By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today
The Haddonfield boys basketball team had two Colonial Conference contests and one nonleague game this past week. The two games those in the know thought would be tough weren’t and the one I wasn’t that worried about was.
One of those games that was expected to be close took place on the Dawgs’ pad Tuesday, Feb. 3, when the Gloucester City Lions game to town. As a members of the Patriot and Liberty divisions of the Colonial, the Lions (the former) and the Dawgs (the latter) only face off once a year, and the game is usually a doozy.
This go-round, the first 8 minutes lived up to expectations. The next three, not so much. After Haddonfield won the tipoff and failed to score, the Lions took the lead on two made foul shots with about 25 seconds gone. Senior Michael (aka, at least by me and fellow senior Jack McKeever) “Bucket” Douglas drove in the paint to tie it at 2 at the 7:20 mark. A lot happened other than scoring the next few trips up and down the court for both teams including a pickoff by senior Chris Beane and a blocked shot by Douglas. After a combined steal by junior Ryan Guveiyian and Douglas, Guveiyian went up and in to give the Dawgs a 4–2 edge with just under 5 minutes to go.
Good pressure “D” by senior John Scipione and Douglas led to another pilfer by Douglas, who took the ball to the hoop, making it 6–2 Dawgs. Gloucester City took a 30-second timeout, which ended up lasting a bit longer as the scoreboard got stuck on the 30. Of course, as soon as both teams exited to their respective benches, the clock started ticking again. And so did the Haddonfield defense. This time Scipione and Douglas worked to produce traveling violation being called against the Lions. However, after a Dawg shot refused to go in, the Lions hit a 3 to get to within 1, 6–5, with 2:57 left in the quarter.
After a missed shot, the Dawgs got the ball back after Guveiyian caused the Lions’ ball handler to step out of bounds by the Dawgs’ bench only to have the Dawgs give it back on a travel. A jump ball went to Gloucester City. The Lions couldn’t score, the Dawgs got the rebound but lost it out of bounds. Guveiyian and Douglas paired up and forced a bad shot by the Lions. Beane rebounded the ball, and at the other end, Guveiyian dished it to Douglas, who scored his third bucket of the quarter, putting the Dawgs up by 3, 8–5, with 43 seconds on the clock. Right ahead of the buzzer, a shot by the Lions dropped in, making it 8–7, Dawgs.
The Dawgs had possession to start the 2nd quarter, didn’t score, stole the ball back, and still didn’t score. Then the Lions did to take a 1-point, 9–8, lead with a minute and change gone. Guveiyian got fouled trying to score and hit both his foul shots to make it 10–9, Dawgs with 6:33 left. The Dawgs would go on a mini run, scoring the next 5 points on a field goal by sophomore Ethan Miller, a foul shot by Douglas, and a 2 from McKeever, putting the Dawgs up by 6, 15–9, with 5:08 left in the half.
The Lions got 2 back to make it 15–11. Douglas hit a 3, giving the Dawgs a 7-point advantage, 18–11, with about 4 minutes to go. Gloucester City and Douglas exchanged baskets again, keeping it a 7-point game with 3:04 on the clock. An offensive board by Miller gave Beane the ball, and he went up and in, making it 22–13, Dawgs, with 2:27 left in the quarter. After Douglas secured the defensive board, Beane, who is often poetry in motion, pirouetted in for a reverse layup. When the Lions’ shot did not go in again, Miller pulled down a hard rebound and off a feed by Scipione, hit a 3 at the other end. It was now 27–13 with 1:18 to go until halftime. The Lions’ offensive woes continued, but after not scoring yet again, got 2 off a steal to make it 27–15 with 25 second showing on the clock. This time, Beane didn’t have to maneuver into the basket for the Dawgs’ last points of the half as he swooshed in a 3. When the teams left the court, the Dawgs’ had doubled the Lions’ output and were up by 15, 30–15, having poured in 22 points in the quarter.
The Dawgs’ offensive slowed a bit in the 3rd, as the team only scored 10 points off of five baskets. However, the Lions only got 7 points, so they were trailing by 18, 40–22, as the 4th quarter started. The Dawgs outscored the Lions 12–8 in the last 8 minutes, with Miller accounting for 6 of those points. When the horn sounded, the Dawgs had won by 22, 52–30. Four out of the five Dawgs who scored hit the double-digit mark: Douglas, Beane, Miller, and Guveiyian.
