The Dawgs boys basketball team was scheduled to play four games this past week. Considering how physically draining the games versus Sterling, Woodbury, and Delsea were, maybe it’s a good thing Mother Nature intervened on what would have been their first game of the week versus Audubon at home on Jan. 6, delivering enough snow to close schools, postponing that contest until Monday, Jan. 27 at 5:30.
January 8, 2025: Sterling at Haddonfield
So instead, the Dawgs’ first game of the week was at home versus their longtime nemesis Sterling. I don’t know if I missed a memo (I’m diligently trying to get an answer from our AD to resolve this), but apparently, the Silver Knights are now in the Patriot division of the Colonial Conference, not the Liberty. While I wouldn’t bet my house (maybe someone else’s), but I think last season, these two teams were still in the same division.
The fact that they won’t be battling each other for the division crown did not seem to dampen the intensity of their first matchup of the season. While the Dawgs took charge early, the Knights hung around the whole game and made it interesting.
The Dawgs’ first points of the game came from the foul line. After some nice passing attempting to set up junior Chris Beane, he was fouled going in for the bucket. He made both shots, but Sterling got a very easy field goal at their end when the basket was left unguarded, and after a Haddonfield turnover, Sterling scored again to go up 4–2 with 6:59 on the clock. Thanks to junior Chris Stadler, who drained a 3 the Dawgs’ next possession, that lead was short-lived. Neither team scored their next trips up and down the court, and Beane followed Stadler’s trey with one of his own at the 5:19 mark to put the Dawgs up by 4, 8–4.
A Dawgs’ pickoff set up the next basket by the team’s sole senior Jake Dewedoff, who had to do some fancy dribbling to keep possession of the ball before he went up and in. Down by 6, 10–4, Sterling called a timeout with just under 5 minutes to go in the first. Back in action, the Knights got a bucket to make it 10–6. The teams exchanged steals, but time ticked off the scoreboard for about a minute before junior Mike Douglas nailed a 3, pushing the Dawgs’ advantage up to 7, 13–6, with 3:50 on the clock.
Beane got a nice rebound and made a nifty cross-court pass to Stadler before Sterling was able to knock the ball out of bounds. This time, Beane drove hard into the paint for 2, After good defense along the bench sideline, Dewedoff stole the ball and was fouled trying to go in for a basket. He hit 1–2 from the line, giving the Dawgs a double-digit, 16–6, lead with 2:30 on the board. Nothing offensively happened for about 50 seconds until Beane grabbed an offensive board and put the ball into the net. That made it 18–6 with 1:10 remaining in the quarter.
Sterling committed a travel that was so obvious, I don’t think anyone in the stands missed it. Haddonfield couldn’t take advantage to score, and on their next possession, the Knights ended their offensive drought with a 2-point basket and then a foul shot, making it 18–9, Haddonfield with 28.2 on the clock. Beane got his second and the Dawgs’ fourth trey of the quarter off a feed from Dewedoff, and Sterling wasn’t able to score before the buzzer sounded, giving the Dawgs a 12-point, 21–9 edge after 8 minutes.
The scoring was much more evenly matched in the next 8 minutes. Douglas started the scoring by rebounding his own missed shot for 2, making it 23–9, Haddonfield with a little more than a minute gone in the second quarter. Sterling got the next two buckets to get back to within 10, 23–13, with 5:31 on the clock before sophomore Ryan Guveiyian got an offensive rebound and went up and in to make it 25–13. Sterling got that basket back quickly, then after a bad Dawgs’ pass, got the ball back and a non-shooting foul was called on Haddonfield. The Knights got a field goal and a trip to the foul line, closing their deficit to 7, 25–18, with 3:41 until halftime.
Sterling stole the ball back, but nice “D” by Guveiyian and Douglas kept the Knights from getting the ball in the net, and at the other end, Beane got his 5th field goal of the game, making it a 9-point Dawg lead, 27–18, with 2:15 on the clock. After a 30-second Haddonfield timeout, junior John Scipione, who had come in the game a few possessions before, stole the ball and went all the way into the paint, with a nice hesitation move that made the Sterling defender go up too soon. With a little less than 2 minutes left in the quarter, the Dawgs had gotten their double-digit lead back and were up 29–18.
Sterling did not cut into that lead its next possession, which meant Douglas’ 2 under the Haddonfield basket had the Dawgs up by 13, 31–18, with 1:21 on the clock. The Knights got an offensive board, which paid off, as they were able to score with :49 to go. The Dawgs kept passing the ball, aiming to go for the last shot. Beane did just that, and when the teams headed off the court at “intermission,” Sterling was trailing by 13, even though the Dawgs had only outscored them by 1 point, 12–11, in the second quarter.
