Author: haddonfieldtoday

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today     

This is the article I always hate to write up: the one where I have to acknowledge that the season has come to an end. What’s worse, this time, I don’t even have “we won” games to preface the “it’s over” one, because the Dawgs’ South Jersey Group 2 semifinal match against the Middle Township Panthers happened at the start of the week, at home on March 3.

You may have noticed that I generally like to gloss over losses. And this season, there were very few to deal with: Only five out of 30 games did not end with Haddonfield claiming victory. Me, myself, and I have been having quite a debate since Tuesday night (it’s now late Saturday afternoon) as to whether there was even going to be a recap on this game. That’s because a big part of me Does. Not. Want. To. Do. It. At. All.  

However, not giving some account of the game would omit how hard the Dawgs fought to overcome a big second quarter deficit against a really hard opponent (who upset #2 seeded Camden last night 67­–64 in the Group 2 final). So, the compromise I came to with myself was to pick up the game in the third quarter with the Dawgs trailing  23–35 at the 3:32 mark. (They were down by 10, 21–31 at the half.)

That’s when senior Chris Beane swooshed in a 3 on a feed from junior Ryan Guveiyian. The Dawgs were no longer behind by double-digits, having closed the gap to 26–35. The Panthers got a 2, but Dawg senior Michael Douglas got those 2 back on a basket of his own. After a full timeout by Middle Township, the Panthers did not score, and this time Douglas hit a 3. Now with 2:17 on the clock, the Dawgs were inching closer and were back to within 8, 31–39.

Neither team scored their next possession. When the Panthers again did not put the ball in the net, Douglas secured the rebound, passed the ball to Beane, who got it to senior Jack McKeever. He went up and in. Now it was a 6-point, 33–39, game with 1:31 to go in the 3rd. Dawg fans were getting vocal, cheering the team on, sensing another Dawg comeback was unfolding.

That was partly because the Panthers had gone cold. This time when Middle Township missed its shot, senior Mike Mooney grabbed the defensive board. Middle Township picked up a foul—non-shooting—under the Dawgs’ basket. With about 50 seconds (I got too excited and made a guess on my pad) showing on the clock, Douglas hit his second trey of the quarter to make it a one-possession, 36–39, game. A Panthers’ foul shot (1–2) from the line with about 33 seconds to go made it a 4-point, 36–40, game as the quarter came to a close.

Middle Township inbounded to start the last 8 minutes of the game. After a near-pickoff by Beane, the Panthers ended their field goal drought decisively—with a slam—to go back on top by 6, 42–36. But a feed from Douglas to McKeever got the Dawgs back to within 4, 38–42 with 7:41 left in the game. After a foul on Haddonfield and a Middle Township timeout, the Dawgs got the ball back after Beane pulled down the defensive board on a missed shot attempt. This led to a 2 by Douglas. Suddenly, that 12-point Panther lead had shrunk to 2 points, 42–40. Dawg fans were going nuts.

The noise level only accelerated after a steal by Haddonfield (honestly, I could not see who pilfered it from my spot in the front row) put Douglas on the foul line at the 5:43 mark. His first shot went in. His second would not drop, but the Dawgs were just a point away from tying the game. Middle Township’s slam at the other end a few seconds later make it clear the Panthers were determined that lead change was not going to happen.

The two teams could not score the next trips up and down the court. The Dawgs could not take advantage of a Beane steal, and another basket by the Panthers pushed their advantage back to 5, 46–41, with 4:01 on the clock. Haddonfield couldn’t get the ball to drop in the net its next time under the basket, but a held ball call gave the ball back to the Dawgs. With 2:43 left, Beane was fouled trying to score. He calmly made one shot, then the next to cut Middle Township’s lead to 3, 46–43.

Under the Panther basket, Guveiyian pounced on the defensive board. Under the Dawg basket, several shots did not go in the net. However, an out-of-bounds call on Middle kept the ball with Haddonfield. With 1:31 left in the game, Haddonfield called a timeout to set up a play. About 20 seconds later, that turned into Beane going up and in for 2. With 74 seconds to go, the Dawgs again had clawed back to within 1, 45–46.

But alas for the Dawgs: That was as close as they could get before time ran out of the game and their season. When the horn sounded, Middle Township had prevailed by a score of 50–45. As the Dawgs and their coaches walked down the bench to congratulate the Panthers, the Dawg faithful rose as one to clap, not for the final loss of the season, of course, but for their 25 wins and the way they played their hearts and souls out every game, no matter what the score.

Fittingly, the scoring leaders for this last game were the usual suspects: Chris Bene and Michael Douglas finished with 15 each and Ryan Guveiyian added 11.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 12, Middle Township, 15

2nd: Haddonfield, 8, Middle Township, 18

Half: Haddonfield, 21, Middle Township, 31

3rd: Haddonfield, 15, Middle Township, 9

4th: Haddonfield, 9, Middle Township, 10

Final Haddonfield, 45, Middle Township, 50

Player Scores:

Chris Beane: 15

Michael Douglas: 15

Ryan Guveiyian: 11

Jack McKeever: 4

I will provide a year in review and share some highlights from the boys banquet, taking place this coming Sunday, March 15 at Tavistock, for my final article of the season.

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today

It was probably no surprise to anyone that the 12-plus inches of snow Mother Nature ungraciously dumped on us Sunday, February 22 into the Monday the 23 resulted in near-shutdowns across the state Monday and into the week. The publishing company in Medford where I work was closed through Tuesday with an “optional” WFH day on Wednesday that most people who did not have a big production deadline looming (that was not me, alas) gladly chose.

Thus, it was also not unexpected that the girls and boys basketball playoffs scheduled to start last Tuesday, 2/24, were pushed back by 2 days across the board. What was a surprising development (and not it a good way) for me was that I found myself sidelined with another winter illness and had to watch (and record stats) from the comfort of my chair and my desktop computer via HUDL Thursday, hoping that the boys would beat their round 1 and then round 2 opponents so I could see them in person again this season.

Round 1: February 26, 2026

The boys, as you may recall, are the #1 seed in South Jersey Group 2, so all the games they play are on their home court. The girls are seeded #4, so on Thursday, they also had home court advantage. They had no trouble taking care of the 13th seed Barnegat, winning by 41 points, 63–22. Freshman Sara Guveiyian, Ryan’s younger sis, put 19 points on the board in the victory that advanced them to the second round.

The boys wouldn’t have it quite so easy in their match against their Colonial Liberty rival the Eagles of West Deptford. In their regular season contests In late December and late January, the Dawgs had taken care of business, upending the Eagles the first game by 41, 70–29, and then by 47, 78–31, when they met again. Raise your hand (after all, no one could see you) if you thought this was going to be another blowout. I sure did.

To their credit, the Eagles, the #16, i.e., the lowest, seed, didn’t come into this game against the Dawgs with the attitude that its outcome was a foregone conclusion even if a lot of the Dawgs’ faithful did.

The first quarter did start off as if a rout was in motion. Senior Chris Beane got the offense going with a 3-pointer. After the Eagles got a basket to make it 3–2, Haddonfield, with 6:33 on the clock, senior Chase Stadler, who started the game for the indisposed John Scipione, rattled in a 3, and it was 6–2. However, the Eagles answered with a 3. And when Stadler swooshed in another trey on the Dawgs’ next possession, the Eagles answered with a 2. So at the 5:10 mark, Haddonfield was only up by 2, 9–7.

Stadler knocked down another 3, West Deptford got a 2. The quarter whittled down to 55 seconds before Haddonfield got another bucket from Beane, this one in the paint. And again, the Eagles got the ball in the basket with 39 seconds on the clock, which was the last one of the quarter. So going into the second 8 minutes of round 1 playoff action, the Dawgs were ahead by a mere 3, 14–11.

The boys had spent much of those 8 minutes looking tentative against a team they had “dawg”-handled twice. “What was going on?” I wondered. Then I remembered something that the senior boys shared during our “group talk” on January 29: John Scipione was the playmaker on the court. “He makes the other guys better,” is how McKeever put it, explaining, “He finds you when you don’t even know you’re open.” The absence of their point guard was having an impact on their ability to set up plays and score, especially in the paint.

The Eagles had possession to start the second quarter, but Beane picked off the ball, and sophomore Ethan Miller pulled down an offensive rebound and then put the ball back up for 2. Now the Dawgs were up by 5, 16–11. And it stayed that way for several trips up and down the court. At the 5:36 mark, the Eagles missed two shots from the foul line, keeping it 16–11, Dawgs. Although senior Dawg Jack McKeever secured the defensive board after the second foul shot did not drop, West Deptford stole the ball. Beane stole it back, and then the Eagles did the same, this time going all the way to the basket for 2. The Eagles were now trailing by 3 again, 16–13, with 5:03 left in the half.

At the other end, the Dawgs had several attempts to score after grabbing offensive boards, but none were successful. After the last missed shot, West Deptford got the ball and got another 2. Now it was a 1-point, 16–15, game, with just under 4 minutes to go. McKeever got fouled attempting to score and made both shots from the line to push the lead back to 3, 18–15, at the 3:30 mark. Good “D” by the Dawgs got a travel called on the Eagles with 3:21 on the clock.

Senior Michael Douglas picked a great time to launch his first 3 of the game off a feed by senior Mike Mooney, and with 2:52 to go in the half, the Dawgs were back on top by 6, 21–15. Back-to-back buckets by West Deptford got the Eagles back to within 2, 21–19, with 2:10 to go. The Dawgs pulled down an offensive board after a missed shot but got an offensive foul called against them. Douglas got the ball back on a steal before West Deptford knocked the ball out of bounds with 1:23 on the clock.

Once back in play, Douglas found an open Stadler, who hit his 4th 3 of the game. Now with 1:01 to go, the Dawgs were up 24–19. The Eagles got fouled at the other end, and with 55.1 seconds left in the half, sank 1–2 from the line to make it 24–20, Haddonfield. The Dawgs would get the final bucket of the half, a 3 from Douglas off a pass from freshman JP Crawford, who had come in to provide minutes and some “point guarding” both quarters, a role he fills well on the JV squad. Although the Eagles got the ball back with time to set up a play, good pressure by junior Ryan Guveiyian and Crawford forced a West Deptford turnover. The Dawgs tried two shots before the buzzer sounded, and while neither went in, Haddonfield headed to the locker room up by 7, 27–20.

In the third quarter, aided by 11 points by Guveiyian, the Dawgs started putting some distance between themselves and the Eagles. Guveiyian’s first basket was the fourth attempt by the Dawgs to score after they inbounded to start the quarter. Guveiyian was fouled as he drove up and in for the bucket, and his foul shot make it 30–20, Haddonfield, with 7:43 on the clock. The foul shot also gave his team its first double-digit lead of the game.

While the Dawgs were finding a bit more of a scoring rhythm, their defense was causing all sorts of trouble for West Deptford. Guveiyian scored again off a feed from Beane, Douglas hit another 3 off a pass from Mooney, and that was followed by a high lob pass from Mooney to Douglas, who slammed the ball home. In about a span of 2-and-a-half minutes, the Dawgs had put 10 points on the board while keeping the Eagles on the ropes.

West Deptford got its first (of two) baskets off an easy layup to make it a 37–22 game with 5:17 on the clock. The Dawgs, or should I say, Guveiyian, got the next three baskets. With about 90 seconds remaining in the quarter, the Dawgs had taken charge. (In fact, to the delight of the crowd, a few plays earlier, Mooney had taken an offensive charge after the refs had missed what looked like a West Deptford foul its previous possession.) They were up by 21, 43–22. The Eagles landed the ball in the net for the second time to close out the quarter, but as the 4th one began, they were still down by 19, 43–24.

The 4th quarter saw some of the JV squad contributing to the Dawgs’ offense. Miller added 2 from the foul line. Crawford put up a 3, to the glee of the starters on the bench, as well as a 2, and sophomore Oscar (Ozzie) Burns also scored a bucket. When the horn sounded to end the game, the Dawgs had won by 28, 57–29. So while the outcome might have been a given, kudos to the West Deptford Eagles, particularly their seniors, for making it much more of a game, especially in the first half, than anyone was expecting. Three Dawgs were in double figures: Douglas had 13; Stadler, with his four 3’s, finished with 12; and Guveiyian, with his five 3rd quarter baskets, added 11.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 14, West Deptford, 11

2nd: Haddonfield, 13, West Deptford, 9

Half: Haddonfield, 27, West Deptford, 20

3rd: Haddonfield, 16, West Deptford, 4

4th: Haddonfield, 14, West Deptford, 5

Final: Haddonfield, 57, West Deptford, 29

Player Scores:

Michael Douglas: 13

Chase Stadler: 12

Ryan Guveiyian: 11

Chris Beane: 8

JP Crawford: 5

Ethan Miller: 4

Jack McKeever: 2

Ozzie Burns: 2

Round 2: February 28, 2026

The second round of the NJSIAA Group 2 playoffs meant another double-header for Haddonfield fans, as the girls took to the court first to play Colonial Patriot rival Collingswood. That game was hard to watch. And with about 4 minutes left in the 4th, it wasn’t looking good for the Lady Dawgs, who had beaten the Panthers their last five matchups. With about 4 minutes left (to be honest, I scribbled a few notes down during and after the game), the girls were trailing by 5, 20–25. But with 3:10 to go, Sara Guveiyian went up and in to tie it at 25. Sophomore Avery Sinnes’ 3 put the Dawgs up 28–25, and the Dawgs held on to win 32–27. They will head down toward the shore on Tuesday to go up against another Panther team, Middle Township. Game time is 5 p.m.

