Boys’ Basketball: Dawgs keep collaring the opposition  

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today                      

Right before the Dawgs race onto the court from the locker room at home games, announcer Mark Hershberger, who also does double-duty as the in-house DJ, starts blaring the Grammy-winning hit from 2000 by the Baha Men, “Who Let the Dogs Out?” After another week of four games, four wins, I suspect the teams the Dawgs are (mostly) walloping are hearing that song in their nightmares.

Game 1: Camden County Technical High School–Sicklerville at Haddonfield, 1/23/23

The first game this past week I didn’t even know about until the day of, Monday, 1/23, as it wasn’t on the original schedule. Luckily, it was at home at 7. As I found out, it was part of the newly established Camden County Tournament that will take place over different days and include various teams from our county. In its inaugural game, Haddonfield hosted Camden County Technical High School–Sicklerville. After the first 2:30 minutes, the Dawgs were already taking it to the Warriors: After senior Teddy Bond’s second straight 3, the Dawgs were up 10–0. After 8 minutes, the Dawgs were chewing up the Warriors and spitting them out, up by 25, with Bond’s four 3’s leading the way. Junior Sam Narducci’s 10 quarter points also included a 3. Junior Zach Langan added 6, and juniors Patrick Ryan and Daire Roddy each had a bucket.

The story of the night, aside from Haddonfield’s annihilation of Camden Tech, was Bond. At the end of the half, with the Dawgs up by 42, Bond had already hit six 3’s. I wondered … Could he break Andrew Gostovich’s 3-point record that had been set, believe it or not, this very date 3 years ago versus Gateway? Bond would need four treys to tie “Gos” and five to become the single-game 3-point leader. (During the contest, I mistakenly thought he needed three to tie, four to go ahead of Gostovich.) I also suspected that Coach Paul Wiedeman, with the Dawgs already so far ahead of the Warriors, would not let his starters play too much of the second half, record or not.

Bond got 3 number seven less than a minute into quarter three. Number eight came with 6:28 on the clock after a pickoff by Langan and a 2 by Narducci and put the Dawgs up by 48, 66–18. A basket by Langan actually made it a 50-point lead, 68–18, with just under 5 to play in the quarter. Although his teammates were giving Bond every chance to hit number 9, he didn’t sink it until the 1:37 mark, which put the Dawgs up by 54, 76–22. It didn’t look like he was going to get a chance for number 10, but with 3.8 left on the clock, Camden Tech turned over the ball on a foul call, and Bond made them pay, sealing the deal just ahead of the buzzer. I was jumping up and down under the assumption that he’d set the record, but a text exchange from Hershberger indicated Bond and Gostovich were now tied with 10. (Checking my scorebook from the 2019–20 season once I was home that night, proved that indeed Teddy had equaled, not surpassed, Andrew.)

With the Dawgs up by 61 (!!!) at the end of three, Bond and the remaining starters, returned to the bench for the final time, done for the night. None of them had seen continuous action during those 24 minutes, either. While I’m sure he wished he’d could have gone after sole possession of the 3-point record, Bond was still psyched to have connected for 10 treys (and in less than 3 quarters) and came off the court with his fists pumped, looking quite excited.

Even with the starters and first-ins-off-the-bench players—juniors Matt Morris and Nate Rohlfing—watching from the sidelines, the junior varsity Dawgs still outscored the Warriors by 7, 13–6. When the buzzer sounded to end the game, Haddonfield had thoroughly conquered the Warriors, beating them by 68 points, 96–28. Not surprisingly with his 10 treys, Bond led all scorers with 30 points (which meant he scored more than the entire Camden Tech team). Narducci added 17, and Langan finished with 14. Eleven Dawgs contributed to the season-high 96 points.