I don’t usually write about the halftime shoot-out that benefits the Haddonfield booster club, but an unnamed Sterling high school student (the Knights were, as always, well-represented in the stands) decided to come down and take a chance. His ball didn’t go in, but it was close. That inspired him to fork up another $5 for another attempt. That also failed, but not by much. And then for the next few minutes, he kept going back to the halfcourt line, as his buddies in the Sterling student section kept feeding him $5. It was amazing how many shots he took and how many times the ball just would not drop. At one point, a Haddonfield (at least he was sitting in the Haddonfield section across from the Dawgs’ bench) came down and gave him $5. But to no avail. I asked Mike Guveiyian, Ryan’s dad, who is the parent down on the court at halftime, how many shots he thinks were taken by this determined fan. “I stopped counting after I got $25,” he admitted (as that would have covered the cost of a gift card had a shot dropped), but agreed with my assessment that it was at least 10 shots. When he finally left the court, he got applause from a lot of folks, even those rooting for the opposition, and he had earned it.
The Knights inbound to start the second half did not go as planned, as there was a pileup under the basket, and Sterling lost possession on a travel. The Dawgs’ first basket by Guveiyian was set up by a nice series of passes by his teammates, and made it 35–20, with about 30 seconds gone off the clock. Sterling failed to score, but got the ball back on a pilfer, this time getting the ball in the net. A few plays later, Sterling got another field goal, but with 5:25 on the clock, the Knights were still down by 13, 37–24. A little more than a minute ticked off the clock before the Dawgs got their second basket of the quarter on a drive in the paint by Douglas, making it 39–24 with 4:17 left in the quarter.
The Dawgs and the Knights exchanged steals, but even though Sterling’s resulted in a basket, the Knights were still behind by 13, 39–26, with 3 and change remaining in the third. Guveiyian’s 3 on a pass from Douglas put the Dawgs out in front by 16, 42–26 with 2:43 on the clock. After a blocked shot by Douglas, an offensive board by the Dawgs, and some nice passing, Guveiyian went in the paint for a 2, and at the 1:53 mark, the Dawgs seemed to be cruising, up 44–26. Sterling called a timeout, and when the game resumed, Guveiyian took an offensive charge, which psyched him and the crowd up.
But the Knights weren’t ready to call it a night. They hit a 3 with 1:13 to go, then got 2 from the foul line with 16.4 on the clock. That made it 44–31, Haddonfield. Dewedoff got those 2 back with a bucket, but Sterling nailed a 3 on the buzzer, with the Dawgs nevertheless still up by double-digits, 46–34. This quarter, the Knights surpassed the Dawgs by a point, 14–13.
In the final 8 minutes, the Knights would put 4 more points on the board than the Dawgs, who didn’t make it to double digits, scoring 9 off three baskets, including a 3 from Dewedoff, who also made a pair of foul shots. When the final buzzer sounded, the Dawgs, who had been ahead by double digits the first three quarters, ended up winning by 7, 55–47.
Chris Bean, with 16 first-half points, lead the scoring for Haddonfield with 20. Ryan Guveiyian had 11, and Jake Dewedoff finished with 10.
Quarter scoring:
1st: Haddonfield, 21, Sterling, 9
2nd: Haddonfield, 12, Sterling, 11
Halftime: Haddonfield, 33, Sterling, 20
3rd: Haddonfield, 46, Sterling, 34
4th Haddonfield, 9, Sterling, 13
Final: Haddonfield, 55, Sterling, 47
Player scores:
Chris Beane: 20
Ryan Guveiyian: 11
Jake Dewedoff: 10
Mike Douglas: 9
Chris Stadler: 3
John Scipione: 2
January 10, 2025: Haddonfield at Woodbury
I was not at this game, and as far as I can tell, Woodbury does not use any of the primary options (YouTube, HUDL, or NFHS) to stream home games. I also did not get any updates, other than a second-hand piece of info that there were some questionable (from the Haddonfield point of view) foul calls in the game. Suffice to say that the Herd stole some of the Dawgs’ thunder of defeating Sterling two “knights” before by slipping by them by 2, 55–53. It was the first time Woodbury had beaten Haddonfield since 2016, with the Dawgs having come out on top their previous seven meetings. I guess the Herd was due for a W.
January 11, 2025: Haddonfield at Delsea
Just what the Dawgs needed. A day game after a night game defeat. At least the game versus the Crusaders was at 1 p.m. instead of 11 a.m. And another piece of good news, at least from my perspective, was that I was able to watch it on HUDL.
This game in some ways was like the Sterling contest. Just when you thought the Dawgs were going to pull off an easy W, it got close. Real close.
The game started out with a quick bucket by Delsea. Then the Dawgs put up 11 unanswered points. Chase Stadler’s 3 put the Dawgs in front 3–2, and I had to laugh because the Delsea announcer, who did a nice job with the play-by-play all game, sounded downright despondent when he had to make that call. Stadler’s 3 was followed by a steal and 2 by Chris Beane. Jake Dewedoff’s 2 from the foul line made it 7–2, Dawgs. Another Haddonfield steal led to a 2 by Ryan Guveiyian, making it an 11–2 game with 4:09 on the clock.