Everyone who saw all or part of the girls’ game and who stayed to watch the boys take on the Pirates of Cedar Creek (or, like me, was streaming again on HUDL) was hoping for a less stressful 32 minutes. Alas, that was not the case …

Going into its game with Haddonfield, Cedar Creek, the #8 seed, boasted an 18–8 overall record and were 9–3 in the Cape Atlantic-National division. The Pirates had won four out of their last five games, which included a double-digit, 48–29, victory of Haddon Heights in round 1.

The Dawgs were without John Scipione once more, so to start the game, Chris Beane, Mike Mooney, Chase Stadler, Michael Douglas, and Ryan Guveiyian took to the court. Neither team scored their first possession, and Cedar Creek got the first basket with 6:47 on the clock. The Dawgs were looking a bit tentative again on the floor and did not get their first bucket until the 4:25 mark on a drive by Beane after he secured the defensive board at the other end.

Beane would put the Dawgs ahead 4–2 on a feed from Guveiyian, but the Pirates got a quick 2 to tie it at 4 with 3:31 left in the quarter. Pirate foul shots put them up by 2, and then they went on a run, scoring three times in about a 2-minute span. With 36 seconds remaining in the 1st, they were up by 8, 12–4. Haddonfield lost the ball out of bounds with 17.5 on the clock, but Jack McKeever’s pickoff set up a basket by Douglas. When the quarter-ending buzzer sounded, the Dawgs were trailing by 6, 6–12.

The Dawgs inbounded the ball to start the 2nd quarter. After a Cedar Creek foul, Beane drove to the hoop and scored, getting the Dawgs to within 4, 8–12. After a steal by Guveiyian and an out-of-bounds call on the Pirates with 6:55 on the clock, what looked like a sure shot by Douglas wouldn’t roll in. At the other end, the Dawgs were charged with a shooting foul. At the line (or should I say plank—hey, I had to make one arrr-gravating joke for Gary Vermaat), the Pirates’ first shot missed and with the second one, the ball did what it wouldn’t do for Douglas: It rolled in. Now it was a 5-point, 13–8, Cedar Creek advantage with about 90 seconds having ticked off the clock.

McKeever got his own offensive board and scored, cutting the Pirates’ edge to 3, 13–10, with 5:46 left in the half. Under the Pirates’ basket, Guveiyian tipped the ball toward Douglas, who passed it to Beane. Beane was fouled going in for a basket and made both shots from the line. Now the Dawgs were within 1, 12–13. However a quick 3 by the Pirates upped the lead back to 4, 16–12. The Dawgs did not score, but the Pirates were called for traveling, so the Dawgs got the ball back. After some dicey passing by Haddonfield, Cedar Creek stole the ball only to lose it out of bounds. Haddonfield missed two shots under its basket, but Cedar Creek gave the ball back, this time on a foul call with just under 4 minutes until the half.

A Douglas jumper with 3:22 on the clock made it a 2-point, 14–16, differential. Tough “D” on the sidelines by Ethan Miller and Douglas forced Cedar Creek to call a timeout with 2:34 on the clock. After inbounding, the Pirates’ shot did not go in, and Douglas grabbed the rebound. Under the Dawgs’ basket, Miller’s shot found the net, tying the game 16–16 with 2:14 left in the half. A travel was called on the Pirates at the 2:01 mark, setting up a 2 by McKeever from a Douglas pass. The Dawgs had the lead again for the first time since the 3:53 mark in the 1st, up by 2, 18–16, with 1:51 on the clock.

A 2 by the Pirates brought the match even again with 1:01 remaining in the half. Miller found the net again to inch the Dawgs back in front 20–18, with 42 seconds on the clock. However, with 13.8 seconds left, a Dawg foul sent the Pirates to the line. Both shots were good. The Dawgs got a shot off, but it did not go in. As the teams headed off the court, the game was knotted at 20.

The Pirates inbounded to start the 3rd and wasted no time getting a basket to reclaim the lead, 22–20. The Dawgs were passing the ball around the horn, looking for a good shot. And one opened up as JP Crawford, who got ample playing time again, swooshed in a 3, giving the Dawgs a 1-point, 23–22, edge with 6:48 on the clock. A few plays and about a minute later, Guveiyian’s 2 made it 25–22, Haddonfield. At the other end, Guveiyian blocked a Pirate shot and Douglas garnered the ball, driving down the court into the paint for a basket. Now with the Dawgs up 27–22, Cedar Creek called a timeout with 4:58 on the clock.

The Pirates still couldn’t score and were beginning to look a bit rattled. A Crawford-to-McKeever-to Douglas play set Douglas up under the basket. His shot “rattled” in, making it 29–22 with 3:04 left in the quarter. Good pressure by the Dawgs forced a Cedar Creek turnover, and a maneuver by Guveiyian, intentional or not, flipped the ball to Douglas, who scored under the basket, giving the Dawgs a 9-point, 31–22, lead with 2:42 showing on the scoreboard.

Before Dawg fans could get too calm, the Pirates put 5 straight points on the board, 3 from the foul line and one off a steal, to get back to within 4, 31–27, with 1:16 left in the quarter. Under the Dawgs’ basket, Guveiyian went down hard off a Cedar Creek foul that was called non-shooting. Guveiyian got revenge by taking the inbounds ball under the net and going up and in. Now the Dawgs’ lead was back to 5, 33–27 with 1:16 on the clock. A trey by the Pirates made it 33–30, Dawgs with 1:04 remaining in the 3rd.

A travel called against the Dawgs gave the Pirates back the ball. After a near-pickoff by Crawford, the ball went out of bounds off Haddonfield with 21.4 seconds to go. With 13.5 left in the quarter, Cedar Creek got to within 1, 33–32, on a field goal. A Cedar Creek foul on Douglas with 2.8 on the clock put him on the line. He made both shots. Going into the 4th, the Dawgs were out in front, but only by 3.

That’s when Beane’s offense kicked into high gear. He scored off the inbounds that started the 4th, and a few plays later, he got a defensive board and went full press down the court to score 2 more. With 6:34 on the clock, the Dawgs were now up by 7, 39–32. The crowd roared its approval when Douglas took an offensive charge under the Pirate basket. Even though the Dawgs did not score, it also kept the Pirates off the board.

There was a lot of action—passing, fouls, out-of-bounds calls—over the next few minutes, but neither team managed to score until Douglas did from the foul line with 3:13 left, putting both shots in the net. This put the Dawgs up 41–32. Cedar Creek’s 3 attempt went in—and out—and Mike Mooney pulled down the rebound as Guveiyian had a reunion with the floor again. This sent him back to the foul line, where he sank the first shot to give the Dawgs their first 10-point lead of the game with 2:48 left in the contest. Mooney got the rebound off the next shot, but Haddonfield lost the ball on a non-shooting foul called against them.

After Cedar Creek’s shot attempt did not go in, there was a scramble for the ball. Guess who was among the players on the floor scrambling for the ball? That’s right. Guveiyian. That earned him a trip to the trainer’s table, as he left the court holding his nose. (No, it didn’t fall off, but it was bleeding. Luckily, that was all that happened. And this kid is tough, so he wasn’t off the court for long.) When play resumed, Haddonfield had possession with 1:52 on the clock. Cedar Creek pilfered the ball, Haddonfield fouled, but once again, it was non-shooting. Mooney pulled down the rebound after the Pirates could not score, and at the other end and back in the game already, Guveiyian was fouled going up and in. He made both shots from the line, and with 1:15 left in the game, the Dawgs were up by 12, 44–32.

A field goal by the Pirates made it 44–34 with 61 seconds to go. At the other basket, Crawford was fouled. He made 1–2, but the Dawgs—and Beane—weren’t quite done. As he did to open the quarter, Beane got the Dawgs’ last 4 points of the game. Two came from the foul line, and after a basket by the Pirates, Beane finished them off with a drive with 2.5 seconds on the clock. The buzzer sounded, and the Dawgs had fought off a pesky Pirate crew, securing the W and advancing to round 3 by defeating them 49–36.

As they often have all season, Chris Beane and Michael Douglas led the offense, scoring 16 and 14 points, respectively. But all the Dawgs played hardline (or should that be hard-nosed?) defense for 32 minutes. That tough “D” held Cedar Creek to 4 points in the 4th after the Pirates had gotten to within 3 at the end of the 3rd.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 6, Cedar Creek, 12

2nd: Haddonfield, 14, Cedar Creek, 8

Half: Haddonfield, 20, Cedar Creek, 20

3rd: Haddonfield, 15, Cedar Creek, 12

4th: Haddonfield, 14, Cedar Creek, 4

Final: Haddonfield, 49, Cedar Creek, 36

Player Scores:

Chris Beane: 16

Michael Douglas: 14

Ryan Guveiyian: 7

Jack McKeever: 4

JP Crawford: 4

A Preview of Round 3: March 3, 2026

The boys, who are now 25–4,  also will go up against Middle Township on Tuesday, but will play host to the 4th seed Panthers. Middle Township, in the American division of the Cape Atlantic conference, have a 16–11 record overall, but impressively went 11–1 in their division. The Panthers have won three out of their last five games, including their 24-point victory over Sterling in the previous round. According to NJ.com, in their last four head-to-head matchups, the two teams each have won 2 games. Two years ago, the Panthers came out on top by 8 points, 46–38. My favorite memory from a Haddonfield–Middle Township game took place in 2004, when Kyle Turner’s clutch, and I do mean clutch, 3 enabled the Dawgs to pull off an upset in the South Jersey Group 2 finals. The Dawgs would go on to win their first of back-to-back-to-back state championships. Here’s hoping for the same outcome!

GO DAWGS!!!

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today

This was the fourth (good thing I checked, as I thought it was only the third) year of the Camden County Tournament. It was the second year (2024 was the other) that the Dawgs received a bye and did not face an opponent in the preliminary round. They were the #5 seed, with Paul VI being #1; Camden, #2; Eastern, #3; and Camden Catholic, #4.

The Dawgs got to play at home for their Round 1 game, which took place on Tuesday, Feb. 17. They went up against the Warriors of Camden Mastery. (And if you aren’t familiar with this school, neither was I. Here is what I found out: Part of Camden Mastery Academy, a charter network, the high school opened in 2016.) Mastery advanced to play Haddonfield by beating Sterling 57–44 in the preliminary round and, as the 14th seed, came into the contest versus Haddonfield with a 14–10 record. (NJ.com did not list Mastery as belonging to a specific conference, which I am surmising is because they are a charter school.)

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting going into this game, but it was not that the Warriors would be up by 4, 12–8, after the first quarter and then would be leading the Dawgs by 8, 31–23, going into halftime. In the 3rd, with senior Michael Douglas pouring in 8 of Haddonfield’s 14 points (seniors Mike Mooney and John Scipione and junior Ryan Guveiyian each added a bucket for the other 6 points), the Dawgs outscored the Warriors 14–7. Still, heading into the 4th quarter, the Dawgs were still trailing, albeit only by a point, 37–38.

Picking up the action in the last 8 minutes of regulation, the Dawgs had possession but did not score. However, the Warriors got assessed a traveling violation, giving the Dawgs back the ball. Again, no basket. And down at the other end, no basket either, with Douglas grabbing the defensive board. Under the Haddonfield basket, Guveiyian went up and in for 2 at the 7:09 mark, giving his team its first lead of the game, 39–38. Alas, itt was short-lived, as Mastery quickly scored to go back up by 1, 40–39.

After failing to score, the Dawgs picked up a shooting foul, and the Warriors made both shots to push their advantage up to 3, 42–39, with 6:11 on the clock. Again Guveiyian scored on a feed from Douglas, and again the Dawgs were back to within 1, 41–39 at the 5:35 mark. Then just like that, the Warriors hit a 3 and the Dawgs were down by 4, 39–43, 20 seconds later.