Quarter Scores:
1st: Haddonfield, 8, Gloucester City, 7
2nd: Haddonfield, 22, Gloucester City, 8
Half: Haddonfield, 30, Gloucester City, 15
3rd: Haddonfield, 10, Gloucester City, 7
4th: Haddonfield, 12, Gloucester City, 8
Final: Haddonfield, 52, Gloucester City, 30
Player Scores:
Michael Douglas: 14
Chris Beane: 11
Ethan Miller: 11
Ryan Guveiyian: 10
Jack McKeever: 6
The Dawgs headed to Woodbury, the home of the Thundering Herd, on Thursday, 2/5. With a game time of 4:00 p.m. that I couldn’t make, I finally got to see a Haddonfield girls’ game in person, as that started at a more reasonable time of 5:30. I was sitting with Leigh-Anne Guveiyian, mom of current Dawgs’ boys player Ryan, past Dawgs’ player Matthew, and now girls’ player Sara. Leigh had gone to the first half of the boys’ game and left in time to get to the start of the girls’ game. Before the girls’ game began, we were getting text updates from Leigh’s mom, Debbie Vermaat. For some reason, my flip phone reception was besting Leigh’s smartphone by about 2 seconds, so I was relaying the info to her. The Dawgs were trailing after all of the first 3 quarters, and were down by 3 going into the last quarter … I didn’t find out until the game was over that the feed had been on HUDL. That’s how I’m able to give more than a sentence or two recap now.
And I’m going to cut to that last quarter of play. Down by 6, 8–14, after 1, the Dawgs kept pace with the Herd for the second 8 minutes, so they were still training by 6, 17–23, at the half. In the 3rd, the Dawgs chipped away at that 6-point deficit, and had gotten it down to 3 by the end of the that quarter. Going into the 4th, it was Woodbury, 36, Haddonfield 33.
I should note here that ahead of this game, I had looked at the score from the first matchup between the Dawgs and the Herd in early January. Then, the Dawgs had beaten them by 34 points, 69–35, so I assumed it would be more of the same. This was because I forgot that Woodbury had been without its top offensive player in January. Clearly, his presence on the court was making a big difference this time around.
The final 8 minutes began with Mike Mooney, Michael Douglas, Jack McKeever, Ryan Guveiyian, and Chris Beane in for the Dawgs. The Dawgs had possession. Off the inbound pass from Mooney, “Bucket” nailed a 3 to tie it 36 all. The Herd did not score, but got the ball back on a call that I was not able to determine. However, nice “D” from Guveiyian and a defensive board from Douglas got the ball back. Beane powered in, got the basket, and the foul. His shot from the line made it 39–36, Dawgs. Woodbury got a point back, also from the foul line, but “Bucket” hit another 3 with McKeever picking up the assist. Now the Dawgs were ahead by 5, 42–37, with 6:08 left to play.
After retaining possession off a loose ball that went against Haddonfield, Woodbury hit its own 3, getting to within 2, 42–40, with 5:42 on the clock. A Beane-to-Douglas feed pushed the Dawgs’ advantage to 4, 44–40, but after a foul on Haddonfield and an out of bounds also called on the Dawgs, the Herd got a basket, making it a 2-point, 44–42, game again with just about 5 minutes showing on the scoreboard. (I will keep you all who don’t know the outcome in suspense for another moment or two to lament the fact that the Woodbury HUDL feed did not show the clock aligned with the box it was in, so I was often guessing what the clock actually said in between “times” when the actual scoreboard was visible from the court.)
OK, back to the game. There was 3 minutes left. The Dawgs were clinging to a 2-point lead. Until they weren’t. The Herd scored the next two field goals and with 4:05 remaining, had flipped the 2-point edge back to them. After the Dawgs again did not score, a timeout was called with 3:41 on the clock. McKeever grabbed the defensive board and Douglas tied it at 46 with 2:55. A loose ball sent just about every player sprawling on the hardwood to retrieve it. With 2:23 on the clock, those same kids were using their high-tops to get the moisture off the floor.
In the scramble, Haddonfield had been assessed a foul, so once the court was deemed dry, Woodbury attempted two shots from the line. Both went in. They were now up by 2, 48–46. At the other end of the court, Guveiyian leapt to keep an errant ball from going out of bounds. McKeever scored. With 1:54 left, the game was knotted again, this time at 48 all.
Less than 20 seconds later, the Herd retook the lead on a 3. The Dawgs missed both shots from the foul line their next possession, and with 1:27 left, they were still trailing by 3. McKeever got the ball back on a steal and with 1:10 on the clock, Dawg coach Paul Wiedeman called timeout. When play resumed, Guveiyian grabbed an offensive board, missed the shot but was fouled. He stepped to the line with 58.4 seconds left. The first shot went in. The second shot did the same. Now the Dawgs were down by 1.