A bad foul call (IMHO) on Dewedoff sent Delsea to the line, but neither shot dropped, and after a few bad plays by both teams, an offensive board by Stadler enabled Guveiyian to get another basket at the 2:11 mark. Delsea finally managed to get a basket, a trey, a minute later, but the Dawgs scored two more times in quick succession, with Guveiyian hitting a 3 with 51 seconds left and John Scipione getting a 2 with about 23 seconds on the clock. As the buzzer sounded, the Dawgs were looking good, up by 11, 16–5.
The second quarter, Delsea started making some more shots. In fact, the Crusaders went on their own run to start the quarter, scoring 9 unanswered points to get to within 2, 16–14, with 4:19 left in the half. Dewedoff got the Dawgs’ first basket of the quarter on a feed from Guveiyian to make it 18–14, Dawgs, with just under 4 on the clock. Delsea did not score,, then committed a non-shooting foul. Dewedoff got another 2, this time on a nice floater, to up the lead to 6, 20–14, with 3:12 to go.
Mike Douglas hit a 3, Delsea got a 2, and Douglas hit another 3, and with 1:35 on the scoreboard, the Dawgs had their double-digit lead back, at 26–16. A few plays after his back-to-back treys, Douglas went down hard at one end, and it took a little time before play came to a halt. He was helped up and was able to limp off the court, but it was hard to tell if he had been injured. The Crusaders picked up consecutive fouls to get the clock down to 7.9 and just ahead of the buzzer, John Scipione went in for 2. As the teams left the court, the Dawgs had a 12-point, 28–16, advantage.
The third quarter was the lowest-scoring of the game. Delsea actually put 2 more points on the board (9) to the Dawgs’ 7. Three of those 7 points came from the foul line, with Dewedoff making 2 and Scipione the other. Douglas, who came back on the court during halftime and ran back and forth (width wise) several times before reporting to the coaching staff that he was fine, got the Dawgs’ only two field goals of the third. Even so, with 8 minutes remaining, the Dawgs were still on top by 10, 35–25. Those last 8 minutes would prove to be very interesting, to say the least.
Haddonfield inbounded to start the 4th and missed two shot attempts. At the other end, Delsea sank a 3, and with 6:37 on the clock, it was a 7-point game, with the Dawgs ahead 35–28. A little more than a minute later, after the Dawgs failed to score, the Crusaders launched another 3, and with 5:29 left in the game, were only trailing by 4, 35–31. The Dawgs again could not put the ball in the net, then committed a foul at the other end that sent the Crusaders to the foul line, where 1 shot went in. The Dawgs’ 10-point halftime lead had now shrunk to 3, 35–32, with 5:12 on the clock.
An offensive rebound by Mike Mooney set up Douglas, and his field goal pushed the lead to 5, 37–32, with 5:01 to go. Good “D” by the Dawgs got the Crusaders to commit a travel. Off the inbound, Guveiyian would go cross-court to score in the paint, and with 4:32 left in the game, the Dawgs seemed to have swung the game back in their favor, up by 7, 39–32. More good defense by the Dawgs got a Crusader trapped and caused another travel with just under 4 minutes remaining.
If any Haddonfield fan had started breathing a sigh of relief, that quickly turned to gasping for air, as Delsea got the next two buckets of the game and with 1:56 on the clock, the Crusaders were back to within 3, 39–36. Guveiyian was fouled going in for a basket. He made 1–2 from the line, making it 40–36 with 1:37 on the clock. But Delsea scored and was fouled. The foul shot was good, and with 1:29 left in the game, the Dawgs were clinging to a 1-point, 40–39, edge.
Douglas got a huge offensive board and was fouled. He hit 1–2, making it 41–39, with 17.9 to go. Delsea called a timeout and was then fouled. After missing the first shot, the Crusader on the line purposely missed the second, but the ball was called out of bounds off Delsea, with 1.4 on the clock. Haddonfield was immediately fouled, and Dewedoff stepped to the line. He missed the first but came back to make the second and put the Dawgs up by 3, 42–39. Delsea made a desperation heave that did not get close to the basket. The buzzer sounded, and the Dawgs had escaped with a W, even though the Crusaders had outscored them in the second half 23–14.
Quarter scores:
1st: Haddonfield, 16, Delsea, 5
2nd: Haddonfield, 12, Delsea, 11
Halftime: Haddonfield, 28, Delsea, 16
3rd: Haddonfield, 7, Delsea, 9
4th: Haddonfield, 7, Delsea, 14
Final: Haddonfield, 42, Delsea, 39
Player scores:
Mike Douglas: 13
Ryan Guveiyian: 10
Jake Dewedoff: 8
John Scipione: 6
Chase Stadler: 3
The Dawgs are now 7–3 overall and 3–1 in the Colonial Conference. And I’m guessing by the end of Saturday’s game, the Dawgs were pretty tired pups.
The Week Ahead
The Dawgs have three away games this week. Tuesday, 1/14, they go up Haddon Ave to Collingswood for a 5:30 game. Next, they go down White Horse Pike to Haddon Heights for a 7:00 p.m. game on Thursday, 1/16. They finish off the week with another morning game, heading up Hopkins Road to Paul VI for a 10:30 game versus Kipp Cooper Norcross Academy. If you can’t make either of the conference games, you can stream them on HUDL.