Guveiyian finally missed a shot, and the Dawgs picked up another foul, this time non-shooting. But that didn’t matter, as Mastery put 2 on the board from the field and now were ahead by 6, 47–41, with 4:31 left in the quarter. Mastery fouled at the Dawgs’ end, also non-shooting, and after a missed Dawg shot, Guveiyian got the offensive board, the basket, and was fouled. His shot from the line dropped in, and with 3:52 on the clock, the Dawgs’ deficit had been cut in half: Haddonfield was now behind by 3, 44–47,

After the Warriors lost the ball out of bounds, that deficit was trimmed to 1 thanks to an offensive rebound by Beane, who was fouled. He hit both from the line to make it 46–47, Mastery, with 3:22 left in the quarter. After Mastery’s shot did not go in, Mooney got the rebound, but what looked like Guveiyian’s fourth bucket of the quarter was nixed by the ref who had already called THREE travels on Guveiyian, two of them other instances when he should have been credited with baskets instead of called for “walking.” The crowd was not happy to put it mildly. I was so irate I forgot to note what time the non-basket happened. Neither team scored during their next trips up and down the court, but with 1:12 on the clock, the Warriors hit a 2 to go up 49–46.

Coach Paul Wiedeman called a timeout a few seconds later to set up a play. It was a good one, as with about 50 seconds remaining, Douglas let the ball go from behind the arc. It swooshed in, and the game was tied. Mastery lost the ball out of bounds with about 30 seconds on the clock, but Haddonfield could not get an open look, even after Wiedeman called another timeout. Just ahead of the buzzer, a shot did not go in. For the second time this season, the Dawgs were headed into OT.

To remind you, an OT period lasts 4 minutes and begins with a jump ball at midcourt. The Dawgs got possession but did not score. The Warriors were called for a double-dribble, which gave the Dawgs back the ball, who didn’t score. Under the Mastery basket, a combined effort by Douglas and Beane led to a pickoff and a 2-pointer by senior Jack McKeever. With 2:10 left in OT, the Dawgs were up 51–49. At the 1:54 mark, the game was tied once more, 51 all.

Mooney was fouled with 1:22 to go and made 1–2 from the line. Douglas came close to another steal, but the ball went out of bounds. After a timeout, Mastery fouled again, but it was non-shooting. If I can decipher my scribbling, Douglas passed the ball to Beane, who missed, got his own rebound, and scored, making it 54–51, Haddonfield, with 23.4 on the clock. McKeever pulled down the defensive board on a missed Warriors shot. Mastery fouled again with 7.6 seconds left. Neither shot went in, but it didn’t matter. The Dawgs’ defense kept the Warriors from forcing double OT. The Dawgs prevailed 54–51 after trailing the first 3 quarters of regulation. Whoop, whoop!

Michael Douglas finished with 20 points. Ryan Guveiyian scored 13 (but it should have been more, not that I’m still bitter), and Chris Beane added 11.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 8, Mastery Camden, 12

2nd: Haddonfield, 15, Mastery Camden, 19

Half: Haddonfield, 23, Mastery Camden, 31

3rd: Haddonfield, 14, Mastery Camden, 7

4th: Haddonfield, 12, Mastery Camden, 11

OT: Haddonfield, 5, Mastery Camden, 2

Final: Haddonfield, 54, Mastery Camden, 51

Player Scores:

Michael Douglas: 20

Ryan Guveiyian: 13

Chris Beane: 11

Mike Mooney: 4

John Scipione: 2

Jack McKeever: 2

Ethan Miller: 2

Round 2 took place two nights later, Feb. 19, at Haddon Heights. This time the Dawgs were going up against the Irish of Camden Catholic. The 4th seed in the tournament, the Irish were 15–8 overall, but only 3–5 in the Olympic National division. In their previous game, they had defeated the Garnets 57–43. Although this game didn’t go into OT, it still proved to be stressful enough for Dawg followers.

The game started with the Irish getting possession after the jump ball, but they did not score and Chris Beane grabbed the rebound. Ryan Guveiyian, who it should be noted, did not get a travel called on him any time he attempted a shot this game, got the Dawgs on the board with a basket in the paint. Mike Mooney’s pilfer set up the next basket, this one from Michael Douglas. At the 6:34 mark, the Dawgs were up 4–0. The Irish got their first basket with 5:20 on the clock to make it a 4–2 game.

A few plays later after the Dawgs had failed to score, Mooney pulled down a hard defensive board. He attempted a shot, did not get the ball in the net, but got his own rebound and was fouled. Both his shots swooshed in, giving the Dawgs back a 4-point, 6–2, edge with 3:51 left in the quarter. Camden Catholic got those points back, and after two missed shots by Haddonfield at the other end, knocked down a 3 to go up 7–6 with 2:22 on the clock. About a minute later, Douglas did the same off a feed by John Scipione, seesawing the lead back to Haddonfield, 9–7, and that would be the last score of the quarter.

The next 8 minutes were even more “seesaw-y.” Although Douglas hit another 3 after the Dawgs inbounded, putting them up 12–7, the Irish responded with a basket. Guveiyian scored on an assist by Jack McKeever to make it a 5-point, 14–9, game with 4:07 on the clock. Camden Catholic got a field goal to cut the lead to 3, 14–11. Haddonfield turned the ball over, then got called for a foul, but the Irish did not score after inbounding. Douglas fought for the board, and McKeever went up and in off a nice bounce pass from Guveiyian. Now the Dawgs were in front by 5 once more, 16–11.

That lead was increased to 7 with Douglas’ outside jumper, which gave Haddonfield its biggest lead of the game, putting them up 18–11 with 1:47 to go in the half. However, the Irish got the last 4 points of the quarter, 2 from the line and 2 from a field goal. When the teams left the court, it was 18–15, Haddonfield. While the Dawgs had put 2 more points on the board in the first than the Irish, this period, it was only 1 point more. For the Haddonfield faithful, the game was getting too close for comfort.

Camden Catholic inbounded to start the second half. Mooney almost stole the ball, but good “D” by the Dawgs led to a bad pass that went out of bounds. At the other end, Douglas was fouled in the act of shooting and made both shots from the line. That made it 20–15 with 7:14 left in the 3rd. More than 4 minutes ticked off the clock before either team scored, even though the Irish had four chances in one possession, as their players kept grabbing offensive boards. Chris Beane broke the offensive lull off a steal, and with 3:59 remaining, the Dawgs were up 22–15.

A 3 at the other end made it 22–18 and was followed by a timeout. Neither team scored, but with 3:21 on the clock, Scipione saw an opening behind the arc and let loose. The ball swooshed in, putting the Dawgs up 25–18 with 3:21 to go. Another steal by Beane and his drive to the basket gave Haddonfield its biggest—9-point, 27–18—lead of the game, but Camden Catholic got two field goals in a row, cutting that to a 5-point, 27–22, lead with 1:30 left in the quarter.

A Scipione-to-Douglas maneuver resulted in Douglas’ third trey of the day, making it 30–22, Dawgs, with 1:116 on the clock. Camden Catholic called time, and once the ball was inbounded, the Irish were having a hard time setting up a play due to great pressure D. They did get a foul call and made the first shot from the line. The second missed and was confiscated by McKeever. From the bench you could hear his coach instruct, “McKeever, hold the ball!” He obliged until Scipione was open and drove in for 2. A 3 just ahead of the buzzer turned what would have been a 9-point lead into a 6-point, 32–26, Dawgs’ advantage heading into (we hoped) the last 8 minutes of the contest.

Haddonfield inbounded to start the 4th quarter, and Beane drove in the lane for 2 with about 14 seconds gone. His basket made it 34–26. The Irish failed to score on two attempts, picked the ball off, but a bad pass sent it out of bounds with 7:16 on the clock. Haddonfield returned the favor, and Camden Catholic got its first basket of the quarter. With 6:40 left in the game, the Dawgs were up by 6, 34–28. The next few minutes saw some sloppy play by both teams, and when another basket was made, it came from Beane, this time on a pass from Guveiyian at the 4:22 mark. Once more, the Irish were trailing by 8, 28–36.

The Irish got 2 back on the foul line, but a Mooney-to-Guveiyian move made it an 8-point Dawg advantage again, 38–30, with 3:48 left in the game. When Guveiyian fed the ball to Beane, who scored his third basket of the quarter, the Dawg fans were feeling pretty good, because there were only 2 minutes and 15 seconds left in the game, and their team had its first double-digit, 40–30, lead of the game.

Of course, that 10-point lead, and hence the fans’ cockiness, did not last. The Irish got a 3 and 2 and suddenly were back to within 5 with, whoops, I didn’t write down the time. I apparently was getting rattled. And to make matters worse, a loose ball went out of bounds off the Dawgs. Camden Catholic’s next shot did not find the net, and Scipione pulled down the rebound. With 1:03 on the clock, Wiedeman called a timeout.

Thus began the last segment of the game, which I labeled “hot potato.” This was because the Dawgs started having trouble inbounding the ball and holding onto it. After the first near mishap, Mooney secured the ball. It then went out of bounds off the Irish. After another dicey inbounds, Douglas snatched the ball, but it was not easy getting it over halfcourt in the allotted time (10 seconds, in case you were wondering).

With 18 seconds left, Camden Catholic fouled Scipione. He hit 1–2, making it 41–35. The Irish answered with a 2, and with 10.9 on the clock, that 10-point lead had shrunk to 4, 41–37. Camden Catholic called a timeout. After Douglas got stuck on the sidelines with the ball, Haddonfield called a timeout. Haddonfield successfully inbounded the ball, was fouled, but missed both shots. But with 4.5 seconds left, the luck of the Irish ran out along with the clock. The Dawgs had pulled an upset by sending the higher seed home.

Michael Douglas and Chris Beane led the Dawgs, contributing 15 and 10 points, respectively, of the team’s 41. That meant Haddonfield was heading into the semifinals to go up against the #1 seed, Paul VI, who were sporting a 22–4 overall record (8–0 in the Olympic National), on the Eagles’ home court on 2/21.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 9, Camden Catholic, 7

2nd: Haddonfield, 9, Camden Catholic, 8

Half: Haddonfield, 18, Camden Catholic, 15

3rd: Haddonfield, 14, Camden Catholic, 11

4th: Haddonfield, 9, Camden Catholic, 11

Final: Haddonfield, 41, Camden Catholic, 37

Player Scores:

Michael Douglas: 15

Chris Beane: 10

Ryan Guveiyian: 6

John Scipione: 6

Mike Mooney: 2

Jack McKeever: 2

To be blunt, the matchup between Paul VI and Haddonfield was not pretty. After 8 minutes, the Dawgs were trailing by 8. After 2 quarters, they were down 20. The second half really did not get any better. Although the Dawgs were only outscored by 4 points in those two quarters, when the horn sounded, Paul VI had won by 24, 79–54. Chris Beane scored 20 points for the Dawgs, with Michael Douglas putting up 10.

But make no mistake, while the Dawgs lost to clearly better team (the Eagles hit 12 3’s to the Dawgs’ 4, and it seemed like more than that), they never stopped playing hard. That’s not in their DNA. It’s also hard to be competitive for 32 minutes with a team that has a recruiter on staff and who can roll players in and out off the bench without giving up quality. The Dawgs have some good nonstarters players that come in to give quality minutes, but they don’t have the luxury of the depth of Paul VI’s bench.

Paul VI claimed the Camden County Tournament crown by defeating the #2 seed Camden on Sunday by almost the identical score that they beat Haddonfield, 77–54. The previous day, Camden had a tough team displacing the Thundering Herd of Woodbury in the first semifinal. Although the Panthers shot out to a 17–0 lead in the first, Woodbury fought back and tied it at 35 all (if memory serves me) in the third. The Herd hung in there into the 4th, when the Panthers were finally able to pull away to win 66–55.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 7, Paul VI, 15

2nd: Haddonfield, 12, Paul VI, 19

Half: Haddonfield, 19, Paul VI, 39

3rd: Haddonfield, 20, Paul VI, 26

Haddonfield, 16, Paul VI, 14

Haddonfield, 55, Paul VI, 79

Player Scores:

Chris Beane: 20

Michael Douglas: 10

Ethan Miller: 9

Mike Mooney: 6

Ryan Guveiyian: 4

Chase Stadler: 2

John Scipione: 2

Reese Rhea: 2

Thanks to the after-effects of “snowmageddon,” the NJSIAAs scheduled to start this Tuesday, 2/24, have been pushed back two days for both the boys and girls first rounds. The boys, 23–4 overall and the #1 seed in South Jersey Group 2, will now play host to the Eagles—of West Deptford, that is—at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The girls (19–8) will be hosting the Bengals of Barnegat Township at 5. If the boys win, round 2 will take place at Haddonfield on Saturday, 2/28, but no time has been listed as yet. Tickets can be purchased for both games on Thursday via the school’s website: 

https://fan.hudl.com/usa/nj/haddonfield/organization/17513/haddonfield-high-school/tickets

It was encouraging to see good fan support, especially the student body, out at the Camden Catholic and Paul VI games. Let’s keep it up!

GO DAWGS!!!!!

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today

It may not have been the most exciting matchup of the season, but on Tuesday, 2/10, the boys basketball team checked off the first box on the seniors to-do list: Win 20 games. That it was away against one of their Colonial Liberty nemeses, the Garnets of Haddon Heights, of course made it all the sweeter.

