City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
--

Not too many future college players come through the Lower Moreland basketball program. The Lions knew they had something special in senior guard Danny Duffey, who led them to the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AAA state playoffs.

And when classmate Tyler Millan also signed to play at the next level, that was icing on the cake.

Duffey committed to Division III Gettysburg earlier in the week, joining Millan, who gave his pledged to King’s College recently. They’re both well aware this makes them a unique class for the Lions.

“For a school like Lower Moreland, where you almost never have college basketball players, or really many college athletes, this is pretty special” Duffey told CoBL over the phone this week. “To have two in the same year, it’s really pretty cool.”

Duffey, the Lions’ leading scorer and point guard, had offers from a handful of D-III programs and made a few visits during his recruiting process. But when he stepped foot on the Gettysburg campus late last month, something was different that the others.

“Everyone always says when you get on a campus, you can feel it’s the right place for you, and I think it was the same for me,” he said. “It was a really nice day, and it’s a good spot. My family can come watch me play and we know people in the Centennial Conference. I really like the team and the coaching staff, but it was more than just a basketball decision.”

Duffey, a 5-foot-10 floor general who was named to one of CoBL’s all-area teams, will be joining a Bullets program that went 18-9 last season, including a 12-6 mark in the Centennial Conference. Gettysburg is led by coach George Petrie, who just wrapped up his 27th season in charge of the program.

“Their system doesn’t necessarily rely on (positions),” Duffey said. “It’s kind of a flowing and varies, but I like that. I think I can fit in because you always need a point guard.”

While Duffey had a good idea basketball would be a part of his future for a while, it was a last-minute decision for Millan.

The senior didn’t have too much interest from colleges entering his senior season, save for an offer from Penn State-Abington. Four months ago, Millan didn’t really think he’d be going to college to play basketball, even four weeks ago he wasn’t sure.

But that changed when he took an overnight visit to King’s.

He started being recruited by King’s after a December tournament when a coach from the Wilkes-Barre school was at a Lower Moreland game to watch Duffey. Millan played very well that day, he remembered, and with a solid senior season, he had an offer. Still, it took a visit and meetings with coaches and players to convince him it was the right move.

“I was really set on maybe going down south and going to college just for the college,” said the 6-2 Millan. “Then it really wasn’t until halfway through the year when I was having a good year and coaches started showing more interest in me that I thought going to college was a real possibility.”

So Millan joined Duffey as college basketball players from Lower Moreland. Doing so with one last assist from his point guard.

“I’ve played with Duffey my whole life, and he’s a great player,” Millan said. “He just makes it so much easier for you on the court. It’s really cool how this worked out and we’re both going to college to play basketball.

“He pretty much knew he was going to go, he had a great high school career. I wasn’t really sure until the end. But having two college players on the same high school team, I would’ve never thought it was possible up until this season.”