Quarter Scores:

Player Scores:

Game 2: Audubon at Haddonfield, 1/24/23

This wasn’t quite the blowout of the previous night, but the Dawgs still made the Green Wave look a bit seasick at both ends of the court. Haddonfield started the game on a 12–0 run on 3’s from Narducci and Bond, a field goal from Ryan, who also hit 2 from the foul line, as did Bond. Going into the second 8 minutes, the Dawgs were up by 20, 24–4. Their scoring cooled a bit in the 2nd, and the Waves’ picked up, but even so, at the half, Haddonfield was cruising, 37–15.

In the third, Haddonfield got a trio of treys from Bond, four field goals from Narducci, and baskets from Ryan, Roddy, and Langan to add 23 to their total while holding Audubon’s offense to 7 points. In the 4th quarter, Chris Beane, Mike Douglas, and Lear Fuller came off the bench to combine for 8 of the Dawgs’ 18 points. When it was all over, the Dawgs had hung 78 points on the Wave, who could only muster 29—hey, at least it was 1 more point than Camden Tech put on the board. Narducci, with his nine buckets, three of which came from behind the arc, led the Dawgs with 21. Bond had 16, and Ryan had 14.  

Quarter Scores:

Player Scores;

Game 3: Haddon Heights at Haddonfield, 1/26/23

The game against the Garnets didn’t start off with a double-digit run by Haddonfield. While Haddon Heights won the tipoff, Roddy quickly stole the ball, passed it along to Narducci, who went up and in. After pulling down an offensive rebound, which gave them a second-chance shot, the Garnets were on the board, and with 1 minute gone, the game was even at 2 all. Langan got 2 and went to the foul line, but was not able to make it a 3-point play. Heights did not score and a 3 from Narducci made it 7–2, Dawgs, with 6:13 on the clock. However, the Garnets answered with a 3 and after picking off the ball, tied the game again, making it 7–7 with about 5:30 left in the first.

After putting 14 total points on the board in about 2:30, thanks to turnovers and missed shots, both from the field and the line, neither team was able to score again for a few possessions. Narducci’s 3 at the 2:35 mark broke the tie to put Haddonfield up by 3, 10–7. Two foul shots by Ryan pushed the lead up to 5 with 2 minutes to go, and then Bond was fouled from behind the arc. He got 3, this time from the line, to make it 15–7 with a minute and change left. The Garnets’ mini-drought ended with their 2nd 3 of the quarter, which finished with the Dawgs on top 15–10.

What looked like a competitive game in the first quarter started looking anything but in the second. Heights inbounded only to have Roddy pilfer the ball, passing it again to Narducci, who drove in for the basket. The Garnets held onto the ball and scored in their second possession, but Rohlfing, as is customary, started the second quarter and wasted no time getting a bucket. A Garnets turnover led to a 2 by Bond, and with not even 90 seconds gone in quarter 2, the Dawgs had increased their lead to 9, 21­–12. After a timeout by Heights, the Garnets lost the ball out of bounds, but the Dawgs failed to score. A Haddonfield foul sent Heights to the line. One of two shots dropped, making it 21–13 with 5:46 left in the half. Bond’s 3 gave the Dawgs their first double-digit lead, 24–13, and that was followed by a 3 from Roddy. What had been a 5-point advantage going into the 2nd had now opened up to a 14-point edge with about 4:30 remaining in the quarter.

The Dawgs defense would help Heights lose the ball out of bounds again. This time, Ryan hit a 2 on a feed from Roddy, who I like to think of as the floor admiral, as he is the play-maker and the main ball-handler for the Dawgs. Heights got its first field goal of the quarter with 2:45 on the clock, making it 29–15, Haddonfield, but Morris’ 3 from waay out there stretched the Dawgs’ lead to 17, 32–15, with 2:30 left in the half. Roddy and Ryan combined for 2, and Heights answered with a bucket. Heights didn’t seem to have any answers for Bond, who nailed another 3, with 1:03 on the clock, giving the Dawgs a 20-point, 37–17, lead. Heights got 2 back only to have Bond hit his third 3 of the quarter with 36 seconds left. A steal and a basket by Narducci finished the scoring for the half, and as the teams headed off the court, the Garnets were looking far from polished, trailing by 23, 42–19.

