By David Comer
—
NEWTOWN — The George School basketball players were up before the sun for all of those 6 a.m. preseason conditioning sessions for nights like Tuesday. They ran sprint after sprint with nothing but the chirping of a whistle and squeaking of sneakers filling an otherwise empty gym so they could win games when the calendar turned to February.
“It sucked in the preseason,” said a smiling Luke Melniczak after his team defeated Friends’ Central, 84-68, in one Friends School League semifinal on Tuesday night. “It’s worth it now.”
The win earned the Cougars a spot in the league championship game at 8 p.m. Friday at La Salle University against Academy of the New Church, a 64-62 winner over Westtown School in the other semifinal.
“The early mornings have always been a time to teach,” said George School coach Ben Luber, whose team improved to 19-4 and won its ninth straight game. “The early mornings test character and test dedication.”
The results from those early morning sessions speak for themselves. The Cougars went undefeated in league play during the regular season to earn the top seed in the playoffs and set up their matchup with the fifth-seed Phoenix, which defeated fourth-seed Friends Select, 70-67, in overtime to advance to the semifinals.
“I expected to get a very good fight tonight,” Luber said. “They have an all-league player. They have an excellent coach.”
And the Phoenix came out firing. Led by that all-league player, 6-foot-3 sophomore guard Patrese Feamster, who made three three-pointers before the game was 5 minutes old, Friends’ Central (10-13 overall) raced to a 20-16 lead after an entertaining first quarter.
“We knew they were going to be tough,” said Melniczak, who scored 13 points and made hustle play after hustle play. “They were hitting some tough shots.”
Peyton Miller (above) led George with 34 points in the win. (Photo: David Comer/CoBL)
The torrid pace continued in the second quarter. The Phoenix extended their lead to 26-18, when Feamster, who scored a team-high 25 points, converted an old-fashioned three-point play. But George School, led by junior guards Peyton Miller and Kasey Fleming, pulled within 38-35 at halftime.
“We knew as a team we were going to be fine,” Melniczak said.
Added Miller, who scored a game-high 34 points and made 15-of-16 from the foul line: “We always feel poised. We stuck together, and sticking together with my teammates is a big thing.”
When the teams met on January 10, George School won, 64-45. In that game, the Cougars used a dominant third quarter to take control of the game. The same was true Tuesday. George School finished the third quarter on a 26-4 run for a 64-46 lead entering the fourth quarter.
“I’m proud of how our kids responded in the third quarter,” Luber said.
Miller was terrific in the third quarter. The 6-foot-2 junior, who is in his first season at George School after starting his high school career at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J., scored 15 points in the period.
“It feels great,” said Miller, who was honored before the game for scoring his 1,000th career point last week. “I couldn’t ask for a better team, a better coach, a better situation.”
Miller, who has several Division I offers — including ones from Iona, Binghamton and Fairfield — and Fleming, a 6-foot-3 junior guard who also hopes to play at the Division I level, form one of the best backcourts in the region. They have been quietly spectacular all season and could easily be the best kept secret in the Philadelphia area. On Tuesday, while Miller was scoring 34 points, Fleming was scoring 24. They have each routinely scored at or around 20 points per game as George School hasn’t lost in nearly a month.
“I think our backcourt is very, very underappreciated by the Philadelphia community,” Luber said. “Every big game, they step up and score. I think they’ve earned that respect.”
Miller and Fleming did not know each other before the season started. Now, they look like they’ve been playing together for years.
“When he got here, I was one of the first people to meet him,” Fleming said. “We played a lot of 1-v-1, and we formed a brotherhood.”
“I didn’t know him at all when I got here,” Miller said. “It’s great he’s with me.”
Luber wasn’t just having his team run during all those preseason conditioning sessions just for the sake of running. He knew that his team, without the injured 6-foot-11 Luke Bevilacqua, a Lafayette commit, would have to press for 32 minutes and play a fast-paced style to win. And that is exactly what they’ve done.
The Cougars’ rotation goes seven deep, but their starters rarely get a rest.
“Everyone has a role on this team,” Luber said. “They play together and play to win. This team is a pleasure to coach and easy to root for.”
Everyone plays defense. That much is clear. Miller and Fleming score. Luke Melniczak is the leader and defensive stopper who makes winning plays in many different forms. Luke’s freshman brother, Ryan, is the primary ballhandler and distributor. Senior Reeve Sysko is the rim protector on the press and a reliable 3-point shooter. Fallou Diouf and Max Kipper come in off the bench.
And one other thing that the players have in common is the bond they formed during those early morning preseason conditioning sessions. They ran lots of 17s — sprinting from sideline to sideline a total of 17 times without stopping — and they ran just as many 22s — running four full lengths of the court in less than 22 seconds.
But, now, away from that quiet gym on those cool fall mornings, where they ran and ran and ran out of the spotlight so they could one day be in the spotlight, they are a single victory from earning their second league title in three seasons.
“We just trusted in all the hard work we put in,” Fleming said. “It wasn’t fun, but it was worth it.”
By Quarter
Friends’ Central: 20 | 18 | 8 | 22 || 68
George School: 16 | 19 | 29 | 20 || 84
Scoring
Friends’ Central: Patrese Feamster 25, Oben Mokonchu 12, Pierce Blackwell 10, Gabe Moore 10, Evan Boyer 8, Will Stern 2, David Liu 1
George School: Peyton Miller 34, Kasey Fleming 24, Luke Melniczak 13, Reeve Sysko 9, Ryan Melniczak 2, Ziyi Xiong 2
Tag(s): Home High School Boys HS Friends' Schools (B) Friends' Central George School David Comer