But not for long. Douglas pulled the steal and scored. With 43.3 to go, he had put the Dawgs up 52–51. After Woodbury’s shot did not go in, Douglas got the board and Wiedeman called another “TO” with 21 seconds on the clock. And then another TO was called with 17.3 on the clock. Woodbury fouled twice; the second was the Herds’ 5th of the quarter, which sent the Dawgs to the line. Neither shot went it, but Beane got the Dawgs a jump ball call in their favor with 14.1 left. He inbounded the ball to Guveiyian under the rim, who dropped the ball in the net. With 13.2 seconds showing, the Dawgs were now up by 3, 54–51.
This time, it was Woodbury’s coach who wanted to talk the final possession over with his team. Woodbury inbounded with 10.3 on the clock. Douglas picked it off and did not attempt a shot. The game was over before the buzzer sounded. The Dawgs had been down at the end of every quarter—and by 3 with 71 seconds to go—and yet they won. Thanks to Debbie Vermaat’s texts, I knew the outcome before I watched the HUDL feed. Even so, watching it was still intense!
Michael Douglas put up 24 points for Haddonfield, 18 in the second half. Ryan Guveiyian finished with 15 and scored Haddonfield’s last 4 points.
Quarter Scores:
1st: Haddonfield, 8, Woodbury, 14
2nd: Haddonfield, 9, Woodbury, 9
Half: Haddonfield, 17, Woodbury, 23
3rd: Haddonfield, 16, Woodbury, 13
4th: Haddonfield, 21, Woodbury, 15
Final: Haddonfield, 54, Woodbury, 51
Player Scores:
Michael Douglas: 24
Ryan Guveiyian: 15
Chris Beane: 7
Mike Mooney: 4
John Scipione: 2
Jack McKeever: 2
The last game of the week took place at Haddonfield on Saturday, 2/6. It was a nonconference contest against the Chargers of Timber Creek. Timber Creek is in the Tri-County conference, and even though Chargers’ record coming into the game was 9–9, the brain trust I consult for pregame intel—Tom Betley and Vic and Dave Wiedeman—all thought this would be a back-and-forth four quarters.
Although the tipoff did not go the Dawgs’ way, really good defense resulted in what I scribbled down as a “combo” steal. A Chris Beane lob to Michael Douglas put the Dawgs up by 2, then a defensive board by Mike Mooney set up a 3 by Douglas. About 90 seconds into the game, the Dawgs had a 5–0 lead. Timber Creek charged back for 2, but the Dawgs knocked down another 3, this one by Beane off a pass from Ryan Guveiyian, to make it 8–2, Haddonfield with 6:02 on the clock.
Timber Creek got 1 back from the foul line before Guveiyian and Beane paired up again. This time Guveiyian fed Beane a nice bounce pass and Beane went up and in for 2. Now it was 10–3 in favor of the Dawgs with 5:55 left in the quarter. A steal by John Scipione set up a hard drive in the paint by Guveiyian, pushing the Dawgs’ lead to 9, 12–3, with 4:45 on the clock. The Chargers got a basket off an offensive rebound, the Dawgs were called for traveling, but nimble-fingered Scipione stole the ball back. Then light-on-his-feet Beane did a reverse layup, giving the Dawgs back their 9-point lead, at 14–5, with 4:01 in the quarter.
This was a pretty fast-paced game. While both teams could apply pressure defense, both teams had speed. In this first 8 minutes of play, this resulted in 36 points going up on the board, which meant with 4 minutes left, both teams had several more baskets to make. The next few for Timber Creek came back-to-back, so with 3:11 left in the quarter, the Chargers were back to within 5, 9–14. Beane scored his 4th bucket, a 2-pointer off a cut from Mooney, the Chargers answered, and then Guveiyian scored. With 2:33 on the clock, the Dawgs were ahead by 7, 18–11.
Scipione got another steal, but this time no basket came of it. Mooney got the defensive board, passed it to Douglas, who was fouled. Both of his shots were good, and with 2:15 on the clock, the Dawgs were back to a 9-point, 20–11 advantage. There was a lot of activity, which included Guveiyian taking a charge, but no scoring until Jack McKeever, just into the game, earned a trip to the foul line. He did so by doing what he does so well every game under both baskets: pulling down rebounds, often hard, meaning not easily obtained ones.
McKeever got delayed by schoolwork and practice in answering my last few questions to the seniors, which five of them answered via email, but I wanted to relay what he told me about his coaching staff: “Playing for Wiedeman and his coaching staff has most definitely improved me as both a player and a person. As a player, I have developed toughness, skill, grit, and game knowledge through their dedication to teaching us.” The grit comes through with all the players, but especially McKeever. He also had this to say about what he has learned from his coaches: “The coaches do such a good job at getting us prepared for games or the season itself. We get pushed in practice, but that is because [Wiedeman] knows what he has in us. And as a person, I have gained so much determination and focus on my goals, because I see the way the coaches game prep and work to put us in the best spot possible, which I respect so much.”