In the second half, the Dawgs only outscored the Garnets by 4, 20–16, but by that time, it didn’t matter too much. And it also should be noted that six junior varsity Dawgs saw some action. When the final horn sounded, the Dawgs had won their third game of the week by the score of 64–35. Although losing, Haddon Heights did succeed in doing something Haddonfield’s previous two opponents had not: getting out of the 20s and into the 30s points-wise. Bond and Narducci were the top scorers again, netting 17 and 14, respectively. Ryan knocked in 10.

More important than the results of the game or the players’ scores (really!) is that both the Dawgs and the Garnets were raising money for a pediatric cancer organization, Go 4 the Goal (go4thegoal.org). If you weren’t able to make a donation at the game, you can do it on the website, which notes, “All funds stay in the state where they are raised to support local children.”

Quarter Scores:

Player Scores:

Game 4: Haddonfield versus Burlington Township High School, 1/28/23, at Rancocas Valley Regional High School’s Jeff Coney Classic

This tournament has been going on for well close to 2 decades, and it honors the memory of the school’s former head basketball coach, who died in 2004. The school has more than one basketball court, so on this day, you can hear more than one set of buzzers going on as two games are often going on simultaneously. I had forgotten this and didn’t realize the Haddonfield­–Burlington Township game had started streaming until I noticed that Vic Wiedeman had sent me score updates for the first two quarters. I found the stream, started at the beginning, and told him thanks, but not to send any more info.

I had checked online to see what I could find out about Haddonfield’s opponent for this game. The Falcons are part of the Burlington Scholastic League and coming into the game, had an overall record of 5–9 and were 3–6 in their conference. Those stats belied the kind of game the Falcons played, especially in last 4 minutes of the last quarter.

The game started off with the Falcons getting the first point of the game from the foul line. However, the Dawgs got the next 8 points on baskets from Langan, Ryan, Narducci (off his own steal), and another from Ryan. A 3 from Burlington Township made it an 8–4 Dawg lead with 3:0l left in the quarter. After an offensive foul was called on the Dawgs, the Falcons hit another 3, and after Haddonfield failed to score, Burlington’s 2 put them in front 9–8 with 1:45 on the clock.

Haddonfield again came up empty under its basket, then picked up its third foul (non-shooting) of the game. What I thought from the stream was a basket for the Dawgs actually wasn’t (I had to rewind the feed a few times to understand why the points weren’t going up on the mini scoreboard). However, a steal by Morris set in motion a lovely back-and-forth between Morris and Ryan that ended with Morris driving into the lane with about 28 seconds left to put the Dawgs back on top 10–9, which is how the quarter ended.

Haddonfield inbounded the ball to start the second 8 minutes and almost immediately had a 2-shot opportunity from the foul line. I gritted my teeth when neither ball dropped, but after Burlington Township lost the ball out of bounds, Bond hit a 3 (he would finish out the week swooshing in 19 balls from beyond the 3-point arc!), putting the Dawgs up by 4, 13–9, with aobut a minute gone in the quarter. Neither team scored their next two possessions, then Rohlfing was fouled and went to the line. He made 1–2, nudging the Dawgs’ lead up to 5, 14–9, with 5:51 left in the half.

A tie-up on the floor over a loose ball (one of many in the game) gave possession back to Burlington Township and resulted in the Falcons hitting another 3 (there were several of them in the game as well) and cutting the Dawgs’ lead down to 2, 14–12, with 5:27 on the clock. Burlington make a field goal sandwiched in between two drives by Ryan (the second one was a nice banker off the board). He had a chance to add a point from the line after basket number 2, but the ball didn’t drop. Burlington Township followed with two missed foul shots, and with about 4 minutes remaining in the half, Haddonfield was still nursing a 4-point, 18–14, lead.

