City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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GLEN MILLS — Grayson Golek was mugged by teammates and friends as he walked off the court Tuesday night. More than a few told the sweaty 6-foot-5 Garnet Valley sophomore directly, “You can do this.”

Maybe next time, Golek will listen.

The first thing he admits is that he sometimes gets in his own way. He knows what he is capable of doing on a basketball court, and at times he’s shown it.

Like Tuesday night, when he dropped a career-high 30 points on Bensalem in Garnet Valley’s 72-54 second-round PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoff game.

The No. 4-seeded Jaguars (18-6) will advance to quarterfinal round to play No. 5 seed Plymouth-Whitemarsh on Friday at 7 p.m., while Bensalem (15-10) will take on Neshaminy in the playback round.

Golek was simply unstoppable against the smaller Owls, scoring 15 points in each half. He blocked three shots and grabbed eight rebounds, in a game he will not forget any time soon.

The frustrating part, he admits, is that could and should play like that more often.

The one stopping him—himself.

“That’s my fault,” he said. “I have been steadily building my confidence, but I’m on a team with such great seniors that I want to respect them. This is their team.”

There was one instance in the waning seconds of the third quarter when Jags’ star senior Jake Sniras handed the ball off to Golek in the corner and told him to shoot. Instead, Golek, who was making it seemed every shot he took, passed the ball away.

“At the moment, I didn’t it was the best shot, and there were a few more seconds left and we were up by 12,” Golek said. “We tried to get set up in our play. But this game gives me a big boost of confidence. A game like this tells me I can do it again, if I keep working. I think the only one who may be in my way could be me.

“It’s a mental battle. I’m working on it. There is a confident me, I suppose (laughs) and the questioning me. I have to trust myself. I need to tell myself ‘I have to do this more.’”

He certainly has a long list of proponents. Jags’ coach Mike Brown feels Golek is one of the best kept secrets around, who has the defensive versatility to defend a guard out on the perimeter, or bigs down low. Against smaller, quicker Bensalem, Golek was used more as a help defender sitting inside the lane, forcing the Owls to stay outside.

“Grayson is a great kid, I mean a great kid who is the type who will do whatever I want him to do,” Brown said. “If I tell Grayson he’s not starting tonight, Grayson will sit and not complain, and then go in and do the job. He’s a solid kid and he does a lot of our dirty work.

“The nice thing about him tonight is that he had 30, and if he scores six the next game, he won’t care as long as we win.”

Brown said Golek’s deference to the seniors comes from respect. He’s an Eagle Scout (he actually is). It’s part of the handbook.

“I think Grayson is a better player than he thinks he is,” Brown said. “His confidence is coming. He is more confident than he was.”

While Sniras had an off night, Golek and Brady Krautzel led the way for the Jags, combining to score 52 of Garnet Valley’s 72 points.

“Garnet Valley is a very good basketball team that is big, tough and can beat you in a lot of different ways,” Bensalem coach Ron Morris said. “Their size gave us issues. Their young kid (Golek) gave us a lot of problems. He knows how to use his body, posting up, finishing around the rim, and he was even stretching the floor hitting threes.

“We’re still in the playbacks and we have at least one more game. I liked how we battled. Christian Lee really helped us tonight. He’s put in the extra work and that showed tonight.”

Golek will try to bottle what he achieved Tuesday night. He broke his right hand during an AAU game during the summer of 2022. He broke the middle finger of his right hand, and it took him four months of rehab to retrain the tendons in his right hand.

What’s interesting is that on the play he broke his hand, he was fouled. He went to the free throw line—with a broken right hand. He made no excuses, even though his hand was throbbing.

“Beining out makes you appreciate things more,” Golek said about that time. “This night was incredible.”

By Quarter
Bensalem (15-10): 12 | 12 | 13 | 17 || 54

Garnet Valley (18-6): 15 | 18 | 21 | 18 || 72
Scoring
Bensalem: Amir Drummond 16, Christopher Lee 15, Aidan Mayfield 13, Jacob Eberhardt 6, Chris Kelly 3, Kobe King 1.

Garnet Valley: Grayson Golek 30, Brady Krautzel 22, Jake Sniras 6, Cole Boruk 5, Luke Faccenda 5, Aiden Anderson 4.

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.