City of Basketball Love

Eugene Rapay (@erapay5)
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Chuck Champion found himself in a familiar situation.

Friends’ Central’s 6-foot-2 senior shooting guard had a chance to yet again win a game against Westtown with a late opportunity from the foul line. And for the second time in a row against the Moose, he was unable to connect.

Unlike last year’s PAISAA quarterfinal, Champion was able to find redemption.

The Loyola (Md.) commit dropped 28 points on the Moose. His back-to-back 3-pointers in overtime helped drive Friends Central to a 72-69 overtime victory.

“I just had to keep playing,” Champion said. “It’s in the past, keep playing and try to get the win.”

Champion’s blunder at the free throw line echoed a moment from the last time Friends Central and Westtown met, back in the 2015 PAISAA state quarterfinals.

With approximately just over a minute and a half remaining in overtime last year, Champion went to the line with a chance to stretch the Phoenix’s lead to five. He missed both free throw attempts. Westtown responded with a made basket and eventually won the game to knock Friends Central out of the playoffs.

After that loss, the Phoenix looked forward to the next time they would meet the defending Friends’ League champion.

Fast forward to Friday night, where only one of the teams would walk away in first place of the Friends’ League. Both teams entered undefeated in league play.

Champion had a shot to potentially put the finishing touches on Westtown with a couple of free throws.

This time around, it was a one-and-one.

His shot ricocheted off the back of the rim and into the hands of the Moose. He ran back to play defense and clenched his jersey with his teeth in frustration. His hands were placed on his head in disbelief.

“He was probably thinking, ‘Oh no, not again,’” Friends Central head coach Ryan Tozer said.

The Moose eventually came back after a couple more failed attempts by Friends Central at the free throw line.

Highly coveted five-star center Mohamed Bamba had a powerful putback dunk to tie the game up just before the buzzer sounded in the fourth quarter.

“I told our guys at the start of overtime, we can’t change it, it’s over with,” Tozer said. “Get it back in overtime.”

After a quick basket for the Moose to begin overtime, Champion came back reinvigorated after his mistakes in regulation.

He almost had his excellent shooting performance be redefined by his missed free throw in the closing seconds of regulation. Champion got the Phoenix going the same way he had been throughout the whole game-- making threes.

He drained back-to-back threes to spur Friends Central ahead.

“I think Chuck Champion made up today, for what happened in last year’s quarterfinals,” Westtown head coach Seth Berger said. “They shot well from the three-point line all day, and the two threes he made in overtime were as big as any shots that I’ve seen all year.”

Champion had the hot hand from beyond the arc throughout the whole game, draining six 3-pointers.

“That’s his best game in a Friends Central uniform,” Tozer said.

Once they took the lead from Champion’s threes, they never looked back, but Westtown didn’t make it easy. Fellow senior DeAndre Hunter and junior guard Antone Walker made the necessary free throws to maintain the lead and put the game away.

Westtown (19-6, 4-1 FSL) didn’t make it easy, keeping the pressure throughout overtime. The Moose had an answer for almost everything.

“I told the guys to calm down, relax, play good defense, and knock some shots down,” Champion said.

The Phoenix (15-8, 7-0) were able to defeat the much larger Westtown squad to take first place in the Friends’ League.

Bamba, a 6-11 junior big man who had Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Villanova's Jay Wright on hand to watch, was a problem for the Phoenix all night, racking up 28 points and 10 rebounds. Friends Central did not have the size to match, putting the 6-foot-7 Hunter, a Virginia commit, to try as best as he could to contain him.

The efforts were futile, as Bamba regularly had his way in the post. He cleaned up the boards on both ends of the court and flushed down dunks with ease.

However, Hunter also enjoyed a solid performance, scoring 22 points to help aid the Phoenix to victory.

While the win is sweet, Friends Central remains intent on completing its mission of making it to Haverford College for the league championship.

“We’re definitely not done yet,” Champion said. “We need to keep playing in the season, try to win in the playoffs and get this ‘chip. I think we’ll see them again in the championship for sure.”