City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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MALVERN — After finishing dead last in the Inter-Ac a year ago, Episcopal Academy boys basketball wasted no time proving the 2023-24 season would indeed be an entirely different story.

The Churchmen strolled into Malvern Prep to face the two-time defending co-Inter Ac champions on the opening night of league play and equaled their league win total from a year ago, storming from behind to take down the Friars 59-52 on Friday night.

"We were in all those games last year, and didn’t come out with wins, and that group’s all back together,” EA coach Taylor Wright said. “We’ve got a lot of older guys that were in those games last year and it was nothing new to them. Just being another year older, more experienced, that really helped us this year.”

Episcopal Academy (8-5, 1-0) trailed most of the way but never let Malvern Prep get too far out of sight. The host Friars (10-3, 0-1) led by 10 in the second quarter and nine in the third, but both times the Churchmen immediately responded with six or seven straight to get it right back down to a one- or two-bucket gap.

It wasn’t until the fourth, which began with Episcopal trailing 43-39, that the visitors finally made their move. 

“I don’t think it’s anything really X’s and O’s,” Wright said. “Our guys just had a great attitude all game and just understood when you’re playing on the road, you just keep fighting, scratching and clawing and believing in what we do and believing in each other and that’s what we do. You trail the whole game, that’s alright, you stay in it.”

Senior guard and West Point commit Kevin McCarthy, who finished with a team-high 19 points, tied it at 47 on a corner 3-pointer with 6:17 to play. 

After a few minutes of defensive possessions and a couple turnovers, McCarthy put EA up a point on a spinning layup with 3:45 to play. A couple of possessions later, after Malvern Prep had regained the lead on a layup by Northeastern commit Ryan Williams (27 points), EA junior Langston Foster hit the game’s next big shot, a 3-pointer off a dime from McCarthy to make it 52-50 with exactly two minutes to play.

EA senior Tyler Beaulieu hit the dagger, a corner triple off a feed from sophomore Timmy Dennis with the score the same and 40 seconds left on the clock, silencing the sizable Malvern Prep student section and sending the 100-or-so EA kids in attendance into a frenzy.

“Tyler’s a guy we really lean on and trust big-time, he’s a senior and he’s been in those situations and he trusts what we do and he trusts himself and his teammates trust him,” Wright said. “I’m so happy for him that he’s the one who made the shot. It’s everybody trusting each other, whoever it was going to be was going to make that shot.”

Foster added two foul shots with 15.5 seconds left to maintain the five-point lead, 57-52; a final pair from McCarthy with just a few ticks left provided the final margin. 

Sophomore Reggie King (12 points, four 3s) and junior guard Matt McCarthy (10 points) joined Kevin McCarthy in double figures. Foster added eight, including a pair of 3-pointers. 

Of course, the 10-game double round-robin league is far from over, every single one of the six teams very much thinking they’re in the hunt. Malvern Prep’s two-time defending co-champs, Penn Charter, loom next on EA’s schedule, with Germantown Academy coming in Jan. 12. Malvern Prep travels to GA on Tuesday and hosts Haverford School on Jan. 12. 

It’ll be a surprise if anybody makes it through unscathed; it’s entirely possible two losses are still enough for a solo title. The next four weeks will tell all.

“We’ve got nine more, and we’ve got another big one Tuesday against Penn Charter,” Wright said. “Nothing changes for us; tomorrow we get back in the gym, get ready to get better, create good habits every day and just keep getting better. Everyone gets better all year, it’s just [about] who can get better faster.”

By Quarter

EA:  13  |  13  |  13  |  20  ||  59

MP:  18  |  11  |  14  |   9   ||  52

Shooting

EA: 18-57 FG (14-34 3PT), 9-10 FT

MP: 21-55 FG (3-14 3PT), 7-11 FG

Scoring

EA: Kevin McCarthy 19, Reggie King 12, Matt McCarthy 10, Langston Foster 8, Tyler Beaulieu 5, Timmy Dennis 3, Calvin Szoradi 2

MP: Ryan Williams 27, Junior McFadden 8, Achilles Tucker-Turner 8, Marvin Reed 4, Ennis Udo 3, Nick Harken 2

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Penn Charter 65, Haverford School 50

In keeping with Friday’s everything-will-be-close theme throughout the league, reigning co-Inter-Ac champ Penn Charter had to fight hard for its 65-50 win over Haverford School.

The Quakers (6-6, 1-0), under first-year head coach Brandon Williams, have said since the preseason they want to win it outright this season for the first time since 2004. They took the first step on that mission at home, but it was a grind.

“These games are gonna be messy when they should be clean, they’re gonna be hard when they should be easy,” Williams said over the phone after experiencing his first Inter-Ac game as coach. 

No doubt. The Quakers were able to force early turnovers to get ahead, Williams said, but multiple scoring droughts throughout the game allowed Haverford School to linger. And it was just the fifth game Penn Charter has had its full roster this season, Williams said, with stars like Kai Shinholster and Matt Gilhool missing multiple games due to injury in December. A completely rebuilt and significantly bigger front court is still coming together, despite having Division I talent in multiple spots.

The pair had 16 points apiece, with Jake West kicking in 14 and Jamal Hicks 10. Hicks, despite a challenging performance against Combine Academy after Christmas — Williams estimated Hicks went 1-of-13 shooting in the game — has impressed Williams this season with his scoring.

“Tonight he played a role in just getting us off to a good start,” Williams said.

Penn Charter built a 37-28 halftime lead, but every time it seemed to make a run, the Fords clawed back to within two possessions, Williams said. KJ Carson led Haverford School with 11 points, including three first-half 3-pointers, the only player in double digits.

The Quakers will need to scratch out more grueling wins early against SCH Academy (Jan. 12) and Malvern Prep (Jan. 16) to try to claim their first solo title in 20 years.

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SCH Academy 71, Germantown Academy 69

Then there was SCH Academy, which capped the league’s opening night with a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Germantown Academy.

The Blue Devils (13-4, 1-0) trailed most of the game, including 55-48 after three quarters, and were without top player Keni Williams (14 points) for most of the game because of foul trouble. But some crucial defensive stands and improved communication on the offensive end against GA’s lockdown defense turned things around, head coach Julian McFadden said on the phone.

“I’m really proud of my kids, I’ll say that,” said McFadden, who is in his eighth season leading SCH. “I haven’t had a team like that yet that can just kind of find a way to grind their way back.”

It took every one of Ron Brown III’s 26 points to do it, too. Brown made seven shots, had 24 points heading into the fourth quarter and was a perfect 9-for-9 from the foul line. McFadden said Brown, who has interest from DeSales, Washington College, Widener and other Division III schools, is not getting enough attention at the next level.

“Brown carried us, dude. Brown kept us in it throughout the third quarter while Williams was on the bench,” said McFadden, who estimated the senior also had about eight rebounds and four assists. “He got into a groove, he was hitting shots, he was getting to the lane. That kid is the heart and soul of this team.”

But the Blue Devils had few answers for Patriots guard Bryce Rollerson. The junior led the way with 30 points on 13 made baskets. Ellis Johnson added 18, and Bryce Presley chipped in 10.

SCH visits Haverford School on Tuesday to continue Inter-Ac play, then heads to Penn Charter on Jan. 12.

“I think this is the best (the league has) been in a decade,” McFadden said. “There’s been some great players that have come through. … Every team’s got Division I guys, Division II guys, Division III guys; every coach has college (experience).”