City of Basketball Love

Jared Leveson (@jared_leveson)
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BENSALEM — Holy Ghost Prep’s roster is crowded with seniors, but sophomore Adrien “Ace” Varella has been their go-to guy since senior leader and guard, Seamus McDermott, went down with an injury.

The 6-foot-2 guard played junior varsity ball last year and now leads the Firebirds in scoring and assists. Varella’s accomplished this while battling a bone bruise on his left foot all season. 

He uses ice, heat, and stretching to manage the pain and straps a boot on his left foot whenever he’s not playing or practicing basketball. 

He rolled his foot twice. Once in September and then again in October. However, Holy Ghost’s rising star has played through the pain before. Varella played basketball with a broken foot when he was in seventh grade. 

“It's nothing new to me,” he said. “I (didn’t) realize it until later in the season. I had to get an MRI and they just cleared me to play (in) the playoffs.

“My mom wanted me to sit out the last two games and didn't want me to risk [my foot] getting worse. So, she sat me out for the last two games and waited for me to be good for the playoffs.”

“(He) didn’t practice again until yesterday,” the 45th year head coach Tony Chapman said. “But you never would’ve known it. He’s a tough kid.” 

Varella’s toughness was contagious and helped 7th seeded Holy Ghost win their first District 1 5A tournament game in two years against No. 10 Upper Moreland. The Firebirds trailed heading into the halftime break, but the combination of staunch defense and big-time playmaking from Varella, and senior Noah McDermott, clinched a 54-36 win on Friday night.

“Coach came down and asked what we had to work on most,” Varella said about Holy Ghosts’ half-time adjustments. “Everybody said defense. We had to stop (Jon Clark) from scoring and we’d be fine.”

“Coach talked to us and said we had to keep our composure at halftime,” Noah McDermott added. “Coming back up, I think the team really understood what it meant (to get) a win tonight and our defense was kinda struggling with (Clark). He was playing extremely well and I think we helped contain him which slowed down their (offense).

“Sometimes he screams at us, but he came down after the game and he told us in previous games and in situations like that he’d be screaming and yelling at us [at halftime]. But he knew our heads were still intact and he didn’t want to mess up our momentum. He knew we could get the job done and we were able to win.”

Despite not having 6-foot-9 junior Sean Murphy and junior guard Alex Best, Upper Moreland led 28-23 at the half. 

Clark carried the load for the Golden Bears and had 14 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting. The senior guard showed excellent touch on his finishes and rose up over his defenders on drives. Holy Ghost’s hostile crowd kept jabbering away and Clark seemed to feed off the back-and-forth.

However, the game tipped into the Firebirds’ favor in the third quarter when Chapman adjusted their defensive gameplan and called for Clark’s on-ball defenders to deny him the rock. And whenever the 6-foot-3 guard touched the ball and beat his defender, Holy Ghost collapsed hard and fast. 

“He made some nice plays in the first half,” Chapman said about Clark. “In the first half, we were playing regular man-to-man. In the second half, I said ‘whoever is guarding him don’t let him get the ball (and) don’t worry about help [defense]. We’ll take our chances with the other guys.’”

Holy Ghost's ball denial strategy worked. Clark took one shot in the third quarter and made only one field goal out of five attempts in the whole second-half, finishing with a game-high 18 points. 

The remaining Golden Bears didn’t have an answer either and shot 2-for-11 from the field and got outscored 31-8 in the second-half. 

“They got a lot of young guys,” Chapman said about Upper Moreland. “We have a lot of seniors. When it comes down to potentially your last game, that might’ve been the difference. (Our seniors) didn’t want it to be their last game, and (Upper Moreland) haven’t gone through it yet. It will help them next year.

“I just said ‘we know we got to ratchet it up on defense. We’re playing hard but they are playing a little bit harder, and I said ‘our offense will take care of itself.’ We missed some makeable shots in the first half but our defense was phenomenal [in the second half]. I couldn’t ask for (anything) more.” 

Chapman was right, Holy Ghost’s offense did take care of itself as Varella and McDermott combined for 13 of Holy Ghosts’ 16 third quarter points. 

Holy Ghost started the half on a 6-0 run, giving them a 29-28 lead. Varella jump started the Firebirds’ offense by finishing a downhill drive and setting a physical tone for the second-half.

Upper Moreland responded aggressively by getting to the foul line and getting the ball inside to 6-foot-7 Corey Ellison, giving them a 32-29 lead.  

With the game still in the balance, McDermott hit two huge shots in the third quarter. The dual-sport athlete, who spends his spring playing varsity baseball for Holy Ghost came off the bench and scored all seven of his points in the second-half. 

“I am always ready to go,” McDermott said. “I was ready from the get-go and I knew I would get my chance eventually.”

“I thought he was the difference maker,” Chapman added. “He made the biggest shots when it was still anybody’s game. He put us over the top. Instead of being tied, it felt like we were up seven or eight and he was the key.” 

Excellent ball movement gave McDermott a wide-open 3-pointer from the left wing that tied the game at 32 apiece.

With the clock winding down on the third quarter and Holy Ghost leading 37-32, senior Colin Lucas launched a trey from the left-corner that hit iron. The 5-foot-9 McDermott pulled down the offensive board, dribbled to space, and nailed a mid-range jumper right before the buzzer blared, stretching their lead to 39-32. 

However, McDermott had more praise for their tough underclassmen, Varella, who had 12 of his team-high 16 in the second half along with two assists and a block.  

“Ace played amazing,” McDermott said. “Every single game he just works so hard and some of the moves he made tonight were unbelievable. [He got] to the rim (and knocked) down some big shots. He's an amazing player.” 

“I’ve been putting the work in,” Varella added. “Stepping up (and) making big plays when needed. (Coach) puts me [in positions] where I can put my potential [to where I’m most effective].

Holy Ghost has 13 seniors listed on the roster, but Varella doesn’t feel left out, nor does he feel the pressure to perform for his senior teammates and help keep their season alive. Everybody’s having fun with it and going along for the ride. 

“I’m really blessed to be here in this position right now to play with all these seniors,” he said. “I really have a great bond with them in school (and) out of school. They always tell me to do the right things on the court, out of school, or in school too.

“I really enjoy playing with them and really being here with them.” 

By Quarter:
UM:     12  |  16  |   4   |   4   ||  36
HGP:   10  |  13  |  16  |  15  ||  54

Scoring
UM: Clark 18, Campbell 6, Ellison 4, Tyler 3, Adamson 2, Perce 2, N. Best 1

HGP: Varella 16, Lucas 12, N. McDermott 7, Lindsey 5, Tomasetti 5, Wert 5, Todd 3 

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District 1 5A First Round (Boys)
9) Marple Newtown 53, 8) Sun Valley 50
12) West Chester Rustin 58, 5) Upper Dublin 51
7) Holy Ghost Prep 54, 10) Upper Moreland 36
11) Upper Merion 55, 6) Pottstown 50

District 1 5A Second Round (Boys) — Weds., Feb. 22
1) Radnor vs. 9) Marple Newtown
4) West Chester East vs. 12) West Chester Rustin
2) Chichester vs. 7) Holy Ghost Prep
3) Unionville vs. 11) Upper Merion