Narducci’s 3 pushed it up to a 7-point lead, which lasted 18 seconds before the Falcons responded with a trey of their own, and with 3:20 on the clock, it was still a 4-point, 21–17, lead for the Dawgs. After Langan pulled down a defensive board, Haddonfield kept missing shots but getting the rebounds until finally Rohlfing was fouled and went to the line. Both his shots went through the net, and with 2 and change left in the half, the Dawgs were now up by 6, 23-17. A travel gave the ball back to the Dawgs, but they couldn’t capitalize on it. A blocked shot by Rohlfing or Langan (between the fuzziness of the feed enlarged to full screen and the fact that the Dawgs were often faster than the person controlling the videocam, I had a few times that even when I rewound the feed, I couldn’t tell who did what) set up a drive in the paint by Rohlfing from Langan, giving the Dawgs’ their biggest lead, 8 points, 25-17, with 1:05 to go.

The teams then exchanged pickoffs. With 36.9 showing on the clock, the ball went out of bounds off Haddonfield. Aside from the Dawgs needing a bit of work on their foul shooting (IMHO), they also need to find a way to stop fouling with seconds left in a quarter. This time, the foul was committed on an attempted 3-pointer, which meant that Burlington Township had three chances at the line. All three went in, and with 31 seconds to set up a play and score, the Dawgs were up 25–20. The coaching directive was clearly to go for the last shot, but with 3.8 seconds remaining, the Dawgs lost the ball out of bounds. The Falcons sent a ball sailing from the other end that did not hit the target, and as the teams left the court for halftime, it was still a 5-point, 25–20, game.

The third quarter started off the way the second quarter had ended, with the teams trading shots and Haddonfield maintaining at least a 4-point edge. However, after Ryan’s basket made it 27–21 with 50 seconds gone, Burlington Township scored a 2-point field goal, and the Dawgs lapsed into some bad play, turning the ball over and then picking up a few fouls in quick succession. With 5:30 on the board, the Falcons knocked down another 3, and it was now a 1-point, 27–26, game. Were the Dawgs getting rattled? A 3 by Narducci seemed to calm the Dawgs down a bit, and after a timeout and a foul on Burlington, a 3 by Roddy indicated that the Dawgs were in rhythm again. They kept the Falcons from scoring, and a nice move under the basket by Rohlfing on the other end gave the Dawgs’ their largest lead of the game, at 9, putting them up 26–17, with 4:04 left in the third.

Burlington Township scored and had a chance for a 3-point play, but the foul shot did not go in, and with 3:55 on the clock, it was a 7-point, 35–28, advantage for Haddonfield. Once more, the Falcons did not score and then turned over the ball on an offensive foul call. A few plays later, the Dawgs were inbounding the ball under their own basket. Bonds flipped it to Langan, and it was back to a 9-point, 37–28, Haddonfield lead. A few more plays later, Haddonfield was called for a foul. I couldn’t tell what happened (and there was no one doing any kind of play-by-play—I surmise that with two games going on at the same time, that would have been pointless, no pun intended), but I heard a lot of boos. I think I recognized the people behind a few of them …

The game continued on, and after a near pickoff by Morris, the Dawgs got assessed another foul (no boos ensued this time). Burlington did not score, however, as Haddonfield did steal the ball and Morris went in the lane for 2. Now the Dawgs were up by double digits, 39–28, with 2:17 to go in the quarter. The Dawgs kept picking up fouls, but the Falcons were not having a stellar day at the line either and missed both chances from the line with 2:05 on the clock. After neither team scored, Langan went in for a reverse layup on a pass from Rohlfing, and with 1:15 to go in the quarter, the Dawgs were up by 13, 41–28.

Burlington’s drought ended with a 3, but Roddy’s 2 (it’s nice to see Roddy now choosing to shoot the ball once in a while instead of always dishing it off) kept the Dawgs ahead by double digits, 43–31. The Dawgs got 2 more after an out-of-bounds turnover by the Falcons, in a Roddy to Langan to Morris series of passes, and with 17 seconds on the clock, the Falcons were trailing by 14, 31–45. Then with 6.1 on the clock, the Falcons came up with another big 3 and were fouled. This time, the foul shot went in, and so when the quarter horn sounded, they were down by 10, 35–45.