But perhaps tired from the previous week’s trio of tougher games, the Dawgs seemed a little lethargic on the Garnets’ court. The first quarter proved to be their most offensive. Four of the five starters—seniors Chris Beane, Mike Mooney, and Michael Douglas and junior Ryan Guveiyian—scored at least one basket. Guveiyian had a 2 and a 3, and Douglas had three 2-pointers. The defense also was the most “unproductive” for the Garnets, who only put 6 points on the board.

In the second 8 minutes, seniors John Scipione and Jack McKeever got into the scoring column, as each accounted for two field golds. The only other basket of the quarter came from Beane. The Garnets managed 1 more point this quarter—7—so going into the half, the Dawgs were up by 12, 25–13.

Quarter three saw Beane outscore Haddon Heights by himself: He knocked down a 3, drove in the paint for a bucket, and hit 3 foul shots for 8 points. Douglas also hit a 3 and McKeever got another basket as well. The Garnets once again were held to 7 points, and going into the final 8 minutes, were trailing the Dawgs by 18, 38–20.

Only in those last 8 minutes did the Garnets manage to reach double digits, with 15 points. This was the only quarter that they outscored the Dawgs, who added 12. This time, the Garnets outscored Beane, who put up 10 points on five baskets. Sophomore Ethan Miller accounted for the only other Dawgs’ basket. When the horn sounded, the Dawgs had won by 15, 50–35. It wasn’t the liveliest game, but it hurdled them out of the “teens” into the twenties, which is always an accomplishment. Beane was a scoring machine, finishing with 22 points.  

Quarter Scores:

1st:Haddonfield, 15, Haddon Heights, 6

2nd: Haddonfield, 10, Haddon Heights, 7

Half: Haddonfield, 25, Haddon Heights, 13

3rd: Haddonfield, 13, Haddon Heights, 7

4th: Haddonfield, 12, Haddon Heights, 15

Final: Haddonfield, 50, Haddon Heights, 35

Player Scores:

Chris Beane: 22

Michael Douglas: 9

Jack McKeever: 6

Ryan Guveiyian: 5

John Scipione: 4

Ethan Miller: 2

The Dawgs did not play again until Saturday, 2/14, heading into Woodstown. With the snow still looking pristine on many fields and open expanses, it was quite a picturesque drive (and thankfully, I got to be a passenger, as I got a lift from another basketball family, as travel buddies one and two were recovering from illnesses). As it turned out, as serene as going to and from the Wolverines’ gym was, the game itself was anything but. (This is apparently what happens when you think that a hoops contest wasn’t exciting enough … You get one that gives you a big-time adrenalin rush.)

The Wolverines are part of the Tri-County Conference and going into the game on Saturday, were 15–9 overall and 6–4 within the conference. They also had played a tough game the night before, losing to Cumberland 32–54. But if the players were fatigued, they sure didn’t show it. (Maybe it was knowing that Haddonfield arranged the game to strengthen their Power Point rankings to stay ahead of Camden that gave the Wolverines some added incentive.)

The Wolverines won the tipoff only to have Michael Douglas steal the ball, but in the process, it went out of bounds. Chris Beane almost stole it back, but Woodstown hung on to the ball long enough to sink a 3. Haddonfield got fouled and went to the line but did not score, so with about 70 seconds gone, the Dawgs were still trailing 0–3. Nice Dawgs D caused another out-of-bounds off the Wolverines. A Beane-to-Douglas relay saw the ball roll around the rim and go out, but a goaltending call awarded the points to Haddonfield, making it 2–3, Wolverines.

The Wolverines wasted no time swooshing in another 3, upping their lead to 4, 6–2, with 6 and change left. Neither team scored the next trips up and down the court, and after a lot of passing by the Dawgs (the Wolverines made it hard, especially during the first half, for the Dawgs to drive into the paint), Ryan Guveiyian was fouled attempting to score under the basket. He made 1–2 from the line, and with 5:00 on the clock, the Dawgs were down by 3, 3–6.

At the other end, Guveiyian broke up a shot attempt, and the ball went out of bounds. Woodstown had trouble inbounding, and when the ball got into play, the Wolverines lost it again. However, the Dawgs, who are usually adept at passing, were having problems themselves, and an errant one gave the ball back to the Wolverines. Despite good man-to-man pressure by the Dawgs, the Wolverines cleared a path to the net and scored to push their advantage up to 5, 8–3, with 3:42 left in the quarter.

With almost half a quarter to go, you would expect a few more baskets, but both teams were a bit off on shooting, so shots going up were not going in. This was at least in part due to the pressure both teams were causing under each other’s baskets. When the buzzer sounded, the Wolverines were still ahead 8–3.

Haddonfield inbounded to start the 2nd and almost immediately, Douglas was fouled attempting to drive in for a layup. He made 1–2, and at the other end, Woodstown was fouled and missed both shots. After a missed shot by the Dawgs, Beane got an offensive board and when senior Chase Stadler got the ball from Guveiyian, he released it from behind the arc and it floated in for a 3. Now the Dawgs were within 1, 7–8, with 5:12 left in the half. Mike Mooney got the defensive board off a missed Woodstown basket, but the Dawgs lost possession on a travel call. A hard rebound by Guveiyian was followed by Stadler’s second trey of the game, which also gave the Dawgs’ their first lead, 10–8, with 3:41 on the clock. While the Dawgs had only put 3 points on the board in the first 8 minutes, they scored 6 points in about a 90-second stretch in second quarter.

Now the Dawgs kicked up the defensive pressure another notch, forcing a timeout by the Wolverines with 3:15 on the clock. Once in play, the ball was knocked out of bounds by Haddonfield, but Woodstown didn’t score after getting the ball back. Off the missed Wolverine shot, Guveiyian picked up another board, passed it to Mooney, who went up and in, making it 12–8, Dawgs. A quick bucket at the other end by the Wolverines made it 12–10 with 2:23 on the clock.

The Dawgs didn’t score, but at the other end, Beane secured the ball and set up Guveiyian, who was fouled attempting a shot. He made 1–2 from the line. Mooney grabbed a defensive board under the Woodstown basket and fed it to Stadler. He was fouled and also made 1–2 from the line. This gave the Dawgs back their 4–point lead with 1:12 to go, which held until the half.

At the half, a familiar face came into view and sat in front of me: Matt Smart. Matt played basketball for Haddonfield, graduating in 2015, when the Dawgs went 22–7. Fellow seniors included Rob and Nick DePersia and Ty Klaus. Matt was an assistant with the Haddonfield girls for several years, and last year became the head coach of the girls team at Woodstown. He said the team is in a building period, but I have no doubt that he will get them into contention sooner as opposed to later. (I also have no doubt, although I didn’t put him on the spot and ask him, that despite his Wolverine cap and shirt, Matt was rooting for the his alma mater.)

As to the matter of the second half, the Wolverines had possession to start and got back to within 2, 12–14, off a second-chance basket. The Dawgs did not score, Beane got the defensive board, but then Haddonfield turned the ball over, losing it out of bounds. Beane got the ball back on a steal, and after some gritty hustle by the Dawgs under their own basket to pull down three, count ’em three, offensive boards, Scipione was open and took aim. His shot dropped in for 3, making it 17–12, with 6:05 left, which gave the Dawgs’ their biggest lead of the game. A pickoff by Mooney led to a non-shooting foul by Woodstown. Mooney got the ball back, took a shot that didn’t drop, got the rebound, took another shot that did not go in, got the ball back again, and proving just how determined he was to score, went up and this time, the ball went in. Now the Dawgs were up by 7, 19–12, with 5:31 on the clock.

Douglas got the defensive board under the Wolverine basket, Beane fought the Wolverines’ press and went up and in for 2, getting fouled as well. His shot from the line pushed the Dawgs lead to double digits, 22–12, with 5:23 left to play in the quarter. Woodstown would get the next two buckets to get back to within 6, 22–16, before Haddonfield’s Bucket (aka Douglas) hit a 3 off an assist from Guveiyian. Now it was 25–19 with just under 4 minutes to go.

The Wolverines practically strolled to the net under their basket, but Mooney answered with a nice drop shot, keeping it a 9-point Dawg advantage with 3 and change left. Douglas’ defensive shadowing caused a rushed Woodstown shot that did not go in, and Beane got the rebound. The Dawgs missed two shots, but after a near pickoff from good team defense, Guveiyian dived onto the floor after a loose ball, giving possession back to Haddonfield with 1:49 on the clock. The Dawgs kept passing, looking for a good opportunity to score. It came off a pass from Beane to Guveiyian, which gave the Dawgs back a double-digit, 29–18, edge with 1:10 left. He did not make the accompanying foul shot, but Beane secured the ball.

In what I think was just a bad call, Haddonfield was then charged with a backcourt violation on what was Mooney retrieving a loose ball. However, the Wolverines did not score, Mooney got the rebound, and then got fouled. He made 1–2 from the line, making it 30–18 with 15.1 seconds on the clock. Woodstown would get the last 3 points of the quarter on a basket and a foul shot, and when the buzzer sounded, the Dawgs were ahead by 9, 30–21.

The beginning of the 4th quarter had a bit of foreshadowing as to what the final 8 minutes would be like. The Dawgs inbounded, but the Wolverines stole the ball and scored. Now the Dawg lead was down to 7 with only 15 seconds having elapsed. Beane got those 2 points back on a basket but did not sink the ensuing foul shot. After the Wolverines got the rebound, the refs correctly called a backcourt violation with 7:10 to go in the game. Haddonfield did not score and then got a non-shooting foul called. Woodstown did not score, Douglas got the rebound, and then Woodstown was assessed with a foul. That did not sit well with the Woodstown coach, whose vocal reaction earned him a technical.

Although the Dawgs did not get any points off the resulting two foul shot attempts, they did retain possession of the ball. However, the Wolverines stole it and their coach called a timeout. I am not sure what happened this time to give the ball back to Haddonfield, but with 5:52 left in the game, Stadler swooshed in his third trey of the day, putting the Dawgs up by 12, 35–23. At the other end, the Wolverines answered with a 3 of their own, getting the deficit down to single digits, 26–35, at the 5:30 mark. A Woodstown steal and a basket got the Wolverines back to with 7, 28–35.

After a few slips and slides under the Woodstown basket, the refs called a timeout with 4:44 on the clock so the floor could be wiped up. It was Woodstown ball, and they worked the floor to set up a 2-point play that make it a 5-point game, 35–30, with 4:20 left. At the other end, a nice bounce pass from Scipione to Jack McKeever got it back to a 7-point advantage for the Dawgs, and after Woodstown did not score, McKeever grabbed the rebound, passed it to Scipione, who was fouled. He made 1–2, edging the lead up to 8, 38–30, with 3:04 on the clock. Woodstown was fouled under their basket and both shots from the line were good.

The Dawgs got fouled and did not make either shot at the 2:25 mark. Woodstown was fouled again, and put 1–2 in the net. Now with 2:14 remaining, it was a 5-point, 38–33, game. A jump ball call gave the Wolverines possession, but this time they did not score from the field or the line. Douglas got the rebound, and Beane got the basket, and the Dawgs were up by 7, 40–33, with 1:50 to go.

The Dawgs were called for another shooting foul, and this time, the Wolverines got both shots in the net. With 1:17 to go, it was 42–37, Dawgs. Haddonfield coach Paul Wiedeman called a timeout with 1:12 on the clock. I don’t think losing the ball out of bounds was the play Wiedeman outlined on his whiteboard in the huddle, but that’s what happened. After a missed basket by Woodstown, the teams jostled for the rebound. This time a jump ball was called and Haddonfield had the possession arrow and got the ball back with 58.5 on the clock. Another timeout was called. What took place in those last 58.5 seconds covered almost both the columns in my steno pad (where I scribble down the play-by-play action). And it was intense.

With 50.5 to go, Guveiyian was fouled (and since Woodstown had committed five fouls in the quarter, each foul sent a Dawg to the line). He made the first, missed the second, but got his own rebound. He passed the ball to Scipione, who got fouled. He made 1–2, and with 46.3 left in the game, the Dawgs were up by 7, 44–37. Time to breath a bit easier, right? That would be a hard no, as the Wolverines quickly knocked down a 3, and with 27.5 on the clock, it was a 4-point, 44–40 game.

Guveiyian inbounded the ball to Beane, who was fouled. Both his shots hit nothing but net, making it 46–40, Dawgs, with 24.7 remaining. The Wolverines headed back to the line after getting an offensive board and a foul called on Haddonfield. Both these shots cleanly dropped. Guveiyian again was the inbounder, tossing the ball to Scipione, who passed it to Beane, who was fouled. Beane went 1–2 with 13.6 on the clock making it a 5-point, 47–42, game.

