HMHS Boys Basketball: Dawgs 2, Snow 1
By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield[dot]Today
If you’ll excuse my mixing of sports metaphors, winter threw a curveball to South Jersey basketball this past week. The Dawgs’ basketball game at Woodbury scheduled for this past Monday, 1/15 at 4 has been rescheduled for this Monday, 1/22, at 4. They did get the game in Thursday at home versus Collingswood, and I was wondering what was going to happen Saturday, 1/20, with all the games scheduled at Paul VI for their Winter Classic, but happily, those games went on as scheduled. As the temperatures are supposed to start rising into the 40s and beyond, it’s likely that the three regularly scheduled games will take place this week, but more on them at the end.
Collingswood at Haddonfield: January 18, 2024
After watching the JV squad declaw the Panthers by 60 odd points, I wondered if the varsity game would be more of the same or a bit closer. It turned out to be a little bit of both.
The Panthers came out fighting in more ways than one. After neither team scored on their first possessions, Collingswood got the first basket of the game. Senior Daire Roddy tied it at 2, driving in and going down (no foul called) afterwards with about 1:20 gone in the game. Collingswood lost the ball out of bounds, Haddonfield did not score from the foul line, but the Panthers came back to get the next two baskets to go up 6–2. Senior Matt Morris’ trey cut that lead down to 1, 6–5, with 4:30 on the clock. Good pressure from the Panthers was keeping the Dawgs out of the paint, so senior Phil McFillin stepped behind the arc and swooshed in a 3 to put the Dawgs up by 2, 8–6 with a little less than 4 minutes left in the quarter. A Roddy pickoff led to a 2 by McFillin to put the Dawgs up by 4, 10–6.
Ryan pilfered the ball this time, but it did not result in a score. Collingswood did, to make it 10–8 with 2:42 on the clock. The Dawgs did not score, but Roddy got another steal and went up and in, putting the Dawgs back in front again by 4, 12–8. He also went down again after apparently being poked in the eye by an opponent. As he came out, time was called on the floor, and Coach Paul Wiedeman did what he rarely ever does: He came out onto the court to voice his displeasure at the refs’ not calling fouls after this play and a few others that involved physical contact. As Roddy headed for the trainer’s table, Nate Rohlfing got a nice round of applause as he entered the game for the first time since the Sterling game on 1/5. He promptly picked off the ball, and after getting his own offensive board, McFillin hit his second trey of the quarter, pushing the Dawgs’ lead up to 7, 15–8 with 1:42 on the clock.
The next possession for each team led to points from the foul line. The Panthers got 1 and senior Sam Narducci got a pair, bolstering Haddonfield to an 8-point, 17-9, advantage with 90 seconds to go. Collingswood did not score its next trip up the court, but after Rohlfing pulled down two offensive boards, he scored on a feed from McFillin. Morris grabbed a defensive board under the Panthers’ basket and this time, Rohlfing was fouled. He made 1–2 with 10.8 left, and that was the last score of the quarter. When the buzzer sounded, Haddonfield was up 20–9.
In the second quarter, even though the Dawgs put up 24 to the Panthers’ 14, it felt like they were making Haddonfield work a little harder for their points. Haddonfield wasn’t just running down the court and shooting. They had to put a little more into setting up plays. The result was that Morris, McFillin, Narducci, and Ryan spread out the points, scoring 5, 4, 6, and 7, respectively, in those second 8 minutes. Sophomore Mike Douglas, who came in off the bench in the quarter, added 2 from the foul line ,and Rohlfing, showing no rustiness from having been out for a few games, got another basket in the paint. When the teams headed off the court at the half, the Dawgs were up 44–23.
The third quarter , which saw Roddy back on the floor, was the tightest of the four scoring wise. The Panthers got the first 4 points off two trips to the foul line. The Dawgs started out a little cold after failing to score in their first three attempts. Cue Roddy to turn into the Artful Dodger (you can Google it if you aren’t familiar with Oliver!) and make a pretty pass to Ryan for Haddonfield’s first 2 of the second half, making it 45–27 at the 6:20 mark. Neither team scored for more than a minute until Ryan turned an offensive board into another 2 points Another pickoff by Roddy meant another 2 for Ryan, and with the Dawgs up by 23, 50–27 with 4:21 on the clock, Collingswood called a full time-out.
After some good defense under the Panther basket, McFillin got 2 under the Dawgs’ basket, and the Panthers answered with a basket. Ryan got fouled in the act of shooting and hit both from the line, and again Collingswood got a basket. With 3 and change left in the quarter, it was 54–31, Dawgs. Haddonfield finally got two baskets in a row, one by Morris, one by Roddy, without Collingswood scoring in between to go up by 27, 58–31 with just under 2 minutes on the clock. However, Collingswood turned the table and scored a pair of unanswered baskets, and with :37 to go in the third, it was 48–23. Rohlfing got the last point of the quarter from the foul line, and as the horn sounded, even though the Panthers had put up 12 to the Dawgs’ 15, the Dawgs were still comfortably in control, ahead by 24, 59–35.
Narducci wasted no time in making that 62–35 on a 3 pointer after Haddonfield inbounded to start the fourth. He would add a 2, along with Roddy and Rohlfing; Morris got his third trey of the day; and Douglas got another pair from the foul line, as did sophomore Chris Beane, in off the bench. Also seeing some playing time in the fourth was sophomore Jack McKeever, who pleased his teammates watching on the sidelines and the fans in the stands by scoring two baskets. When the final horn sounded, the Dawgs had won by the score of 79–48.
