-52 FG (7-26 3PT), 2-5 FT 

Scoring
ANC: Tavarez 18, Laster 16, Carter 14, Keel 6, Medley 5, Waldron 4

FSS: Davis 12, Kirkland 11, Chiles 11, Morris-Louis 10, Anderson 3, Marshall 2