City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Dennis Stanton knows what it means to be a basketball player in Philadelphia.

A graduate of basketball programs at La Salle College High School (2000) and Ursinus College (2004), as well as an overseas professional in Spain, Stanton grew up playing hoops in the city of brotherly love.

He also knows that it’s the dream of basically every young basketball-playing Philadelphian to play at Wells Fargo Center, the home of the Philadelphia 76ers.

And for now the second year in a row, he was able to realize that dream for young athletes as the athletic director at Souderton Area High School, when his Indians went head-to-head with and eventually fell to a talented Perkiomen Valley squad by a final score of 63-31 Wednesday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

“I think it’s a great environment for them to play a game at one of the venues they watch on TV,” Stanton said. “I know as a player if I had the opportunity to play a game here I’d be very excited to do so. It’s a memory they’re going to have for the rest of their lives.”

Stanton is long-time friends with PV head coach Mike Poysden, and the two have been trying to make this game happen for upwards of three years.

The two were planning to play a non-league regular season game anyway, so once they realized they had a date that lined up, they decided to finally schedule their Wells Fargo Center contest.

It was Poysden’s Vikings who made the most of the opportunity, earning the dominant victory on an NBA court.

“It’s completely awesome,” he said. “I’ve been pitching it to the guys, and we were fortunate enough with Souderton and Dennis to make it happen. This is all we’ve talked about for a couple of months, and it helps to come down and play well, play together, get everybody in the book and get everybody out there.”

Being that it was a professional court, though, there was something Poysden made his team do at the start of warmups, just to get it out of the way: attempt a shot from beyond the NBA three-point arc.

Eight minutes into the game, however, Perkiomen Valley senior Justin Jaworski banked in a three from NBA range – his first basket of the game – to close out a low-scoring first quarter and put his team up 14-2.

“Most of my threes are back there a lot anyway,” said Jaworski, who finished with a game-high 17 points. “I thought it was a cool opportunity just to pull one from back there. I just tried to stay patient, let the game come to me, because I get a lot of face guards and stuff, so I like to get my team involved before I start to shoot a lot.”

Jaworski wasn’t the only Viking who had it going on the offensive end. Fellow senior Sean Owens had several key baskets en route to a 14-point performance, including a three early in the third-quarter, which helped spark a 14-2 run.

By the end of the third, Perkiomen Valley’s lead ballooned to 44-22 on the wings of the explosive run.

“That definitely provided a little bit (of a spark),” Owens said. “Got a defensive stop, got a three to go in, that was my first field goal, got myself going, got my teammates going, it was good.”

“(Owens) is sort of the floor manager,” Poysden added. “He makes plays on defense and he knocks down shots, and he’s definitely our leader on the floor in terms of management of the game. He knows when to pick us up, when to slow us down, when to speed us up.”

It was the defensive end that played most to Perkiomen Valley’s advantage in allowing them to open an early lead they could then build on. The Vikings forced a total of 14 turnovers, and didn’t allow a Souderton player to have multiple made field goals until late in the third quarter.

The Indians’ leading scorer, senior guard Mike Bealer, finished with just six points.

“We really paid a lot of attention to (Matt) Cartwright and Bealer, because we know that they’re really solid guards,” Poysden said. “Our gameplan was to make sure they don’t go off and try to encourage other people to shoot it, and make sure we grab that rebound right away.”

At the end of the day, it didn’t seem like the scoreboard was what mattered most.

What appeared to be most important to the players, coaches, students and families in attendance – made clear by both teams posing at mid-court for a group picture right after the game – was the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they had been gifted, to play a competitive high school game at an NBA arena.

Of course, it did take them three years to make this game happen.

But when all was said and done, it was a memory that will stick with likely stick with the majority of these players for the rest of their lives.

“I think it’s one of those things, you’ll probably get to do this once as a player,” Poysden said. “Treat it for what it was, it’s a special experience, special day. These guys grow up watching these guys play, watching the Sixers, and I’m glad we could be a part of it.”