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92 in 92: Germantown Academy (Pa.)

12/03/2014, 12:00pm EST

By Tom Reifsnyder

Germantown Academy sophomores Kyle McCloskey (above) and Evan-Eric Longino will look to improve upon strong freshman seasons. (Photo: Josh Verlin)

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder)
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(Ed. Note: This piece is part of CoBL’s “92 Stories in 92 Days” high school season preview, which will feature a different team in the CoBL coverage range each day from September 1 to December 1.)

Winning a second consecutive Inter-Ac championship after graduating eight seniors, three of whom were Division I prospects, is no small feat.

Although the repeat was impressive, the personnel who helped the team make it happen were even more noteworthy.

Sophomores Kyle McCloskey and Evan-Eric Longino were just wrapping up middle school when Germantown Academy won the first of its back-to-back league championships en route to a PAISAA state title in 2012-2013.

Last season, their first at the high school level, McCloskey and Longino were thrust into starting roles for a team they had never played with before.

“We knew that they were good players but nobody knows how young guys are going to react to that first taste of varsity,” head coach Jim Fenerty said. “Most freshmen wind up playing on the freshman team or in some instances on the JV team.

“These two guys, initially, they were just filling out the varsity roster, but then they just kind of went out there and we said, ‘Hey, you know our rule is best players play,’ and they were among the best and they really did a great job for us.”

After a stellar freshman campaign, it’s relatively safe to assume that the duo will have a similar, and possibly even greater impact this season.

Reigning Inter-Ac MVP Tim Guers, a 6-foot-3 senior, has already seen considerable improvements in the two sophomores.

“Evan and Kyle look great,” Guers said. “Evan-Eric actually did cross-country in the fall and he lost about 20 pounds so he really looks great, definitely moves a lot better than he did last year.

“And McCloskey, even though he plays football in the fall, he’s still sharp and looks really athletic. Both of them grew maybe an inch or two, so yeah, I’m really excited to play with them again this year.”

From an outsider’s perspective, Germantown was supposed to be a two-man show led by Guers and fellow senior Sam Lindgren last season.

Guers, a St. Anselm (N.H.) commit, and Lindgren, a Colgate (N.Y.) commit, certainly played their part in 2013-14, but they were not alone in their substantial efforts.

Along with Guers winning MVP and Lindgren being named second team all-league, junior point guard Devon Goodman took home first team all-league honors while McCloskey and Longino received a lot of all-league consideration as well.

Guers (18.3 ppg) and Lindgren (15.5 ppg) may have been the team’s leading scorers, but they were nothing if not unselfish last season.

In no moment was this more evident than in the Patriots’ early season matchup with Bishop-McDevitt, which marked the first start for the inexperienced tandem of McCloskey and Longino.

“In that game, their coach said, ‘We’re going to take away Guers and Lindgren and see if the other guys can beat us’…well, Longino had 24 and McCloskey had 22 in their first starts,” Fenerty said. “And the biggest reason for that is both Lindgren and Guers, instead of saying, ‘Oh, well I need to get mine,’ they just saw that these two guys were lighting it up and decided to go to them instead.

“I think Timmy had like a bunch of assists to get them open and Sam had just controlled the backboards, and I think that kind of set us on our trend of like…it’s amazing what you can accomplish when nobody cares who gets the credit.”

For a team with such good chemistry, it seems fitting that Guers views Goodman as the team’s “silent” leader.

This year’s squad obviously has its fair share of standouts, but the all-around team contribution is what truly makes the Patriots special. A great team is nothing without their “glue guy”, and Goodman certainly fits that mold for Germantown.

“Even though he’s a year younger than me, I definitely look up to Devon and follow what he’s doing,” Guers said. “He’s definitely the floor general, I mean, he’s already a super quick guard but he’s the kind of kid that just never stops working.

“Last year, teams tried to force Devon into shooting jump shots, but he worked hard in the offseason shooting jump shots and now I don’t know how they’re going to guard him honestly.”

When Goodman sustained an injury early on, junior guard Bailey Whitman stepped right into the point guard role for Germantown. Although Whitman is more a shooter, his experience at the ‘1’ has made him a much better playmaker coming into this season. Junior Eathyn Edwards, a 6-2 guard, will also provide some quality minutes off the bench.

Rounding out the backcourt is senior guard Matt Perricone. Unlike McCloskey and Longino, Fenerty didn’t see major varsity minutes in Perricone’s future when he arrived at Germantown. He dressed with the varsity team for the first time last season after strictly playing on JV in his first two years. In his final season as a Patriot, Perricone has been named a captain and will finally get the minutes he deserves according to Fenerty.

“Last year, he very easily could have just said, ‘Oh, these freshmen are playing ahead of me,’ but he didn’t,” Fenerty said. “He’s such a quality kid that he just worked even harder this summer, and he deserves minutes…so I’m going to try to make sure he gets them because he’s improved his game dramatically and I think he will help us a lot this year.”

The Patriots’ backcourt rotation will be very strong, but the frontcourt may be the team’s x-factor. Joining Lindgren and Longino down low is 6-10 junior Joe Stinson. He’s a long, athletic big with pretty good skills on both ends.

Fenerty often prefers guard-oriented lineups, but Stinson will certainly get his fair share of time on the court this season.

There’s no doubting that Germantown has a deep team. Fenerty expects to play nine, maybe even ten guys at times this season. In accordance with their great depth, both Fenerty and Guers believe that chemistry is the team’s biggest strength.

“It’s beyond just teammates on the court and guys who like playing basketball together,” Guers said. “I can’t even begin to describe it…our team is like a true family, just how movies depict it.

“We just really enjoy each other’s presence and I think that actually relates really well with how you do on the court.”

Germantown’s chemistry will be put to the test when Pennington (N.J.) comes to town on Wednesday, Dec. 3, for the Patriots’ first game of the 2014-15 season.

Pennington got the best of Germantown last season, as they emerged victorious in their home opener, 81-69. A year later, Guers and the Patriots are excited for the opportunity to start their season on a high note.

“They came out and punched us in the nose last year, so I think we’re really going to be up and ready for that game,” Guers said.

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