City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@RichFlanagan33)
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Chris Kuhar wasn’t even supposed to be the one with the ball in his hand. He just happened to make the biggest play of the game.

After Father Judge’s Marc Rodriguez hit two free throws to tie the game at 38-38 with 3.8 seconds remaining, the Roman Catholic senior guard was initially supposed to make the inbound pass but teammate Seth Lundy grabbed the ball. Kuhar improvised by taking the inbound pass, dribbling down the middle of the floor, and upon crossing half court, noticed his defender was sagging off to prevent a drive to the lane. He saw it as his opportunity to win the game.

Kuhar pulled up and nailed the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Cahillites to a 41-38 Philadelphia Catholic League victory over the Crusaders. Kuhar, who had only attempted three shots before his game winner, was just happy he was able to make a play when his team really needed it.  

“Originally, I was supposed to throw the ball in and Seth happened to throw it in. It was just a spur of moment and the ball came to me,” Kuhar said. “I was looking to shoot the ball and glancing at the clock to see how much time was left. I saw the defender, Matt O’Connor had stepped back a little bit so I stepped up and hit the shot.”

Toward the end of the third quarter, Kuhar hit a three-pointer in transition on a feed from fellow senior Dakquan Davis to cut Father Judge’s lead to 25-23, but he did not have much success offensively prior to that as he was held scoreless in the first half. His season-high was eight points against West Ashley High School (S.C.) during the team’s trip over winter break. First-year head coach Matt Griffin said he was proud of how his team gave Kuhar the opportunity to hit that final shot.

“I was really proud of our guys because we were able to stay in a stance for long possessions and get stops,” Griffin said. “I thought the game was a battle of wills and they made plays at the end of the game but ultimately we got the last shot and Chris made just a phenomenal play.”

It was defining moment in a year of transition for both the Cahillites and Kuhar himself. Under Griffin, Roman Catholic (11-1, 3-0 PCL) has come with victories in several difficult matchups against teams such as Haverford School, Abington, Simon Gratz and now the Crusaders (9-3, 2-1).

After going up 3-0 after freshman Lynn Greer III (10 points) nailed a triple to begin the game, the Crusaders led for the remainder of the first half by hitting six three-pointers of their own and took a 22-15 advantage into the break. The Cahillites stormed back behnd Lundy, who scored eight of his 12 points in the second half including a three which cut the lead to 25-20, just before Kuhar hit his first shot of the day.

Greer converted an and-one to open the scoring in the fourth quarter to give Roman its first lead of the game at the 6:48 mark. Lundy muscled his way inside to extend the lead to three before Father Judge’s Mike Power (9) finished an and-one of his own to tie the game at 29-29.

Later in the quarter, Rodriguez pinned Davis underneath the basket and finished with his left hand to tie the game again, this time at 36-36 with 54.2 seconds remaining. Allen Betrand, who shot 2-8 from the field, answered Rodriguez’s layup with a strong finish of his own on the Cahillites next possession, just before Kuhar hit the decisive game winner in a back-and-forth quarter after Father Judge had led for much of the first three.

For two seasons at Archbishop Ryan under both Bernie Rogers and Joe Zeglinski, Kuhar played sparingly and was not contributing as much as he would’ve liked. He transferred to Roman after his junior season and immediately gelled with the likes of Davis, Lundy, Greer and Betrand, a junior who also transferred in (Fels).

Griffin noted how it did not take long for Kuhar, who has started every game this season, to develop a strong chemistry with the rest of the team.

“It was easy for Chris to mesh with everybody because he’s the hardest working guy in our program and all of the guys took notice of that. He immediately gained their respect,” Griffin said. “He’s an experienced guard and has played in the Catholic League. He’s got a really high basketball IQ so we can put him at any position. He does a really good job playing [various] roles whether that be scoring to get the offense going or playing defense. I’ve seen him come in as a new guy, and now he’s purple and gold.”

Griffin also noted how Kuhar owns the team’s best free percentage (12-for-12) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2-to-1, 20 assists to 10 turnovers). Kuhar has done whatever has been asked of him and he has no problem changing his role from game to game. He knew from the moment he began practicing with this new group they had a chance to improve upon the school’s run of two straight PCL and PIAA state titles.

“When I came in during summer workouts, our goal was to win the Catholic League championship and state championship. I don’t think anyone on the team ever doubted it,” Kuhar said. “All of the doubters have been from the outside. I think all of the players really thought we could do it and it pushed us. We used it as motivation.”

Kuhar is hoping the doubters continue to provide added motivation for he and his teammates, especially heading into their huge matchup with Neumann-Goretti on Wednesday at Holy Family.