At the other end, the Dawgs got called for a foul off a 3-point shot attempt, which meant the Wolverines would have 3 chances at the line. Two of three went in, and with 6.3 left in the game, it was now a one-possession, 47–44, deficit for the Wolverines. One more time, Guveiyian got the ball inbounded. Woodstown quickly fouled. Neither of Haddonfield’s foul shots went in, and that meant the Wolverines were going to have 4.7 seconds to attempt a 3-point shot that could tie the game and sent it into overtime.

Ryan Guveiyian made sure that did not happen. Off the Woodstown inbounds, he got the receiving player too close to the sidelines, who lost the ball out of bounds. Guveiyian was fouled on the Haddonfield inbounds. He stepped to the line with 1.2 second left and made both shots. Haddonfield was now up by 5, 49–44. Before the buzzer sounded, the game was over. The Dawgs had prevailed, but the Wolverines did not make it easy for them by any stretch, outscoring the Dawgs in the final 8 minutes by 4, 23–19.

Chris Beane and Chase Stadler led the Dawgs’ offense, low-scoring as it was, with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Beane’s contributions came in the second half, when he managed to drive into the net for four field goals.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 3, Woodstown, 8

2nd: Haddonfield, 11, Woodstown, 2

Half: Haddonfield, 14, Woodstown, 10

3rd: Haddonfield, 16, Woodstown, 11

4th: Haddonfield, 19, Woodstown, 23

Final: Haddonfield, 49, Woodstown, 44

Player scores:

Chris Beane: 12

Chase Stadler: 10

Mike Mooney: 7

Ryan Guveiyian: 7

Michael Douglas: 6

John Scipione: 5

Jack McKeever: 2

The Dawgs finished the regular season with a 21–3 record. Next up is the Camden County tournament, which saw the preliminary round take place on 2/14. The Dawgs have the fifth seed (having received a bye for the prelim round) and host the 10th seed, Mastery Camden, with a 14–10 record, on Tuesday, 2/17, during round 1. Game time is 5:30. The winner of this game will face the winner of tomorrow’s Camden Catholic (#4)–Haddon Heights (#13) contest. Round 2 for all teams will take place on Thursday, 2/19, with semifinals on Saturday, 2/21 and finals the next day, 2/22, at Rutgers Camden. That match will be at 4:00, followed by the girls championship game at 6. (In case you were wondering, the Haddonfield girls are not playing in the Camden County tournament, although they do have games lined up this coming week.)

Looking ahead to the NJSIAA state playoffs, while the official seedings have not been announced yet (they are expected Tuesday), Haddonfield (whoop, whoop!) is projected to be the #1 seed in South Jersey Group 2, just coming in ahead of Camden in Power Point scores (by less than a point, at .679). Although Camden has a 12–9 record, the Panthers have played a very tough schedule, going up against teams in and out of New Jersey. Lower Cape May (20–5), Middle Township (14–9), and Gloucester (19–4) round out the top five seeds. As long as Haddonfield keeps advancing in the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs, they will retain home court advantage.

LET’S GO DAWGS!!!!

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!

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today

Week of January 27:

It was an exciting (sometimes too exciting, right Leigh-Anne Guveiyian??) week for the Dawgs, who played a trio of games, two Colonial Conference matchups and one nonleague. All were noteworthy for different reasons.

First, on Tuesday, 1/27, the Dawgs hosted their fellow Liberty division foes, the Eagles of West Deptford. It was Senior Night and HYBA (Haddonfield Youth Basketball Association) Night. Usually, the gym is filled to the brim with young kids who are part of the HYBA, but I suspect the very frigid weather and the fact that many people were still digging (chipping, to be more accurate) out their cars and driveways kept the attendance down. I, in fact, was saved from watching the festivities on HUDL because my travel buddy was able to give me a lift.

On Senior Night, it’s not just the graduating players who are honored. Also recognized and appreciated are the members of cheer squad and the basketball managers who will be moving on in June. From eight seniors in 2024 to one lone senior in 2025, this year, there are six senior Dawgs: Chris Beane, Michael Douglas, Mike Mooney, Jack McKeever, John Scipione, and Chase Stadler. See separate report, dated today, on these engaging young men. If you go to games in person, you can pick up the basketball yearbook, which has lots of photos of the girls and boys teams (varsity, JV, and freshmen) and the cheer squad, along with comments from the head coaches and ads from local businesses (food establishments, medical services, and real estate agencies lead the pack) and proud family members. Proceeds (the programs are $5) go to the teams’ booster clubs.

The game itself wasn’t too climatic. Thanks in part to a pair of treys by Stadler and Douglas, the Dawgs were already ahead of the Eagles by 13 points, 21–8, after the first quarter. In the second quarter, Beane and junior Ryan Guveiyian led the offensive charge, so by the half, Haddonfield had more than doubled West Deptford’s efforts and was up 41–18.

The last 16 minutes were more of the same. The Dawgs’ stifling defense held the Eagles to 6 points in the 3rd and 7 points in the 4th. The final quarter proved to be the biggest scoring output for the Dawgs, who swooshed in 22 points, with 7 points coming off the bench. When the horn sounded (and it sounded faster than usual, as the “running clock” kicked in early in the 4th), the Dawgs had beaten the Eagles by 47, 78–31.

Michael Douglas and Chris Beane were high scorers, with 22 and 18 points, respectively. Chase Stadler finished with 11 and Ryan Guveiyian added 10. Douglas and Stadler each hit three treys.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 21, West Deptford, 8

2nd: Haddonfield, 20, West Deptford, 10

Half: Haddonfield, 41, West Deptford, 18

3rd: Haddonfield, 15, West Deptford, 6

4th: Haddonfield, 22, West Deptford, 7

Final: Haddonfield, 78, West Deptford, 31

Player Scores:

Michael Douglas: 22

Chris Beane: 18

Chase Stadler: 11

Ryan Guveiyian: 10

JP Crawford: 5

Mike Mooney: 4

John Scipione: 2

Jack McKeever: 2

Ethan Miller: 2

Ozzie Barnes: 2

Two nights later, the Silver Knights of Sterling rode into town. These games are usually pretty high octane, but this year, there was another dimension: weirdness. To refresh your memories, when the Dawgs went to Sterling in early January, the Dawgs led at half by 5. In the third, the Knights came charging back and were up by as much as 8. Just as suddenly, or so it seemed, the Dawgs got their mojo back and when the third ended, had regained the lead, albeit by just 2 points. And in the final 8 minutes, the Dawgs poured 21 points into the net, holding the Knights to single digits (9) and won by 14, 61–47. I think I called it “whiplash.”

So, what would the rematch of the Liberty rivals hold? More weirdness. In my decades of attending games, I had not seen this happen before, but happen it did. After the buzzer sounded ahead of the game and both teams had walked off the court to their respective benches, the two refs headed over to where Jeff Holman runs the scoreboard and Mark Hershberger does the play-by-play. The refs leaned in and had quite a discussion with Holman and I suspected it wasn’t about the upcoming boys tennis season. Although who it was on was not specified, a technical foul was called on a member of the Haddonfield squad. (The Haddonfield scoreboard has a spot for a player’s number to be shown when a foul is committed. It also shows how many fouls the player has been assessed. No player number appeared.) I never got the inside scoop as to what exactly occurred, but everyone sitting near me agreed it must have been something that was said, as no one saw anything of a physical nature take place.

What all this meant was that instead of the usual midcourt jump ball, a lone Knight stepped up to the foul line and made both shots. That put Sterling up 2–0 before the game started. When the game actually began with all 10 players on the court, the Knights also got possession of the ball, which is the norm after a technical foul. Good “D” along the sidelines forced a turnover, and Ryan Guveiyian was fouled trying to score. He made 1 of 2 from the line, on its possession, Sterling did the same, and then during the Dawgs’ next trip up the court, Guveiyian went up and in, tying the game at 3 with 6:13 on the clock.

The next point of the game also came from the foul line and also from Guveiyian. He put the Dawgs up by 1, 4–3, but Sterling got that 1-point lead back on a 2-pointer. John Scipione scored for the Dawgs to make it 6–5, Haddonfield, but Sterling did the same to go back up by 1, 7–6, with 4:46 left in the period. Guveiyian got a steal, the Dawgs did not score, but this time Scipione plucked the ball away and passed it to Chris Beane, who drove in the lane, scored, and was fouled. His shot from the line with 3:42 on the clock gave the Dawgs a 2-point, 9–7, edge.

After the Knights did not score, Guveiyian was fouled for the third time and both shots were good from the line, pushing the Dawgs’ advantage to 4, 11–7, with just under 3 minutes to go. That would be the Dawgs’ last points of the first, as Sterling scored 5 straight to take a 1-point, 12–11, lead into the second.

The next 8 minutes were not very pretty for Haddonfield. It wasn’t that Sterling went on scoring frenzy, as the Knights only put 8 on the board. It was that they held the Dawgs to one basket, which came off the opening inbound, by Douglas, which put the Dawgs up 13–12. Neither team scored for about 90 seconds, then Sterling went ahead again, 14–13, at the 6:02 mark. A foul shot by Jack McKeever tied it at 14 with 4:35 remaining in the half. After that foul shot, as they had done in the 1st quarter, Sterling closed out the 2nd on a run, this time putting 6 on the board. When the teams left the court at the half, the Dawgs were trailing by 6, 14–20. And it wasn’t that anyone was making bad shots. The majority of the layups looked good from a mechanical point of view, they just weren’t getting the roll into the net. Dawg fans were hoping that wouldn’t remain the case in the second half.

Sterling had the opening inbound to start the 3rd. Neither team scored the first few trips up and down the court, but with 5:57 on the clock, Scipione knocked down a 3, closing the Dawgs’ gap to 3, 17–20. After Sterling’s shot missed, Guveiyian pulled down the board, and Douglas got his team to within 2, 19–20 with 5:33 on the clock. After an out-of-bounds was called on Haddonfield and overruled (to the delight of the Dawgs’ fans, who had not been happy with several of the refs’ calls thus far), the Dawgs didn’t score, but Douglas secured an offensive board. This time, Mike Mooney drove into the paint, and the Dawgs finally were ahead again, 21–20, with 4:53 on the clock.

Chris Beane pulled down a defensive board under the Sterling basket, and Mooney went up and in once more, this time off a dish from Scipione. Mooney nearly stole the ball, and a few seconds later, Douglas did, and his basket off his offensive rebound put the Dawgs in front 26–20, with just under 4 minutes gone in the 3rd. That meant that within a span of 4 minutes, the Dawgs had gone from trailing by 6 to being up by 6. Sterling would score the next 5 points, with a 3 getting them to within 1, 26–25, at the 2:02 mark, and then a few plays later after Mooney picked off the ball and scored, two Sterling foul shots got them to within 2 once more, 27–25. However, that would be as close as the Knights would get the rest of the night. The Dawgs finished off the quarter on a 6–0 run and were up by 7, 34–27, as the 4th began.

The 4th quarter was all Haddonfield. Defensively, the Dawgs kept the Knights at bay, holding them to 7 points, as they had done the previous 8 minutes. At the same time, the Dawgs had their best 8 minutes of the game offensively, putting 23 on the board. When the buzzer sounded, the Dawgs had turned a 6-point deficit at halftime to a resounding 23-point comeback, winning by a score of 57–34. Michael Douglas led Haddonfield with 16, and Chris Beane had 10.

Notably, the victory over Sterling clinched the Liberty title for the Dawgs. It is the fourth straight year the Dawgs have won the Liberty division outright.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 11, Sterling, 12

2nd: Haddonfield, 3, Sterling, 8

Half: Haddonfield, 14, Sterling, 20

3rd: Haddonfield, 20, Sterling, 7

4th: Haddonfield, 23, Sterling, 7

Final: Haddonfield, 57, Sterling, 34

Player Scores:

Michael Douglas: 15

Chris Beane: 10

Ryan Guveiyian: 9

Mike Mooney: 8

John Scipione: 8

Jack McKeever: 3

Ethan Miller: 2

Jack Sporer: 2

I had to miss the Jeff Coney Classic matchup with at Rancocas Valley Regional High School on Saturday, Jan. 31 due to a family celebration. (My little great nieces Ana and Gwen are turning 4 officially on 2/2, and I had fun with them, even when they were pelting me with little stuffed rainbow unicorns.) Thus, I didn’t see the matchup between the Dawgs and St. Augustine. It wasn’t being streamed on HUDL either. As a result, I had to rely on my travel buddy (aka MTB). I had gotten it in my head that the game was starting at 5:30, so when I texted MTB for what I thought was an update, the game had already ended.

Here’s what I got to begin with: “52–51, we won on a Douglas 3 at the buzzer!!”

When I asked if it had been close the whole game, I was told, “We were up by 13 in the 2nd quarter, then Douglas got 3 fouls. They went up in the last minute … UGH. Beane fouled out [a very rare occurrence, I want to point out here], and the kid [the St. Augustine player] made 1 of 2 foul shots, setting up Douglas’s heroics.”