Quarter scores:
1st quarter: Haddonfield 20, Collingswood 9
2nd quarter: Haddonfield 24, Collingswood 14
Halftime score: Haddonfield 44, Collingswood 23
3rd quarter: Haddonfield 15, Collingswood 12
4th quarter: Haddonfield 20, Collingswood 13
Final score: Haddonfield 79, Collingswood 48
Player scores:
Phil McFillin: 14
Patrick Ryan: 14
Matt Morris: 13
Sam Narducci: 12
Daire Roddy: 8
Nat Rohlfing: 8
Mike Douglas: 4
Jack McKeever: 4
Chris Beane: 2
Paul the VI Winter Classic—Pitman vs. Haddonfield: January 20, 2024
I was a bit surprised that the snow did not derail this multi-team tournament. Haddonfield’s game against the Pitman Tigers, who were 10–3 overall, 4–0 in the Classic division of the Tri-County Conference coming into the game, was a later afternoon game. That’s why the parking lot was packed by the stands weren’t: People were next store going to Mass.
Just from the Tigers’ record, I was expecting a close game. My brother-in-law, Wayne Grear (HMHS class of 1970, who missed playing for Dave Wiedeman by a few seasons), came with my sister Carol to see the Dawgs for the first time so far this season. I was sharing the stats with him as the teams were warming up, and from what he saw, he predicted Haddonfield would win by 30.
Sure enough, it seemed Wayne was, ahem, on point, as the Dawgs raced out to a 11–0 lead. Sam Narducci got the first basket off a feed from Daire Roddy after Patrick Ryan sent the ball his way during the jump. A pickoff led to a 3 by Phil McFillin. In the next score, Roddy sent a cross-court pass to Narducci, who went up and in. That was followed by Roddy passing the ball not quite so far to Ryan, who got his first basket of the game. For the last basket of the run, Roddy, who was fully engaged from second 1, passed to Ryan, who flipped it to Narducci, who found the net. And just like that, with 4:51 on the clock, the Dawgs had put 11 on the board while the Pitman players must have gotten a bit of whiplash.
After the Tigers finally scored, Narducci hit his first 3 of the game ,and Morris got his first basket, also a 3. The Dawgs were also picking up a lot of fouls, and after the Tigers made 1–2 from the line, McFillin got his second trey of the quarter. With almost 3 minutes left in the quarter, the Dawgs were up by 17, 20–3. Pitman got another point from the line, and a few plays later, Narducci made a nice move to get to the rim. After a defensive board by Ryan (according to the box score on NJ.com, Ryan finished with 11 rebounds), Narducci got fouled and made 1–2. Pitman got another 2 from the floor, and after getting his own rebound off a missed shot, Nate Rohlfing scored the Dawgs’ last basket of the quarter. Pitman would get one more and as the quarter ended, the Dawgs were up 25–8.
Narducci was on a tear in the first half. In the second quarter, he added two more 3’s and another pair of 2’s. On his own, he equaled Pitman’s halftime score of 22. Aiding and abetting Narducci were Mike Douglas, who got a 2 and a 3; Chris Beane and Ryan, who each got a 2; and in the most acrobatic score of the game, Morris almost lost his dribble, kept it alive, and then drove in for a basket. At the half, the Dawgs had more than doubled the Tigers and were up 46–22.
Quarter 3 belonged to Ryan and Morris. They combined for seven baskets, Ryan with four and Morris with 3. Narducci knocked back another 3 and another 2, and his 5 points, along with the 14 from Ryan and Morris, accounted for the Dawgs’ 19 points. Pitman scored 14, as they did in the second quarter and would in the fourth.
In the fourth, Ryan went up and in four more times in the last 8 minutes of the game. Narducci added one more 3 and one more 2. Douglas, who is proving to be steady at the line, got 2 there and one from the floor. Senior Mike Feinstein and junior Jake Dewedoff, who came into the game in the fourth along with the rest of the JV squad, both got baskets as well. When the horn sounded, the Dawgs had defeated the Tigers by 38, 88-50. (Hey Wayne, you were off by 8.)
Ryan and Narducci had monster games, finishing with 20 and 32 points, respectively. And worth noting as well, even though he did not score, NJ.com recorded that Roddy had seven assists.
Quarter scores:
1st quarter: Haddonfield 25, Pitman 8
2nd quarter: Haddonfield 21, Pitman 14
Halftime: Haddonfield 46, Pitman 22
3rd quarter: Haddonfield 19, Pitman 14
4th quarter: Haddonfield 23, Pitman 14
Final score: Haddonfield 88, Pitman 50
Player scores:
Sam Narducci: 32
Patrick Ryan: 20
Matt Morris: 11
Mike Douglas: 9
Phil McFillin: 6
Nate Rohlfing: 4
Mike Feinstein: 2
Jake Dewedoff: 2
The Week Ahead
The Dawgs, who are now 15–0 overall and 8–0 in the Colonial Conference, have a busy week on the road. Monday, 1/22, is the 4 p.m. makeup game at Woodbury. Tuesday, they go to visit the Audubon Wave, and Thursday, they have a rematch with the Garnets of Haddon Heights. Those last two games both start at 7 p.m. Finally, the Dawgs will be in another tournament on Saturday, 1/27, this time at Rancocas Valley High School, taking on Nottingham High School at 7:30.