City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith
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Engineering & Sciences didn’t wait around to make noise this season. 

Riding the coattails of back-to-back strong seasons, the Engineers posted a 56-51 season-opening win against Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, a previously-unbeaten team fresh off of a headline victory of its own over Archbishop Wood.

“I’m ecstatic,” head coach Dustin Hardy-Moore said. “It’s a major win. “Shoutout to SCH, that’s a great program, they just came off of a huge win. I’m sitting on cloud nine. It’s a great win for us.”

“We just want to make statements this year,” he added.

For E&S, there was certainly a get-back element to Wednesday night’s game, too. Last season — a solid 15-9 campaign — featured a 30-point loss to the Blue Devils.

It’s just one game, but according to Hardy-Moore, the vibes are good after night No. 1.

“We’ve played them every year for the past three years, we’ve been 0-3,” he said. “Our players definitely wanted to mend what happened last year; we were really confident going into that game and SCH really put it to us. Our guys remembered that.”

Adding to the excitement of the night, senior Fareed Brown notched his 1,000th career point in the game’s early moments, having finished the 2024-25 season just four points shy of the milestone.

“He got it on a baseline drive layup, it was an acrobatic layup,” Hardy-Moore said. “That was a major moment.”

According to Hardy-Moore, though, Wednesday’s contest was every bit of a team win, with key contributions from multiple players — he referred to junior forward Malcolm Musgrove Jr. as “eye-opening,” and applauded the efforts of leading scorer Sahin Rodgriuez (13 points) as being pivotal in crunch time. 

He added that — in conjunction with Rodriguez’s clutch performance — a player-led conversation at a critical timeout played a major role in halting a late SCH rally and holding on to the slim victory. 

“Last year, we would have lost this game,” Hardy-Moore said. “Even through adversity, they didn’t falter. It shows the growth within our program right now, that we’re ready to take these steps.”

Senior guard Julian Sanders led the way for the Blue Devils, scoring 19 points in the close loss. 

Here are a few other notable results from around the area, on a busy night at all levels of the sport:

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HS Girls: West Chester Rustin 41, Methacton 26

Rustin opened the season on a strong note, toppling a Methacton team that finished 14-10 last season thanks to stout defense and a game-high 16 points from senior Jenna Kraft. The Knights held Methacton scoreless in the second quarter, while scoring 13 points of their own, opening up a 25-9 halftime lead and never looking back. 

With Wednesday’s result, Rustin also avenged a season-opening blowout loss from a year ago. In defeat, Methacton sophomore Ava Wolf led the way with 11 points. 

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D-I Women's: La Salle 70, VCU 62

La Salle bounced back from a loss to Villanova by taking down VCU Wednesday night, improving to 6-2 on the young season. The Explorers are already more than halfway to last year's win total, having earned their best eight-game start since 2022-23. 

An efficient 9-of-12 shooting night for junior Aryss Macktoon — who led all scorers with 21 while adding seven boards, three assists and three steals — made a major difference. Senior Anna Przyszlak added 15 points and six rebounds.

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D-III Men’s: Arcadia 75, Haverford 50

In a battle of area Division III teams who were each off to solid starts this season, Arcadia blitzed Haverford on the road, improving to 5-2 behind 21 points, five steals and three assists from sophomore guard Jamison Lynium. 

The Knights also played suffocating defense, holding Haverford (4-2) to 32.7 percent from the field and 25 percent from beyond the arc. The Fords’ 50 points were split between 11 unique scorers, with freshman Emmanuel Cheung Hernandez’s nine leading the way.

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D-III Women’s: Immaculata 75, Widener 52

Immaculata took down Widener — a team that reached the MAC Commonwealth title game a year ago and is just two years removed from an NCAA Tournament trip — for the second year in a row Wednesday night. This time, the Mighty Macs (5-2) handed Widener (6-1) its first loss of the season. Of note, though, Widener senior and leading scorer Mia Robbins did not play Wednesday.

Sophomore and Cardinal O’Hara alum Carly Coleman (21), senior Oliva Ettorre (17) and freshman Abby Grillo (17) combined for nearly three-quarters of Immaculata’s points, and added a combined 17 boards. Widener sophomore Riley Stackhouse tallied 22 points in the loss. 

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D-II Men’s: Jefferson 76, Wilmington 73

Jefferson snapped a three-game losing streak with Wednesday’s win, earning a much-needed thanks to late-game heroics from leading scorer Jeremiah Dorsey (25 points), who drained a go-ahead three-pointer — and added a free throw — with two seconds on the clock. The Rams hadn’t lost more than three in a row since losing five straight early in the 2017-18 season.

Dorsey’s triple came in response to a go-ahead basket from Wilmington freshman Jaylin Horsey, who impressed with a team-high 17 points. For Jefferson, junior Alex Bates IV chipped in 17 points and four rebounds of his own. 

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HS Boys: Penn Charter 72, Archbishop Ryan 57

After a close Tuesday loss to out-of-state Lawrenceville Prep (N.J.), Penn Charter (2-1) got back on the winning side of the board behind 20 points from sophomore Carter Smith, 16 from senior Dominic Comitale, and another 15 from sophomore Luke West. With Wednesday’s loss, Ryan drops to 0-2 prior to a Saturday bout with Academy of the New Church.  

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D-I: Drexel goes 1-for-2 against AU 

Both of Drexel's squads took on American Wednesday night; the women earned a home win against the 1-6 Eagles, 55-48 behind Amaris Baker's 20 points. On the flip side, the men (4-5) blew a 13-point halftime lead to fall on the road against the defending Patriot League champs, 75-73. A 10-0 American run out of the break quickly erased the Dragons red-hot first frame.