And then I got this longer text. As you will read, MTB really outdid the wrap from NJ.com, giving this summary: “Things looked so bleak, watching our lead dwindle away and then St. Augustine taking the lead and Beane fouling out. Douglas thought we were going to call a timeout out but [Coach Wiedeman] tapped his head, meaning for Mike to just keep going. [I am interjecting here that if you see the last seconds of the game, as I did from Leigh-Anne Guveiyian’s Facebook post, you can see Douglas tapping his head as well to spread the message to his teammates.] McKeever set a pick at the top of the key and Mike pulled up for a wide open 3 … Splash!!!”

And that’s how the Dawgs held on to win their third game of the week by 1 point!

While the write-up on NJ.com lacked all the details MTB was able to provide, I did get the quarter scores and player scores, which are as follows:

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 17, St. Augustine, 13

2nd: Haddonfield, 13, St. Augustine, 9

Half: Haddonfield, 30, St. Augustine, 22

3rd: Haddonfield, 15, St. Augustine, 16

4th: Haddonfield, 7, St. Augustine, 13

Final: Haddonfield, 52, St. Augustine, 51

Player Scores:

Chris Beane: 18

Michael Douglas: 12

Ryan Guveiyian: 10

John Scipione: 8

Jack McKeever: 4

Haddonfield now has a record 16–3, is 11–0 in the Colonial overall, and 7–0 in the Liberty division. This week, Gloucester City comes to town on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 7. Then the Dawgs have an early (4:00) away game at Woodbury two nights later. The week finishes up on Saturday, 2/7, when the Dawgs host Timber Creek in a nonconference contest at 1 p.m.

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today

While I saw all three of the Haddonfield boys basketball games this past week, I only attended one in person—the matchup versus the Hawks at Haddon Township. And, as it turns out, that was the one to be in the stands for. It was also the middle game of the week, and the one I’m going to focus on the most. But, first I will highlight the Colonial Liberty game at Paulsboro on 1/20 and the nonleague game at Holy Spirit on 1/24.

The Dawgs gave the Red Raiders a tough time when they came to town on Dec. 18, beating them handily 69–45. Now it was time to play on the Raiders’ turf. The first quarter was pretty even. Although the Dawgs jumped out to a 5–0 start on two field goals and a foul shot by senior Chris Beane, the Raiders answered with a 3 and two foul shots of their own to even it at 5 with about 5 minutes on the clock. Beane scored two more times before Paulsboro got 2 back from the foul line. Every time Paulsboro started getting close to tying it, the Dawgs (and unless otherwise noted, when I say “the Dawgs” I mean Beane) would score.

With 2:30 on the clock, Paulsboro hit its second 3 of the quarter, making it 14–12, Haddonfield. That’s when someone other than the very hot Beane got the ball in the net. Senior Michael Douglas’ field gold made it 16–12 before a steal and a bucket by, you guessed it, Beane, upped the advantage to 18–12 with 2 and change left in the 1st. The Raiders then scored 6 unanswered points, four from the line and then a field goal, to knot it at 18 with 16 seconds left. Just ahead of the buzzer, Beane swooshed in his second trey of the game, putting the Dawgs back on top 21–18. (That 3 meant that Beane himself outscored Paulsboro by 1, 19–18.)

That 3-point deficit was as close as the Red Raiders would get the rest of the night. In the second, other Dawgs picked up the scoring, as the team put 17 more on the board. At the half, Haddonfield was ahead by 9, 38–29. After 3, the lead had expanded to double digits, 57–43, and when the final horn sounded, the Dawgs had beaten the Raiders by 20, 72–52.

Not only did the Raiders have a rough night, so did the scoreboard operator toward the end of the game. A little more than halfway through the 4th, as I was keeping an eye on the small shot of the scoreboard that appears in the bottom left corner of HUDL streams, I suddenly realized what I had as the Dawgs’ points and what it had were not the same. “What did I miss?” I said to myself and rewound the feed. I must have done that six times and still couldn’t figure out how Haddonfield had gotten extra points. Finally, I stopped rewinding and started watching the now not live feed. It turns out that within a 40-second span of play, the points changed three times before reverting to what I had had originally in my book. So maybe it was a good thing I wasn’t at the game myself, as I may have charged the scorer’s table!

As for the players scoring, on-fire Beane reached double digits in each half, finishing with 33 points. Douglas added 14 and junior Ryan Guveiyian put up 10.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 21, Paulsboro, 18

2nd: Haddonfield, 17, Paulsboro, 11

Half: Haddonfield, 38, Paulsboro, 29

3rd: Haddonfield, 19, Paulsboro, 14

4th: Haddonfield, 15, Paulsboro, 9

Final: Haddonfield, 72, Paulsboro, 52

Player Scores:

Chris Beane: 33

Michael Douglas: 14

Ryan Guveiyian: 10

Ethan Miller: 5

Mike Mooney: 4

Jack McKeever: 4

John Scipione: 2

Saturday, the Dawgs traveled down to Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, which is about an hour’s drive. It was another noon game, and this time I was sitting in front of my computer screen again instead of on a hard bench, hoping there would be a better outcome than the previous Saturday noon game versus Kingsway Regional at Paul Vi.

In my opinion, out of all the games I’ve seen so far this season, the Dawgs and the Spartans seemed pretty evenly matched. Both teams could do pressure defense. Both had good ball handlers. Both could drive to the basket and make outside shots. In the first quarter, after the Dawgs got a quick 2 off a steal from (who else?) Chris Beane, the Spartans tied it a few plays later. Ryan Guveiyian got fouled going up and in and made 1–2 from the line, putting the Dawgs up by 1, 3–2. After another basket by the Spartans flipped the lead to Holy Spirit, Guveiyian went up and in and this time the ball found the net. He was also fouled again and made his shot, so with 3:45 on the clock, the Dawgs were back up by 2, 6–4, but only briefly.

As quickly as Holy Spirit tied it at 6, Beane put the Dawgs back on top by 2, 8–6. However, the Spartans scored the next 4 points, two from the line and 2 from the field, putting them up by 2, 10–8, when the 1st quarter ended.

To start the second quarter, the Spartans would rattle off 7 straight points on a pair of 2’s and a trey, putting them up by 9, 17–8. At this point, I confess, I was starting to wonder if this was going to turn into another bad Saturday loss for the Dawgs, especially after their intense and physical game on Thursday. Beane, however, scored 4 straight, 2 from the line and then off a drive, closing the gap to 5, 12–17. A basket by the Spartans made it a 7-point advantage with 5:15 on the clock. (I will add that I had a very hard time reading the clock on this HUDL feed, which showed up in red against a red background, so I often had to make a guess when I was scribbling down the play-by-play action.)

After the Spartans missed both shots from the foul line, senior Chase Stadler hit both of his, getting the Dawgs back to within 5, 14–19. Holy Spirit had to call a timeout because they couldn’t inbound the ball and then missed their next scoring attempt. Beane pulled down the defensive board and Guveiyian drove hard in the paint for 2. Now it was 16–19. Beane almost stole the ball, but the Spartans committed a foul, so it was the same result: Dawg ball. Beane dished it to Guveiyian, and this basket put the Dawgs within 1, 18–19, with (I think) 2:55 left in the half.

The Dawgs would go back in front, 21–19, on a 3 from Stadler. He would send a pretty jumper into the net on Haddonfield’s next possession. Meanwhile, the Spartans, who had gone cold after going up 19–12 in the middle of the quarter, still couldn’t score. When the halftime buzzer sounded, Haddonfield had gone from being down as much as 9 to being up by 4, 23–19.

In the 3rd quarter, the Dawgs outscored the Spartans 12–6 and were ahead by 10, 35–25, going into the last 8 minutes of play. The Spartans got to within 6, 35–20, getting the first 4 points on a foul shot and a 3, but that was as close as it got. While the Dawgs got those 4 points back, this would be the lowest-scoring quarter for both sides, as each only added 5 to their tally. When the horn sounded, the Dawgs had maintained that 10-point edge and won by a score of 40­–30.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 8, Holy Spirit, ­10

2nd: Haddonfield, 15, Holy Spirit, ­9

Half: Haddonfield, 23, Holy Spirit, ­19

3rd: Haddonfield, 12, Holy Spirit, ­6

4th: Haddonfield, 5, Holy Spirit, ­5

Final: Haddonfield, 40, Holy Spirit, ­30

Player Scores:

Chase Stadler: 9

Chris Beane: 8

Ryan Guveiyian: 8

Michael Douglas: 7

John Scipione: 4

Mike Mooney: 2

Jack McKeever: 2

So, that covers the Dawgs’ first and third games of the week, leaving the Thursday, Jan. 22 game at Haddon Township. The past two seasons, the Dawgs and the Hawks have been in different Colonial divisions, the Patriot and Liberty, respectively. That means the two teams only go up against each other once during the regular season. Last year, you may—unpleasantly—recall that the Hawks upended the Dawgs at home, upsetting them by 4, 49–45. Now, a day shy of 1 year later, the Dawgs were hoping to ruffle some feathers at the Hawks’ nest.

Haddonfield won the tipoff, but despite a nice drive, did not score. Haddon Township got fouled in the act of shooting and made both foul shots to take the early, 2–0 lead with less than a minute having ticked off the clock. The Dawgs kept missing shots but getting the offensive board their next possession, and one paid off as Michael Douglas drove in for a layup, tying the game at the 5:31 mark.

Neither team scored on the next few trips up and down the court, but thanks to a pilfered ball, Douglas went cross court to score another bucket to put the Dawgs up 4–2 with 3:48 on the clock. The Hawks tied it a play later and also got fouled, but did not make the shot from the line, keeping it 4 all. Mike Mooney pulled down two offensive boards, the second one resulting in a basket by Mooney off a feed by Ryan Guveiyian, putting the Dawgs back up by 2, 6–4. The Hawks didn’t score, the Dawgs didn’t convert from the foul line, the Hawks retook the lead 6–7 off a trey with just under 2 on the clock.

Guveiyian got another assist under the Dawgs basket, this time setting up John Scipione for 2. Scipione was fouled in the process and his basket off the line pushed the Dawgs back in front 9–7 with 1:28 to go. Guveiyian and Douglas’ tough “D” led to a pickoff and a Guveiyian field goal, but the Hawks answered with their own 2, with about 42 seconds left. The last bucket of the quarter came off a feed to Jack McKeever from Douglas and as the horn sounded, the Dawgs were up by 4, 13–9.

In the second 8 minutes, helped by a trio of treys by the “Mikes”—one by Mooney and two by Douglas—the Dawgs put up 13 points to the Hawks’ 7 and took a 10-point, 26–16 lead into the locker room. In the third quarter, the Hawks actually outscored the Dawgs by 1, but going into the final 8 minutes, Haddonfield was still ahead by 9, 37–28.

Because I still have half a driveway to shovel (I’m sure if I lived in Haddonfield instead of Voorhees, I’d have plenty of Dawg players coming round and offering to do this for me for free, right guys??) I am going to cut to the last part of the 4th when things really got dicey for the Dawgs. With 3:10 left on the clock after a nice pass from Guveiyian to McKeever, the Dawgs were up by 9, 41–32. On their next possession, the Hawks hit a 3, cutting the Dawgs’ lead to 6, 41–35, with 2:54 left in regulation.

More than a minute went by before the Hawks got a 2 to get to within 4, 41–37. Douglas drove in the lane for 2, to the relief of the Dawgs’ fans, putting Haddonfield back up by 6, 43–37, with 1:26 on the clock. After another 3 by the Hawks, it was suddenly a one-possession, 43–40, game with 1:14 to go in the quarter. The Dawgs got to the foul line but came up empty at the 47.3 mark. Then the Hawks swooshed in another 3. The game was now tied at 43 with 27 seconds on the clock.

Haddonfield fans were now more than a bit nervous. However, the young man behind me, who I had been having running conversation with for the second half (he is a ref himself, and I think comes to games to observe and learn and to be supportive of the people in black stripes) had been hoping for OT. As neither team could get that final basket to secure the W, he got his wish.

Overtime puts 4 minutes back on the clock and starts with a jump ball. Douglas went up as the ball was tossed and succeeded in tipping the ball to Scipione. Scipione passed it back, and Douglas put the ball in the net to give the Dawgs that important first score of OT.

Haddon Township got called for a travel (the player slipped on the court), but Haddonfield could not take advantage of getting the ball back and did not score. On its next trip down the court, the Hawks did, and with 2:18 on the clock. Douglas responded with another basket, and again the Dawgs went up by 2, 47–45, with 1:24 on the clock. After Haddonfield knocked the ball out of bounds, Haddon Township could not get an open pass to put the ball inbounds and had to call a timeout. That worked and not only did their next attempt to put the ball in play succeed, it also resulted in the field goal that knotted the game at 49 all with—whoops, I did not mark down the time here. Not only that, the next thing I wrote down is illegible—and that’s saying a lot for me, as my handwriting is bad to begin with

What happened next, though, was that with 7.9 on the clock, Douglas drove in for what looked like a basket. Except he was called for an offensive foul, so no points went up on the board. I thought I showed great restraint when “junior ref” yelled “good call, good call,” as I refrained from turning around and whacking him with my scorebook. A lot happened in those last 7.9 seconds, but what didn’t was a score. So, yup, the Dawgs and the Hawks were heading into double OT.