Thanks for sharing that, Jack. And now back to the game! The gritty McKeever hit both the foul shots, giving the Dawgs their first double-digit, 11-point, lead of the game, and with 53.8 seconds remaining in the quarter, it was 22–11. Timber Creek would get the last 3 points of the quarter, on a field goal and a foul shot, but the Dawgs were still out in front by 8, 22–14, when the quarter came to an end.
The start of the second quarter saw the two teams trading baskets. Timber Creek scored first, but Douglas’ drive kept it an 8-point differential, 24–16, with 6:30 to go. The Chargers got another field goal, but McKeever hit 2 more from the foul line at the 5:11 mark. Now it was 26–18, Dawgs. Neither team scored for a few trips up and down the court until Douglas hit a jumper off a feed from Mooney to make it 28–18 with just under 3 to go in the half. Timber Creek added 1 from the line at the 1:57 mark, then Douglas and a Charger crashed to the floor under the Haddonfield basket. Both were OK, and Douglas proceeded to swoosh in both his resulting foul shots, and with a minute and change to go until the half, his team was ahead 30–19.
The half finished on a pair of 2’s by Timber Creek in between a 3 by Douglas. When the teams exited the court, the Dawgs were leading by 10, 33–23.
I was feeling pretty good at this “point” in the game but was still also prepared for Timber Creek to mount a comeback. It never happened. In the third quarter, all five Haddonfield starters contributed to the team’s 14 points, with Guveiyian and Douglas each getting a pair of 2-pointers. The Dawg defense held the Chargers to 8 points, so going into the 4th, the Dawgs’ lead had been upped to 16, 47–31.
In the last 8 minutes, it was nice to see Mooney drive in for two field goals. Always a rebounding threat, Mooney often chooses to pass the ball rather than taking a shot, even when he’s open. Keep the ball a little more, Mooney, and see what happens. (Unless your coach tells you otherwise, of course!) Ethan Miller also picked up 4 points, one from the field and 2 from the foul line. When the horn sounded, the Dawgs had taken care of the Chargers, whose battery just couldn’t keep up with the Dawgs’ energizing play, by a score of 62–38. Douglas and Beane led the offense, with 20 and 15 points respectively.
On a side note, a few legends of yesteryear were in attendance on Saturday to sit and catch up with their former coach. It was very nice to see Kevin Eastman, Kirby Wood, Tom Betley (who is a regular fixture at games), and Frank Simpson, members of the 1973 team that, under Dave Wiedeman, brough the school its first state championship. The bond formed by players and coaches is not often appreciated enough, but this is proof there is more going on, whether on the court, the gridiron, the mat, the track, or in the pool, than just competing. Life lessons are being learned and lifelong friendships are being formed.
Quarter Scores:
1st: Haddonfield, 22, Timber Creek, 14
2nd: Haddonfield, 11, Timber Creek, 9
Half: Haddonfield, 33, Timber Creek, 23
3rd: Haddonfield, 14, Timber Creek, 8
4th: Haddonfield, 15, Timber Creek, 7
Final: Haddonfield, 62, Timber Creek, 38
Player Scores:
Mike Douglas: 20
Chris Beane: 15
Ryan Guveiyian: 8
Mike Mooney: 6
Jack McKeever: 6
Ethan Miller: 4
John Scipione: 3
The Dawgs are now 19–3 overall, and 13–0/8–0 within the Colonial and Liberty division. They have one more Colonial (Liberty division) contest at Haddon Heights on Tuesday, 2/10, at 7 p.m. A game has just been added to the schedule on Saturday, 2/14, at Woodstown. Game time is 11:30 a.m. Another scheduling note is that the nonconference home game set for Saturday, 2/21 versus Cinnaminson has been canceled. This is because that is now the date of the semi-finals of the Camden County Tournament. Haddonfield is one of five teams that will have a first-round bye. The others are Paul VI, Camden, Eastern, and Camden Catholic, ranked in that order. Haddonfield is the 5th seed. Second round action will be at Haddonfield on Tuesday, 2/17 and be against the winner of the first-round game between Camden Mastery (12) and Sterling (21).
When I was talking to Kevin Eastman, who couldn’t remember the last time he was in the Haddonfield gymnasium to watch a game, he was asking if there were still big crowds. I said, well, as it got deeper into the season and playoffs, yes. But why wait until the Camden County Tournament or the NJSIAA playoffs to come out and see a really good team made up of really good kids who are guided by really good coaches and role models? Come cheer on the Dawgs at Heights on Tuesday or at Woodstown on Saturday!