Boys’ Basketball: The Haddons showcase

By Lauree Padgett Exclusive to Haddonfield[got]Today

I finally was able to go back to live and in-person viewing of Dawgs basketball to see the Haddonfield boys host the Pioneers of Clearview Regional on Tuesday, 12/27 and the Eagles of Egg Harbor Township on Thursday, 12/29. As a result, I thought my issues with scoring anomalies would be put to rest … Well, not quite.

Clearview Regional High School vs. Haddonfield, 12/27/22

I got to the gym in time to see the exciting end of the girls matchup against Rancocas Valley Regional High School. When I looked at the scoreboard, the Lady Dawgs were down by 2, and got down by 3 before coming back to seal the 34–31 win from the foul line.

The  boys started their game with 2 points off an offensive rebound from junior Patrick Ryan, but the Pioneers got a 3 to roll in and then after the Dawgs lost the ball at the other end out of bounds, a foul sent the Pioneers to the free throw line, where both shots were made. This gave them a 5–2 edge at the 6:11 mark.

Junior Daire Roddy, on a feed from Ryan, who had picked off the ball, made it 4–5, and the next time down the court, Ryan picked up another assist after junior Sam Narducci went up and in. His bucket put the Dawgs on top 6–5 with 5 and change left in the first quarter.

A basket by the Pioneers gave them back a 1-point, 7–6, edge with 4:41. However, that would be the last time the Pioneers would be in front for the rest of the game. Ryan took the ball in for a basket, making it 8­–7, Haddonfield, and good pressure by the Dawgs on the other end enabled Roddy to pick off the ball. That resulted in a 3 by Narducci, and with 4:18 on the clock, the Dawgs were up by 4, 11–7. Clearview would only get one more basket in the next 3  minutes, while the Dawgs added 2-pointers by Roddy, junior Zack Langan, and senior Teddy Bond. The quarter ended with another 3 by Narducci, which gave the Dawgs an 11-point, 20–9, lead. Clearview got the last bucket of the quarter, however, on a nice move in the paint, but was still trailing by 9, 11–20, going into the next 8 minutes of play.

The Pioneers began the 2nd quarter as they did the first, with a 2-pointer, bringing them back to within 7, 13–20, at the 7:29 mark. After Haddonfield committed an offensive foul to turn the ball back over to Clearview, Bond blocked a shot, and Roddy followed with his third 2 of the half, putting the Dawgs’ lead back to 9, 22–13, with 6:40 to go. After Clearview failed to score, good work under the Dawgs’ basket gave the team a second scoring opportunity, and Ryan’s shot dropped, pushing the Dawgs’ lead back to double digits, 24–13, with 5:32 until the half.

Neither team scored for their next few possessions, and then with 4:01 on the clock, the Dawgs got another offensive board, this time from junior Nate Rohlfing, who then put the ball up and in. This made it 26–13, Haddonfield. He then got a blocked shot at the other end, and when the Pioneers inbounded, Roddy had a near steal, but the ball went out of bounds. Rohlfing got another blocked shot, and under the Haddonfield basket pulled down another board. After Clearview picked up a foul, this sent Narducci to the foul line.

Narducci’s first shot went in, making it 27–14 with 3:34 on the clock. His second went in and … it was still 27–14. I was sure I had missed something. Perhaps a ref called a foot foul or a Haddonfield player moved before Narducci’s shot went off? Our play-by-play man, Mark Hershberger, did not indicate anything unusual happened, so I put a big ?? in my notepad and took another look at the scoreboard after junior Matt Morris got 2 on an assist from Narducci. Yep. It now had the Dawgs on top 29–13 …

A 2 from Rohlfing and 3’s by Narducci and Bond finished the scoring for the Dawgs in the quarter. The Pioneers got one more basket in between, and when the teams left the court for halftime, the Dawgs were boasting a 22-point lead, 37–15.

It was pretty crowded in the gym, so I did not attempt to cross over to ask about that one Narducci foul shot, but I did make sure when the third quarter began that it still wasn’t showing on the board. It wasn’t …

The Dawgs got 21 points in both the third and fourth quarters, holding the Pioneers to 8 points in the third. In the third, Ryan, Roddy, and Bond each had two buckets, and Ryan added a foul shot (that counted!) after one of his field goals. Narducci had a 2 sandwiched between a pair of 3’s.

In the fourth, Clearview did manage to reach double digits, 11, in scoring,  but it didn’t really matter as far as the outcome went. Haddonfield’s 4th quarter points all came from players who hadn’t started the game. Morris had a 3 and a 2; Rohlfing added 2 more baskets, as did freshman Mike Douglas. (Did that make anyone else start humming the theme from My Three Sons or did I just really date myself?) Juniors Joe Tedeschi, Jack Walters, and Phil McFillin each knocked down a 3, and McFillin added 1 from the foul line.

