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92 in 92: Friends' Central (Pa.)

11/16/2014, 1:00pm EST

By Tom Reifsnyder

Friends’ Central PG Jon Lawton (left) will adopt the senior leadership role in 2014-15. (Photo: Mark Jordan)

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.)

Friends’ Central senior Jon Lawton was a one-man show for the Phoenix last season.

The 6-foot-1 point guard averaged 23 points per game as a junior under head coach Ryan Tozer, whose team posted a 8-18 record (5-4 Friends League) in his third season at the helm.

As well as Lawton played last season, the team just didn’t have enough surrounding talent to translate his big-time performances into victories.

The biggest reason for the team’s sub-par supporting cast was the absence of high-major prospect DeAndre Hunter, who missed his entire sophomore season with a broken tibia in his left leg.

Although last season was a disappointment for the Phoenix, Lawton benefitted from a great deal of growth as a leader on and off the court in 2013-14.

“It was difficult at times, but I had to fight through it,” he said. “It’s a good experience because now I’ve gone through adversity.

“I think that experience last year made me a better player and a better leader, and I think I’m more capable to lead a team to win championships.”

Just as he did last season, Tozer will look to Lawton to lead by example and with his words. The return of Hunter will be important, but Lawton is still the primary sparkplug for the Phoenix coming into this season.

“I think Jon has developed tremendously, especially vocally on the court,” Tozer said. “I think he really has to do a little bit of everything for us.

“Especially last year; he had to score, he had to distribute, he had to rebound, and he had to guard the other team’s best player… And I think that’s made him a better player.”

Lawton is ready to step into an even bigger role this season, but the pressure of winning won’t be on him alone anymore.

After suffering a season-ending injury in a fall league game last October, Hunter is back and ready to avenge his year-long absence from Friends’ Central basketball.

The 6-7, 180-pound wing can guard nearly every position on defense and has the potential to be an elite talent on the offensive end if he can fill out his frame a little more.

Tozer can’t wait to see what Hunter has in store for the Phoenix in 2014-15.

“DeAndre is so versatile,” he said. “You’re talking about a 6-foot-7 wing that can take you off the dribble; he’s got a real good mid range, he can play with his back to the basket, he’s got great length on defense, he really disrupts opposing players, he’s a good shot blocker, he’s very unselfish for a kid that can pretty much score from anywhere on the floor and he’s very unselfish.

“I’m really looking forward to him having a really big junior year for us.”

Joining Hunter and Lawton on the court for the Phoenix this year will be transfer junior Chuck Champion, who started at the two-guard position on a LaSalle College HS team that made it all the way to the PIAA AAAA state final last season.

Champion’s arrival gives Tozer’s squad another versatile guard to complement and take some pressure off of Lawton.

“We’re getting along really well; he’s a great piece, another guy that can handle the ball and allow me to get up the court and take some pressure off of me,” Lawton said. “We’re going to be able to drive and kick it out to each other a lot and he can really knock it down.

“He’s the piece that we needed for this year; so the pressure is pretty much equal between me, him, and DeAndre.”

Although he’s known for being a big-time shooter, Tozer has been pleasantly surprised with Champion’s ability on the defensive side of the ball.

“What I’ve learned about Chuck this fall is how good of an on-ball defender he is; he’s really scrappy on defense,” Tozer said. “And again, another kid who’s pretty unselfish.

“So we’ve got three guys that can really score the basketball, but more importantly all three of them are unselfish.”

Lawton, Hunter, and Champion will be a formidable “big three” for Friends’ Central, but the team needs to address their rebounding if they want to really put last season’s struggles behind them.

Tozer knows that his guard-heavy lineup cannot simply rely on Hunter for every rebound. It needs to be an all-around team effort on the boards this season.

“If we can rebound the basketball this year, we’re going to win games; if we can’t rebound, we’re going to struggle to win games,” he said. “We do rebounding drills, toughness drills everyday…so we just need to get it out of them.

“It’s in there but we need to force it out of them, ‘cause they really need to bring that toughness every game.”

Joining Hunter in the starting frontcourt this season is physical senior forward Dan Yosipovitch, who will be a big key to the team’s improved rebounding effort.

The battle for the final guard spot is between junior Steven Folwell and sophomore Antone Walker. Folwell is an off-guard who excels in catch-and-shoot situations while Walker is more of a true point. Regardless of who gets the starting nod, both will play a lot of minutes for Tozer’s deep backcourt rotation this season.

Tozer loses his two senior leaders from last season, Max Ginsberg and Jerome Allen, but he believes Lawton is more than ready to step into the senior leadership role in 2014-15.

“I think Jon has really taken that torch and he’s going to be a great senior leader for us this year because he’s had great examples to follow in Max and Jerome, so I think he’s going to take on that role well this year,” he said.

Tozer’s confidence in Lawton is well placed.

Lawton has lofty goals for the upcoming season; and with Hunter and Champion by his side, it’s hard to argue with him.

“Our goal is definitely to win the Friends’ League championship, to be a dominant force in the Philadelphia area, and to also be a dominant force in playoffs and states,” Lawton said. “We also want to win 20-plus games, and just become a stronger team as a whole, ‘cause that’s an extension of how we practice: we always end it on family, ‘family on three.’”

“We just always focus on being a family and making sure we’re always together; we’re just going to fight through everything.”

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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)