Speaking of my scorebook, while it has a column for OT, it does not have one for double OT, so I had to improvise a bit. Meanwhile, as he prepared to do his third jump ball of the game, I thought Douglas exhibited great sportsmanship by smiling at the ref who was getting ready to once more toss the ball in the air. Douglas again got the ball into the hands of Scipione. And then Mooney, who had been showing signs of either leg cramps or the after-effects of going down hard on the court late in the game, leapt up, got the offensive board, and scored.

That put the Dawgs up by 12, 49–47, with only 6 seconds gone, and in the next 2:54, it was all Dawgs. Douglas made a foul shot, Guveiyian went up and in off a pass from Scipione, Beane sunk two from the foul line, and then so did Douglas. And in between, the Hawks just couldn’t find the net. When the final horn blew, 8 minutes later than it would normally have, the Dawgs had won by 9, 56–47. Ironically, it was almost like the last 16 minutes never happened, since the Dawgs went into the 4th up by 9.

I was really proud of the boys for hanging in and winning. When they gave up the lead in the 4th, it felt like the momentum had switched to the Hawks, but the Dawgs toughed it out. Michael Douglas, who accounted for 7 of the Dawgs’ 13 OT points, finished with 22 and looked as wrung out as I have ever seen him. But he was smiling—make that grinning—despite how exhausted he must have felt. No one else reached double digits for the Dawgs, but Mike Mooney had 9; Jack McKeever, who, if I haven’t mentioned it before, plays really tough D, especially under the opposing teams’ basket, had 8. Chris Beane and Ryan Guveiyian each had 6. It was really a huge team effort.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 13, Haddon Township, 9

2nd: Haddonfield, 13, Haddon Township, 7

Half: Haddonfield, 26 Haddon Township, 16

3rd: Haddonfield, 11, Haddon Township, 12

4th: Haddonfield, 6, Haddon Township, 15

1st OT: Haddonfield, 4, Haddon Township, 4

2nd OT: Haddonfield, 9, Haddon Township, 0

Final: Haddonfield, 56, Haddon Township, 47

Player Scores:

Michael Douglas: 22

Mike Mooney: 9

Jack McKeever: 8

Chris Beane: 6

Ryan Guveiyian 6

John Scipione: 3

Ethan Miller: 2

The Dawgs are now 13–3 overall, undefeated at 9­–0 in Colonial Conference play, with a 6–0 record in the Liberty division. Weather permitting, it will be Senior Night at Haddonfield on Tuesday, 1/ 27 as the Dawgs host West Deptford. Next, also at home, the Silver Knights of Sterling come in on Thursday, 1/29. Both games are at 7. The week finishes with the Dawgs participating in the Jeff Coney Classic on Saturday, 1/31. They go up against St. Augustine Prep with the game scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m.

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today

The Haddonfield Boys Basketball team played three games this past week: two at home against Collingswood and Haddon Heights and one against Kingsway Regional at Paul VI during the school’s annual Showcase tournament. Scoring was key in all three; and in one, I witnessed something I have never seen since I started going to games in the late 1960s and early ’70s … And neither has a player who was on one of those 1970s’ teams …

Ahead of Haddonfield hosting Collingswood on January 13, I checked the Colonial Conference standings and was truly shocked to see the Panthers were going up against the Dawgs with a winless record: 0–11. Were they, I wondered, really that bad??

Well, after the first 8 minutes when all five Haddonfield starters had combined to put 29 points on the board to Collingswood’s 7, it did appear that this year’s squad is lacking some of the fundamentals that made Panther teams of the past tough to play, especially on their own turf. Senior Dawg Chris Beane led the attack, putting up 11 points on his own, with senior Michael Douglas notching 8 and Ryan Guveiyian, John Scipione, and Mike Mooney accounting for 10.

By the second quarter, Haddonfield head coach Paul Wiedeman was already letting his starters watch from the sidelines either for part or all of those 8 minutes. And there were more passes between shots. Hence, the Dawgs only added 10 points to their tally, while the Panthers again put up 7, so going into the half, the Dawgs had a 25-point, 39–14, lead.

In the third quarter, I discovered a new rule has been put into effect this season by the NJSIAA for all schools. It’s called the “running clock,” i.e., the “mercy” rule, and it means that in the second half of a game, if one team gets ahead by 35 points, the game clock keeps running except for timeouts called by the coaches. At some “point” in the quarter, I heard our announcer Mark Hershberger saying “running clock,” and when I looked at the scoreboard, I saw that despite the ball not being in play, the clock was still ticking down. At first I thought Hershberger was alerting the refs that the scoreboard was malfunctioning, but then it hit me that this was happening on purpose. I thought it began at the point when a bucket by Mooney off a feed from Guveiyian, who got it from Beane, made it 46–15 with about 6:29 to go in the quarter. However, when checking in with Coach Wiedeman the next day, he explained that the running clock is activated when one team goes up by 35 points, which didn’t occur until the 5:10 mark when Guveiyian went up and in. Wiedeman also told me, “The only time the clock stops is during time outs or if a player is injured. The clock will resume back to normal if the game becomes tied again.”

No one I asked about the new rule, including Wiedeman, is a fan. My assumption is that it was deemed necessary to keep a team that is much better than its opponent from running up the score. (In investigating this a bit more, I learned that some conferences in the state, including the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Conference, had already been enacting the rule. Jeff Holman, in fact, who is our scoreboard operator extraordinaire, is really opposed to it. Not only does he constantly have to remind himself not to stop the clock, he has this lament: “I imagine that people in the crowd who do not know the new rule feel the clock operator is incompetent.” That’s actually a valid concern. A few times when I was sick over the Christmas break and watching from home, I thought I saw the clock in motion when play had stopped, and since Holman was not running the scoreboard, I assumed it was the substitute’s sticky fingers. Not that the NJSIAA asked for it,  but here is my 2 cents’ worth: I am not convinced running the clock is any better than a team losing by 50 points. (And ,in fact, even with the running clock employed versus Collingswood, Haddonfield still won by 62. points) First, as a few people pointed out, a nonstop clock makes it pretty much impossible for the team that’s behind to catch up. But IMHO, it’s also telling them, “You’re playing so badly, we want this game to end as quickly as possible.” How is that sending a better message?

But, I digress. To get back to the game itself, the Panthers only got one 2-point basket, which came less than a minute (clock still running normally) into the third quarter. The other 26 points came off of Dawg output. Beane, Douglas, and Guveiyian scored 9, 8, and 7, respectively—or all but 2—of those 26 points. In the final 8 minutes, 6 Dawgs, led by a pair of treys by senior sharpshooter Chase Stadler, put 19 more points on the board. And, as mentioned already, when the clock finally stopped for good, the Dawgs had devoured the Panthers 84–22.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 29, Collingswood, 7

2nd: Haddonfield, 10, Collingswood, 7

Half: Haddonfield, 39, Collingswood, 14

3rd: Haddonfield, 26, Collingswood, 2

4th: Haddonfield, 19, Collingswood, 6

Final: Haddonfield, 84, Collingswood, 22

Player Scores:

Chris Beane: 23

Michael Douglas: 18

Ryan Guveiyian: 11

Ethan Miller: 8

Chase Stadler: 6

Mike Mooney: 4

John Scipione: 4

JP Crawford: 2

Jack Sporer: 2

Reece Rhea: 2

Two days later on January 15, the Dawgs hosted the Garnets of Haddon Heights, and I also checked the Garnets’ record ahead of gametime. The Garnets were 2–2 in the Liberty division of the Colonial Conference and 6–4 overall. And for a while, it seemed as if the Heights-Haddonfield matchup would be a bit more of a contest.

In fact, when the HUDL stream kicked in a few minutes late (full confession: Since I knew I could watch the stream live, I opted to do so instead of going out to what was going to feel like, thanks to the windchill, 10° at 6 p.m.), the Dawgs were down 2–3 with 6:39 on the clock. (I found out later from Hershberger that Chris Beane got the Dawgs’ first basket). John Scipione’s 2 would give the Dawgs a 1-point, 4–3, lead a few plays later, but after Heights didn’t score, the Garnets got the ball back on a travel call. This time, the ball went in the net, and the Garnets went back on top 5–4 with 5:15 on the clock. And so it went. Beane’s 2 made it 6–5, Dawgs. Heights’ 2 flipped the Dawgs’ 1-point advantage to a 1-point, 6–7, deficit. A drive by Michael Douglas made it 8–7, Dawgs, but a shot from behind the arc put Heights up by 2, 10–8, with 1:32 left in the quarter. Ryan Guveiyian tied it at 10, and that was the last score of the quarter, meaning that the next 8 minutes would start with the teams knotted at 10 apiece.

Guveiyian picked up where he left off, and his 2 off the inbound put the Dawgs up 12–10. A few plays later, Douglas stole the ball and went cross-court, giving the Dawgs a 4-point, 14–10, lead. After the Garnets got a 2, the Dawgs’ next 2 points came off foul shots, one by Douglas and one by senior Jack McKeever. However, the Dawgs got two more field goals, one by Guveiyian and one by McKeever, with McKeever getting fouled and sinking the shot from the line. That pushed the Dawgs’ lead to 21–12 with about 4 minutes left in the half.

After the Garnets’ mini-drought ended with a 2, the Dawgs didn’t score but got the ball back on a steal and McKeever got his second bucket in a row, making it 23–14, Haddonfield. The two teams then traded a pair of foul shots, the Dawg shots coming from Douglas, and with 2:30 on the clock, the Dawgs were up by 9, 25–16. The Dawgs got the last 6 points of the half on 2-pointers by Scipione, Mike Mooney, and McKeever. When the teams left the court, the Garnets were now trailing by 15, 31–16.

That lead expanded quite a bit in the third. The Dawgs’ defense held the Garnets to single digits—9 points—with Beane, Mooney, and McKeevers each putting in 6 for the Dawgs to combine for 18 of their 20 points. Going into the 4th, the Dawgs had doubled the Garnets’ score and were ahead by 26, 51–25. The 4th was the only quarter that Heights put more points on the board, 19 to Haddonfield’s 14, but by then, it didn’t matter. The Dawgs still beat the Garnets by 21, 65–44.

Thanks to his 8 4th quarter points, Ryan Guveiyian, who also pulled down eight rebounds, finished with 16 points. Chris Beane and Jack McKeever each had 12.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 10, Haddon Heights, 10

2nd: Haddonfield,21,  Haddon Heights, 6

Half: Haddonfield 31, Haddon Heights, 16

3rd: Haddonfield, 20, Haddon Heights, 9

4th Haddonfield, 14, Haddon Heights, 19

Final: Haddonfield, 65, Haddon Heights, 44

Player Scores:
Ryan Guveiyian: 16

Chris Beane: 12

Jack McKeever: 12

Michael Douglas: 9

Mike Mooney: 8

John Scipione: 4

Ethan Miller: 2

Jack Sporer: 2

The last game of the week took place at Paul VI during the annual Showcase. Haddonfield went up against the Dragons of Kingsway Regional High School. In the each of the first two quarters, the Dawgs scored one field goal. And no, that’s not a typo. Both of them were by Chris Beane. In all the years I have been going to games, I have never seen a Haddonfield team held to 4 points in 16 minutes. Maybe a quarter. But never for an entire half. I talked about the game later in the day with Gary Vermaat, who played on the pre-Dave Wiedeman teams, graduating in 1971. He also cannot recall Haddonfield being held to 4 points for two quarters.

From start to finish, the Dawg defense was sharp, causing many turnovers, often along sidelines or under the basket. But the shots that were taken in the first have kept missing, some very badly. Even layups were falling way short of the rim. It was hard to watch. Haddonfield teams are notorious for not being at full throttle when a game starts in the morning or, as this one did, at noon. But this went beyond the players being a little on the slow side offensively. This was flat-out ugly. When they exited the court at halftime, the Dawgs were down by 22, 4­–26, and I was wondering if the “running clock” rule might have to be implemented against us.