When the horn sounded, the Dawgs had triumphed by 45, 79–34, and definitely sent the Pioneers packing. It also improved the Dawgs’ record to 5–0 for the season. Eleven players contributed to the Dawgs’ total.

Quarter Scores:

Player Scoring:

* If any of you checked my arithmetic (and you really should; just ask Michael Steinberger, who would never let me keep score when we played gin rummy), you may have caught that the points listed above actually total 80, not 79. Here’s why. Because I was so flummoxed about that foul shot that seemed good but didn’t get recorded on the scoreboard, I went back and watched the stream of the game to see what I missed. After I confirmed that both shots had gone in, I emailed Dawg coach Paul Wiedeman. It turns out, he had discovered the same discrepancy when he went over the team stats. He explained that while the final score had to remain 79–34, Narducci still gets credited with both foul shots. That’s why the team score adds up to 80, not 79. I should also note, to protect his sterling (ahem) reputation, that the Dawgs’ usual scoreboard operator, Jeff Holman, was not manning it during this game.

Egg Harbor Township vs. Haddonfield, 12/29/22

At some point after I printed out the initial scheduled, the Dawgs’ opponents in the second Showcase game changed from Woodrow Wilson to Egg Harbor. I found out from talking to Mark Hershberger after the game that going into the contest, the Dawgs had been ranked 11 to the Eagles’ 7 in the South Jersey Top 20. I was also reminded just now as I’m reviewing my scorebook how much points can be affected by the number of players involved in the tally. In the first Showcase, as I noted, 11 players put points on the board on the way to Haddonfield’s rout of Clearview. In this game, only four players out of the eight who were on the court scored. You might be able to see where this is going …

The first 8 minutes of the game went well for Haddonfield. Sam Narducci drove for 2 buckets in the paint, and Teddy Bond connected for a pair of treys. And although the Eagles, a very athletic group of players, were getting second-chance offensive boards, Egg Harbor was still down by 6, 10–4, going into the second quarter.

Unfortunately, during the next 24 minutes, the Dawgs would end up on the downside of the quarter scores. In the second quarter, the Eagles put 10 on the board, while the Dawgs struggled and only scored 2 baskets, a 2 by Patrick Ryan and a 3 by Narducci. Still, the Dawgs were up by 1, 15–14, going into the half.

Patrick Ryan accounted for 11 of the Dawgs’ third period points, with four field goals and 3 foul shots. (He so far is proving to be a very reliable shooter from the free throw line.) The Dawgs also got a 3 from Narducci. This meant that going into the deciding quarter, the game was knotted at 29.

The Dawgs had chances in the 4th to tie the game after the Eagles scored the first 5 points, but never quite made the needed plays. A few times after keeping their opponents from scoring, the Dawgs lost possession due to traveling violations. After a second “walk” was called against Haddonfield, Ryan got the ball back with a steal, but the Dawgs lost it on an out-of-bounds call. Egg Harbor then responded with a 3 off an offensive board with 1:44 left in the game. That seemed like the proverbial dagger, as it gave them a 6-point, 37–31, lead. However Daire Roddy responded with a 3 to make it a one possession, 34–37, game at the 1:29 mark.

The Eagles shifted into stall ball. The Dawgs had some fouls to give, as time whittled off the clock. After the third foul was called on Haddonfield during this Eagles’ possession, with the clock down to 54.1, Egg Harbor maneuvered a wide open player under the bucket and got an easy 2 to push the lead up to 5, 39–34. That was the last bucket of the quarter and the game, as the Eagles doubled the Dawgs’ output in the final 8 minutes, 10 to 5. Aside from Roddy’s 3, he also drove in the paint for a basket and Ryan netted 2 more from the foul line.

Quarter Scores:

Player Scoring:

Still in all, after six games, the Dawgs are 5–1 and are still undefeated in the Colonial Conference (3–0). The Dawgs resume conference play the week of 1/2, hosting the Red Raiders of Paulsboro on 1/3 for a 7:00 p.m. game and traveling down Warwick Road to play the Silver Knights of Sterling on 1/5 at 5:30. Saturday, 1/7, the Dawgs will have a non-conference game against Hammonton High School at Holy Spirit, a game scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m. (I hope I won’t get in “Trouble” for this, but I’ll miss this matchup, as I’ll be up in New York City that day watching Hugh Jackman in The Music Man.)