The final period started off with the Falcons, who inbounded, and the Dawgs, exchanging baskets to keep it a 10-point game. That 10-point differential lasted for a few possessions. The Dawgs again missed foul shots, but got the ball back when it went off the Falcons out of bounds. Again, a flick by Bond, who was tossing the ball inbounds, this time to Ryan, resulted in an easy and quick 2, pushing the Dawgs’ lead up to 12, 49–17, with 5:32 left in the contest. Haddonfield was called for its 6th foul, sending the Falcons to the line with a 1+1 opportunity. (If the first foul shot is good, the player gets another shot.) The first shot went in, the second one didn’t, making it, 49–38, Dawgs, with 5:20 remaining.

After Burlington Township was called for a foul, Roddy sent in another 3, and with 4:21 on the clock, the Dawgs were back in front by 14, 52–38. As they had done a few other times, the Falcons answered a 3 with one of their own and were fouled in the process. The shot from the line was good, and with 4:16 on the board, they had cut the lead back to 10. After a Haddonfield turnover that resulted in a 2 for Burlington, that lead was down to 8, 52­­–44, with 3:30 left in the game. Ryan pulled down an offensive board and put the ball back up and in for 2, but Burlington Township got a bucket at its end of the court, keeping it an 8-point game, 54–46.

When the Falcons were assessed their 6th foul of the half, Ryan went to the line for a 1+1, making the first and missing the second. Now it was 55–46, Haddonfield. The Falcons lost the ball on a bad bass, but a loose ball call went in their favor and a Dawgs’ foul sent the Falcons back to the line for another 1+1. Again, the first shot dropped, the second didn’t, so with 2:08 on the clock, it was 55–47, Haddonfield.

Haddonfield called timeout and when play resumed, a bad pass gave the ball back to Burlington Township, which hit a 3. Suddenly (or so it seemed), it was now just a two-possession game, with the Dawgs up only by 5, 55–50, with 1:53 still left on the clock. After the Dawgs failed to score, the Falcons nailed another 3. With 1:36 to go, they had cut a one-time 14-point fourth quarter deficit down to 2, 53–55. Not surprisingly, Haddonfield coach Paul Wiedeman called another timeout.

I’m not sure what he told his players, but it didn’t amount to, “When you go back on the court, take too much time getting the ball over the half-court line so you turn it over.” However, that is exactly what happened. To make matters worse, Haddonfield committed a foul and now Burlington Township would have a chance to tie the game at the line. It didn’t happen.

With a 2-point lead and 1:20 on the clock, the Dawgs were in passing mode. With 40.5 on the clock, Roddy was fouled. He had a 1+1 and sank both, giving the Dawgs a 4-point, 57–53, cushion. With the clock down to 21.4, the Falcons lost the ball out of bounds. Five seconds later, Narducci headed to the line, still with the 1+1 in play. He dropped both in the net, and the Dawgs had gotten back to a 6-point, 59–53, edge. Those 4 foul shots by Roddy and Narducci clinched the W for Haddonfield. Amazingly, it was their 11th in a row. Ryan, Narducci, and Roddy led the offense, contributing 15, 10, and 10 points, respectively.

Quarter Scores:

Player Scores:

Patrick Ryan: 15

Sam Narducci: 10

Daire Roddy: 10

Zach Langan: 8

Nate Rohlfing: 7

Matt Morris: 6

Teddy Bond: 3

The Dawgs are now 17–3 overall and 10–1 in the Colonial Conference. They pick up conference play with a 7 p.m. game at Haddon Township on Tuesday, 1/31, which will be followed by a 7 p.m. home game on Thursday, 2/2, versus West Deptford. This will be Senior Night, so come out and honor our sole senior Dawg, Teddy Bond, as well as our senior cheerleaders and student basketball managers. Saturday, 2/4, the Dawgs will head to Holy Cross Academy to take on Moorestown High School with the game scheduled to start at 3:45.