However, while the Dawgs were unable to overcome that 22-point deficit, they did hold the Dragons to 23 points and found their shots, putting up 33 points and winning the second half, if not the game. To me, this was its own victory, because it emphasizes that no matter what, Haddonfield basketball teams do not give up or let up. Even when they are ahead by 20 instead of trailing by 20, they play hard. To go from netting 4 points in the first half to 33 in the second (I’m a journalist for a reason, so I asked Google for an assist, and was informed that represents a 725%  increase) is no small feat. They could have just gone through the motions and accepted the outcome. But they pushed and pressed and kept at it until the final seconds. So for that, I applaud them, Wiedeman, and his coaching staff. And moving forward, I suspect this game will serve up several lessons to the players and coaches as well.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 2, Kingsway Regional, 12

2nd: Haddonfield, 2, Kingsway Regional, 14

Half: Haddonfield, 4, Kingsway Regional, 26

3rd: Haddonfield, 16, Kingsway Regional, 11

4th: Haddonfield, 17, Kingsway Regional, 12

Final: Haddonfield, 37, Kingsway Regional, 49

Player Scores:

Michael Douglas: 10

Chris Beane: 8

Ryan Guveiyian: 8

John Scipione: 7

Mike Mooney: 2

Jack McKeever: 2

Haddonfield is now 10­–3 and remains undefeated overall in the Colonial Conference. Tuesday, 1/19, the team heads to Paulsboro for a rematch against their Liberty Red Raider rivals. (In round one in December, the Dawgs prevailed 69–443, but if I recall, the Raiders were without a key player.) Then, two days later, they Dawgs head to the Hawks’ nest to take on Patriot member Haddon Township, which is having another very good season. As of this writing, the Hawks are 11–2 overall and sit atop the Patriot division with a 5–0 record. The Dawgs finish out the week heading down the shore to take on Holy Spirit.

by Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield.Today

You would think since it is the month I was born in, December would treat me a bit nicer than it often does. This go-round, before and after Christmas, I was dealing with a broken tooth, an ear infection that just won’t go away, a tire that kept losing air (turns out there was a nail in it), and, worst of all, on Dec. 27, I got KO’d by the norovirus. I’ll spare you the gory (and I do mean gory) details, but it flattened me for more than a week. While I had made it in person to two of the first three games and streamed via HUDL the Haddons Showcase game on 12/27 (was I very glad later that the iffy roads had made me decide not to drive, as who knows how many people I could have “passed” the virus to in the stands), I had not written anything up and then was unable to. I did watch, with eyes half open, the next two Showcase games but wasn’t up to doing my play-by-play or scorebook accounts. Yeah, I could have gone back and watched those games, but I decided at this “point,” they are all old news. So, instead, I am going to give you a very quick summary of the first eight games, including the game last Monday, 1/5, at Audubon, then focus on the Sterling away game on 1/7 and the Woodbury home game on 1/9.

The Dawgs opened the season at home on 12/16 against BCIT Westampton and looked out of sync most of the game, losing by 18, 42–60. Two nights later, the Dawgs hosted the Red Raiders of Paulsboro, who are, with Haddonfield, in the Liberty division of the Colonial Conference. While they were only up by 5, 20–15 after one quarter, the Dawgs were up by 12 at the half, 31–19, and ended up winning by 26, 69–43. I had to miss the away game versus Montgomery High School on 12/20, and when I found out the Dawgs got beaten by 24 points, 36–60, I wasn’t too sorry about it. The last game before Christmas, a 5:30 away game against another Liberty rival, the Eagles of West Deptford, I may not have made even if I didn’t have an emergency dental appointment to fix my broken tooth. While the Dawgs pulled their record to 2–2, the game itself was very lopsided, as the Dawgs blew out the Eagles by 41, 70–29.

I had been looking forward to attending the next three games, all at home, as I was going to get to see the Haddonfield girls (and freshman starter Sara Guveiyian) play as well. The roads and the fact that I had apparently been exposed to the flu on Christmas kept me home on 12/27. There was some kind of stream delay on HUDL with the girls game, and it didn’t kick on until about halfway through the second half, but they easily took care of Moorestown Friends 59–23.. Happily, I got to see all of the boys’ game, and they had no trouble defeating Kipp Cooper Norcross High School by 40 points, 71–31.

Then I was felled by the evil norovirus. Here is my PSA about this: AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS. I watched both the girls game versus Holy Spirit (it was a tough 44–52 loss) and the boys 65–34 victory against Notre Dame with half-open eyes. I had entertained thoughts of going to the girls home game on 1/3 but still wasn’t quite up to it, and I also had to settle for updates from my sometimes travel buddy when the Dawgs headed to Audubon on 1/5. It was my first day back at work, and I knew I wouldn’t be up to the game too, but I was glad the boys had the upper hand on the Green Wave, a Patriot division Colonial team, beating them by 25, 50–25. That win brought the Dawgs to 6–2 overall and 3–0 in the Colonial, 2–0 in the Liberty division.

Finally, on Wednesday, 1/7, I was ready to get back in the game myself and headed to Sterling to see the Dawgs take on the Silver Knights. To say it was one of the most whiplash types of games would not be an exaggeration. Let me explain.

Although Haddonfield controlled the tipoff, the Dawgs were not able to score and while pulling down the offensive board, an errant pass gave the Silver Knights possession. At the 7:16 mark, Sterling hit a 2, the Dawgs didn’t score again, but a loose ball went out of bounds off Sterling. Again, the Dawgs’ shot attempt failed to find the net. A travel called on Sterling gave the Dawgs the ball again, and once more, the shot missed. Senior Mike Mooney got the rebound and this time junior Ryan Guveiyian got the Dawgs on the board, tying the game at 2–2 with 5:31 on the clock.

Senior Chris Beane gave the Dawgs their first lead of the game a few plays later, but neither team scored for a few trips up and down the court until Guveiyian hit a 3 to make it 7–2, Haddonfield, with 2:01 left in the quarter. Sterling got 3 points back off a bucket and a foul shot, making it 7–5, Haddonfield, with 1:33 to go. Mooney’s 3 with about 36 seconds on the clock put the Dawgs up by 5, 10–5. Sterling answered with a 2, and with 4 seconds left, Beane got fouled in the act of shooting and made both shots. As the buzzer sounded, the Dawgs were up by 5, 12–7.

The second quarter was more of the same. The Silver Knights, who inbounded to start the clock, got the first 4 points, off 2 from the foul line and 2 from a basket, and in about 20 seconds had gotten back to within 1, 12–11. The Dawgs did not score their next two possessions, but senior Michael Douglas took an offensive charge with 6:20 on the clock and junior Ethan Miller got 2. Sterling immediately answered with a field goal, keeping it a 1-point, 14–13, edge for the Dawgs. Beane hit a 3, nice defensive pressure by the Dawgs got the ball back, and after a missed Haddonfield shot, senior Jack McKeever pulled down the offensive board and then went up and in for 2, making it 19–13, Dawgs, with 4:21 to go in the half. Sterling quickly got 2 points back, the Dawgs turned the ball over, and with 3 minutes and change to go, the Silver Knights scored to make it a 2-point Dawg lead, 19–17.

Haddonfield did not score, but Sterling lost the ball out of bounds. Guveiyian’s offensive rebound and bucket made it 21–17, and after McKeever got a defensive board, Guveiyian sank a nice drop shot, making it 23–17, Haddonfield, with 1:37 to go. Sterling hit a 3 with just under a minute to go, but the Dawgs got the last basket of the half on a feed from Beane to McKeever, keeping the Dawgs out in front by 5, 25–20.

The Dawgs had possession to start the third quarter. And hence begins the “whiplash” part of the game. Before the ball crossed midcourt, Sterling stole it and scored. A bad pass gave the Silver Knights the ball, and this time, a 3-pointer tied the game at 25 with 7:14 on the clock. And again, before the ball crossed midcourt, the Dawgs turned it over and Sterling’s basket put the Silver Knights up by 2, 27–25, with about a minute gone in the quarter.

After a Haddonfield timeout, the Dawgs lost the ball again, and this time Sterling nailed a 3 and now instead of trailing by 5 when the quarter began, the Silver Knights were up by 5, 30–25. Two tries under the Dawgs’ basket were unsuccessful, and then a shooting foul by the Dawgs put Sterling on the line. Both shots were good. This mean with 6:01 on the clock, the Dawgs were down 7, 25–32. Douglas got fouled and made 1–2, cutting the deficit to 6 with 5:24, but at the other end, Sterling scored off an offensive board, which gave the Silver Knights their biggest lead of the game—8 points, 34–26—with about 5:15 on the clock.

Guveiyian got the Dawgs’ first basket of the third, making it 34–28, Sterling, with 5:07 on the clock. After grabbing a defensive rebound, Beane was fouled at the other end and made 1–2. After Douglas got a defensive board, he was fouled attempting to score and also made 1–2. The Dawgs, even with their so-so foul shooting, were now back to within 4, 30–34, with about half of the quarter remaining.

The Dawgs had the chance from the foul line to get to within 2, but neither shot went in, and after Guveiyian blocked a shot, another Sterling foul sent the Dawgs to the line again. And again, neither shot went in. (I don’t know about anyone else, but I was ready to pull my hair out at this point.) So, with 3:25 left in the third, even though Sterling hadn’t scored for about 2 minutes, the Dawgs were still down by 4. That mini-drought ended at the 2:47 mark, and Sterling went back up by 6, 36–30.

Douglas went back to the foul line and again made 1–2, and after McKeever secured the rebound, Guveiyian was fouled. He got both to drop, and with 2:14 on the clock, the Dawgs were within 3, 33–36. Sterling did not score, but Haddonfield could not hold onto the rebound. This time, Sterling did score and was fouled, but missed the chance for a 3-point play. Still, with 1:38 left in the quarter, Sterling was up by 5, 38–33. That’s when senior Chase Stadler picked a good time to hit a corner 3, getting the Dawgs to within 2, 36–38, with 1:27 on the clock.

Sterling did not score and lost the ball out of bounds. Douglas scored on a pass from (I think) Stadler, and amazingly, despite too many turnovers and missed foul shots, the Dawgs had come back to knot it with the Knights, 38 all. After a steal by Beane, the Dawgs got an offensive board, and Guveiyian’s drive put the Dawgs up by 2, 40–38.

Now maybe you get why I called those 8 minutes whiplash city. My neck is still a little sore from it all.

As for the rest of the game, the Dawgs never trailed again. Douglas got a 3 to start the offense for the Dawgs in the 4th quarter, and at the 2:31 mark, a drive by Beane gave the Dawgs a double-digit, 10-point, 52–42, advantage. When the horn sounded to end the game, the Dawgs had out-dueled the Knights to shake off a wild third and win 61–47. Guveiyian finished with 17 points, Douglas had 16, and Beane added 12.

Quarter Scores

1st: Haddonfield, 12, Sterling, 7

2nd: Haddonfield, 13, Sterling, 13

Halftime: Haddonfield, 25, Sterling, 20

3rd: Haddonfield, 15, Sterling, 18

4th: Haddonfield, 21, Sterling, 9

Final: Haddonfield, 61, Sterling, 47

Player Scores:

Ryan Guveiyian: 17

Michael Douglas: 16

Chris Beane: 12

Jack McKeever: 8

Chase Stadler: 6

Ethan Miller: 2

Friday, 1/9, the Dawgs hosted another Colonial Liberty opponent, the Thundering Herd of Woodbury. I hope you will excuse me for giving a short recap of this game, but since it was pretty clear from the first quarter, when the Dawgs put 17 on the board to the Herd’s 6 (Ryan Guveiyian outscored them himself with 8 points), that the Dawgs were not going to have a very competitive game, I don’t think it’s worth a play-by-play description.

At the half, the Dawgs had thundered to a 27–14 lead. In the second half, the Dawgs outscored the Herd 42 to 23 and soundly beat them 69–35. Chris Beane led all Dawgs with 18 points. Ryan Guveiyian had 14, Jack McKeever, who had four baskets in the 4th, finished with 13, and Michael Douglas had 11.

Quarter Scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 17, Woodbury, 6

2nd: Haddonfield, 10, Woodbury,  8

Half: Haddonfield, 27, Woodbury, 14

3rd: Haddonfield, 21, Woodbury, 12

4th: Haddonfield, 21, Woodbury, 11

Final: Haddonfield, 69, Woodbury, 35

Player Scores:

Chris Beane:18

Ryan Guveiyian: 14

Jack McKeever: 13

Michael Douglas: 11

Mike Mooney: 4

Chase Stadler: 2

Ethan Miller: 2

Jack Sporer: 2

Reece Rhea: 1

The Dawgs are now 8–2, with a 5–0 Colonial Conference record, which has them 4–0 in the Liberty division. While the Sterling game was too close for comfort for about 8 minutes, out of their 10 games, the Dawgs have either won by double digits or lost by double digits. Some closer wins would be helpful as they prepare for the Camden County tournament as well as the Group 2 playoffs down the road.

This week, the Dawgs have home games on Tuesday, 1/13 against Patriot rival Collingswood and Thursday versus Liberty nemesis Haddon Heights. Both games are at 7 p.m. Saturday, 1/17, the Dawgs will play Kingsway Regional High School in the Paul VI Showcase. That game is scheduled to start at noon.