City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Kam Waters’ varsity experience was a year delayed. So was Springside-Chestnut Hill’s turn as an Inter-Ac front-runner.

Waters was supposed to be part of the Blue Devils’ rotation a year ago, when a team led by Alassane Amadou (Marquette) and Jaren Morton (VMI) had plans on snapping a 13-year league title drought. 

Instead, Waters broke his ankle a week into the season, sitting out a year in which he had hoped to earn some valuable reserve minutes. The Blue Devils, despite their talented roster, stumbled out of the blocks in league play and finished third.

A year later, both Waters and SCH Academy are in a whole new place. The junior guard is not just healthy, but starting — and a major reason Blue Devils are taking everybody by surprise. His 16 points, including a few clutch plays down the stretch, led Springside to its biggest win of the season Friday night, 69-66 over Penn Charter, making it clear that last year is well in the past.

“This win means a lot to us,” Waters said. “We’re the underdogs in the Inter-Ac, we think, because we lost Al Amadou and Jaren Morton. […] I think it sends a message that we’re not done.”

Last season, Waters was a 5-foot-11 combo guard waiting his turn after playing junior varsity ball as a freshman. The Olney area native was excited to make a name for himself after watching his cousin, Tony Carr, do the same in a standout career at Roman Catholic and then Penn State. 

Instead, he landed on a teammate’s foot coming down from a layup during an early season practice, breaking his ankle. It was bad enough that he needed to be in a walking boot for four months, through the end of February. He watched from the sidelines as the Blue Devils, expectations sky high entering the season, lost four of their first five league games in a league that only plays 10 round-robin contests with no postseason.

Right as he was coming back from injury, Waters hit a growth spurt. He entered this season a bouncy 6-3 combo guard, going from a self-described “little scrawny kid” into an impressive athlete who can play above the rim and a talented defender with length who can shoot from outside. 

“I feel like it helped me more with seeing the court,” he said of the added height. “Just being taller and being able to play against defenders that are my height and my length, I feel like my arms impact me a lot on defense especially, but I feel like seeing the court — and athleticism too, growing helped me grow with my athleticism.”

Waters has been starting all season long for SCH, which went 12-4 in non-league play and then beat Germantown Academy to open league play. But Penn Charter has been a team to watch ever since it added juniors Matt Gilhool and Jake West in the offseason to join Kai Shinholster, giving the Quakers (7-7, 1-1) a trio of high-level Division I targets and more raw talent than anybody in the league. 

Waters and his teammates made sure the preseason favorites faced a reality check in a wild, back-and-forth game. 

Penn Charter scored the game’s opening six points, threatening to run away early in front of a massive student section inside the Graham Athletic Center. But the 6-10 Gilhool, a high-major target, picked up two quick fouls and then a third early in the second quarter, and SCH Academy took advantage. The Blue Devils went on a 15-0 run between the first and second quarters to go up 14 points, then kept pouring it on, a 22-9 second quarter giving them a 43-26 lead at the break. 

The Quakers, with Gilhool back on the court, quickly closed the gap to five midway through the third. SCH never gave up the lead — it was a six-point edge at the end of the third quarter, and the Blue Devils hung on.

Waters came up with four huge points down the stretch — a reverse layup with 1:25 left that made it 66-60, and a pair of foul shots with 11.9 seconds remaining that kept SCH up five, 68-63, even while the PC students reached their loudest point of the evening.

“My feet were shaking, not going to lie,” he said. “I was dribbling and felt my feet shaking, but I’m glad I hit both of them.”

McFadden, watching from the sideline as Waters had his biggest moments yet, was thrilled.

“That’s the best communicator I’ve ever met on the basketball floor,” the SCH and Chestnut Hill College product said. “He’s got leadership ability, man, and the kids are starting to follow him. My level of proud was pretty high at that moment.”

Everybody in McFadden’s top six, all guards and wings, had a major hand in Friday’s win. Junior Keni Williams went for 14 points, three rebounds and two steals; senior Ron Brown III provided 12 points, three rebounds and three assists; senior Camden Burns had 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists; senior Ryan Kull had eight points and four rebounds; sophomore Owen Kelly had seven points and five boards.

“All the credit goes to these kids, they are freaking good,” McFadden said. “And I’ve been screaming from the rooftops that anybody would hear that I’ve got six or seven good players that anybody should pay attention to. 

“It’s a great win for us in what’s going to be the wildest year in the Inter-Ac in at least the last four or five years.”

Gilhool finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and three assists for Penn Charter, which also got 20 points, four assists and three steals from West and 16 points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocks from junior guard Jamal Hicks.

There are still eight games left in the Inter-Ac round-robin, SCH and Episcopal Academy tied with their 2-0 records. They’ll play each other Tuesday at SCH Academy; the Blue Devils travel to Malvern Prep on Jan. 19 for what will certainly be another intense atmosphere.

Waters (4) is a high-level defender with length and athleticism.
(Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

McFadden said he doesn’t expect any team in the league to have a target on its back, not with the league the deepest he’s ever seen it and the ability for any team to pull off a win on any night. Just ask Germantown Academy, which is a total of five points from being 2-0 itself. But his group has been through disappointment, and they’re ready for the opposite.

“We’re on a mission this year, especially with the record we have before the Inter-Ac,” Waters said. “We’re on a mission, we’re not done — two wins doesn’t mean anything, we’ve still got business to handle next week.”

By Quarter
Penn Charter:    17  |   9   |  25  |  15  ||  66
SCH Academy:  21  |  22  |  14  |  12  ||  69

Shooting
Penn Charter: 26-65 FG (9-29 3PT), 5-7 FT
SCH Academy: 22-55 FG (7-20 3PT), 14-16 FT

Scoring
Penn Charter: Matt Gilhool 20, Jake West 20, Jamal Hicks 16, Kai Shinholster 5, Carter Smith 5

SCH Academy: Kam Waters 16, Keni Williams 14, Ron Brown III 12, Camden Burns 12, Ryan Kull 8, Owen Kelly 7