City of Basketball Love

Ben McWilliams (@benmcwilliams22)
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Act like you have been there before.

That’s the old sports adage for teams first experiencing the taste of a title. But what if you actually have been there before -- not just once, but four times? How then, are you supposed to act?

Ask Germantown Academy coach Jim Fenerty and his starting lineup of seniors, who beat Malvern Prep 87-80 on Tuesday afternoon to clinch a share of its fifth straight Inter-Ac title.

Fenerty waited until the last minute of the game to do a group substitution of his senior starters, despite leading by double digits most of the quarter. The home crowd gave the players a standing ovation as they left the court.

“It’s a brand-new feeling for me,” Fenerty said. “That’s a rare thing, five [Inter-Ac titles]. That’s why I kept our seniors out there longer. I’m just exceptionally proud of these guys.”

The 2016-2017 season has been defined by both on-court adversity and off-court tragedy for the Patriots. Fenerty lost his father in November just before the season started, and lost his father-in-law in January.

Meanwhile, GA (19-6, 8-2) dug itself quite a hole, starting 2-2 in the Inter-Ac with losses to rivals Episcopal and Haverford. The Patriots won five straight league games to pull even with Episcopal at the top of the standings going into the regular-season finale against Malvern (9-12, 5-5).

It was either win or lose out, as the Inter-Ac doesn’t have a playoff.

The players dedicated the win against Malvern and the Inter-Ac title to Peter McVeigh, a longtime teacher at GA and avid supporter of the basketball team, who had been in the hospital fighting for his life. Sadly, Mr. McVeigh passed away during the game, with the team finding out only afterwards.

“We told coach that we aren’t losing,” senior guard Evan-Eric Longino said. “We did it for him. We did it for [Mr. McVeigh]...we knew we were playing for more than us, so we did what we could, we played our hearts out.”

Senior wing Kyle McCloskey, bound for Villanova to play quarterback, scored 44 points for the Patriots in the win while Longino added 24. This is the fourth straight Inter-Ac title for the four-year starters, the only players on the team to boast those accolades.

“I’ve been on the court with [Longino] since the first game of my freshman year and we’ve always had that bond together,” McCloskey said. “It’s always been us two vs. the world. It’s been amazing, he’s my best friend.”

“I think [our record] is very impressive,” Longino added. “Kyle’s a great player. Whenever we need him he’s ready to go.”

As much as GA needed its two stars to control the offense, it was the Patriots’ defense that helped them pull away in the second half. GA went into halftime leading 46-44 before outscoring the Friars 41-36 in the second half.

“We played great defense in the second half and it lead to fast breaks,” McCloskey said. “It led to them having to play us man-to-man, led to made shots and that’s really what changed the game.”

Freshman Deuce Turner led the Friars with 15 points while senior Tommy Wolfe added 13. The two guards combined to go 7-of-7 from the free throw line.

Guards Cole Storm and Andrew Towne and forward Josh Brownstein -- all seniors -- round out GA’s senior core. For the five classmates, the on-court chemistry is no surprise.

“This season made us closer, if that’s even possible,” Longino said. “We’re as close as any friends you’ll ever see. I love them all, they love me, it’s just great chemistry on the court.”

“It’s amazing, [Longino] and the other three seniors are my best friends in the world,” McCloskey added. “We just built a special bond over these past four years.”

The all-senior starting lineup has been crucial as Fenerty relied on them to motivate the team after a rocky start to the season.

“I think the senior leadership we had...they just simply said to these guys ‘that’s enough of this,’” Fenerty said. “We’re used to winning championships so maybe we can’t win it outright but we can certainly control who does, and it might as well be us.”

The one caveat to the Patriots fifth straight title is that they did not win the Inter-Ac outright. Instead, they must share the honor with rival Episcopal.

Fenerty is at ease with the shared title, and because of the the Inter-Ac comeback, it seems the Patriots’ players are too.

“The fact that we’re sharing it with Craig [Conlin] -- Craig was my assistant for 14 years, he’s a great guy, he’s done a great job at Episcopal -- I’m okay with that,” Fenerty said.

“Sharing it feels no less special than winning it on our own,” McCloskey added “It’s still an Inter-Ac championship, it’s still going to be our name in the record books and everything because we won five straight.”

It will certainly be difficult for GA to win its sixth straight title next season with the five graduating starters. However, the 2012-2013 Patriots, the first of the six straight title teams, graduated seven seniors including current D-I players Nick Lindner (Lafayette) and Julian Moore (Penn State). The 2013-2014 team went on to win the Inter-Ac with zero seniors so there is hope for next year’s Patriots.

The season does not end here for GA. With one non-league game left and the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association tournament on the horizon, there is still much to play for.

Looming in the PAISAA tournament is likely top seed Westtown School, which features five-star recruits Mohamed Bamba and Cameron Reddish, plus other programs from the Friends’ League as well as prep programs like Hill and Phelps.

“These guys already said, ‘we want a 20-win season,’” Fenerty said. “And then whatever happens in PAISAA happens, I’m not worried about that. Our big thing right now is that we win Inter-Ac championships.