City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Radnor wasn’t going to let its return trip to Liacouras end in heartache again. 

Playing in the same arena on Temple’s campus where they lost in overtime to Chester in the 2022 District 1 Class 5A championship, in search of their first district title in more than six decades, Jamie Chadwin’s Raptors were ready. 

“We walked in and we said ‘this doesn’t get old,’ this is what we want to make the habit and routine of Radnor basketball, is playing in games like this,” Chadwin said. 

Now they’re starting a new tradition: not just playing in the big games, but winning them.

The Central League champions kept their undefeated dream season rolling with a dominant showing in the 2023 District 1 5A title game, No. 1 Radnor taking down No. 3 Unionville 61-36 to capture a district title for the first time since 1961. 

“It’s amazing,” Radnor senior Cooper Mueller said. “We came here last year, fell short, it was a sting, overtime game. It felt great to go out there today, take control of the game after the first quarter and come away with a nice big win. 

“We’ve all been waiting for this forever, to play in a big championship in front of a lot of people, have a great game, the game of our lives. We all played well, it’s amazing.”

The Raptors, as they have been all year long, were dominant for long stretches, winning the second and fourth quarters by a combined 42-13, getting production from everybody in the top seven.

(Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Hicke, their Princeton-bound star, led Radnor in all the major statistical categories with 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, the 6-5 wing seemingly coming up with a big bucket whenever his team needed it. Mueller and Jackson Gaffney each chipped in 11 points to him him in double figures, but the contributions from classmates Michael Savadove (9 points), Charlie Thornton (6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists), Danny Rosenblum (3 points, 4 rebounds) and junior wing Henry Pierce (3 points) helped round out the full-team showing.

As a team, Radnor shot 25-of-53 (47.1%), 4-of-11 from 3-point range, 7-of-8 from the foul line, turning it over eight times while forcing Unionville into 19 giveaways.

“It’s tough to stop five, let alone seven kids who can really play,” Hicke said, “and we all play together.”

Unionville came out ready to prove it belonged in the championship game, scoring the opening five points and taking a 14-13 lead after one quarter. The Radnor faithful were starting to get nervous when it was a 21-15 Unionville lead a couple minutes into the second, but that was the high point for the Longhorns. 

Radnor closed the first half on a 19-0 run to take a 34-21 lead into the break, the Raptors’ advantage in size and physicality finally coming into play. Open looks were nearly impossible for Unionville to come by, Radnor’s length and physicality on both ends forcing the Longhorns into tough shots, one-and-done trips down the court, and turnover after turnover, 14 in total in the first half. 

“They are an elite team,” Unionville coach Chris Cowles said. “We’ve had this issue throughout the year but you can’t just pick and choose when you’re going to do it against them because you’re going to get exposed. (We) got exposed every single time we didn’t do something strong.”

Mueller, the Princeton lacrosse commit, was everywhere defensively for Radnor. The 6-foot-3 wing’s buckets weren’t as important as his seven steals and even more deflections, which helped him stuff the stat sheet along with four assists, two rebounds and a pair of blocks. He also hit the half-ending triple, his only 3-ball of the day, to give the Raptors a huge boost going into the locker rooms.

“He has the anticipation skills of like three different guys out there at one time — maybe that’s the lacrosse in him, I don’t know,” Chadwin said. “He’s able to kind of lock in one-on-one and take guys out of their rhythm, but he’s also able to jump passing lanes and make some of those plays in the open court.”

“I mean, that’s just who he is,” Hicke added. “That’s what he does for us, he’s a game-changer, he’s an energy guy, he brings this team together and he’s probably the best defender in District 1.”

As a reward for his tough play, he finished the night a bloody nose bandaged up, and he wasn’t the only one on the Raptors that spilled blood on the Liacouras Center floor: Savadove also played most of the evening with a wad of gauze stuffed up one nostril, and it’s surprising it was just the two of them. 

“I broke it last year and it was bleeding a little,” Mueller said, “but I think it’s alright, just bloody on the outside.”

Though Mueller provided the spark, Hicke helped the Raptors put it away. In the third quarter, which saw Unionville cut that 13-point halftime deficit down to five, Hicke stopped the run by splitting a double-team for a layup, then closed out the quarter with a second-chance bucket to give Radnor a 10-point cushion going into the fourth.

What wasn’t clear from Hicke’s performance on Saturday afternoon was that he’d been sick all week, needing an IV on Friday, but he said he was about “90 to 95 percent” back to normal by the time the title game rolled around. He checked out after knocking down his last two free throws with 1:48 left, Chadwin able to get his starters out one by one in the last couple minutes, each to an ovation from the strong Radnor student and fan section in attendance.

“I’m happy something finally worked, it felt great out there,” he said. “Once you’re out there playing with adrenaline and stuff, you don’t really think about it much. It was great to finally feel healthy to play.”

“Jackson kind of willed us to at least kind of keep that edge,” Chadwin said. “I think he was trying to find the right time to pull his mojo and I think luckily our defense helped us get to the point where he didn’t have to try to carry the scoring load — not that he has to do that, he creates for so many guys on the team.”

The Radnor seniors, who will undoubtedly go down as one of the best classes in school history — certainly tops in the modern era — have at most five games left in their high school careers, one goal left to accomplish: a PIAA Class 5A state title. 

They’ll begin that run on Friday with a home game against Warwick (16-9), the eighth seed out of District 3, the Harrisburg/Lancaster area. After that is a matchup with either West Philly or the District 2 runner-up, West Scranton, with potential games against Archbishop Ryan — who Radnor beat by 15 earlier in the season — and then powerhouse Imhotep in the quarterfinals and semifinals. 

“We have three of our four goals this year, the last one is to win a state championship, that’s what we’re playing for now,” Mueller said. “Time to flip the switch, move onto the next game. It’s exciting.”

By Quarter
Radnor:      13  |  21  |   6   |  21  ||  61
Unionville:  14  |   7   |   9   |   6   ||  36

Shooting
Radnor: 25-53 FG (4-11 3PT), 7-8 FT
Unionville: 14-39 FG (3-16 3PT), 5-8 FT

Scoring
Radnor: Jackson Hicke 18, Cooper Mueller 11, Jackson Gaffney 11, Michael Savadove 9, Charlie Thornton 6, Henry Pierce 3, Danny Rosenblum 3

Unionville: James Brenner 10, JT Anderson 10, Nick Diehl 6, Robbie Logan 5, Ryan Brown 3, Kevin Carson 2