HMHS Boys Basketball: Dawgs start with a split

After a pair of games played after Christmas as part of the Haddons Invitational, the Dawgs had a 6-day break until after 2025 checked in. I’ll have a more in-depth write-up of their Colonial Conference game played at home on Jan. 3 and a brief recap of their nonleague game the next day versus BCIT (Burlington County Institute of Technology)–Westampton.

January 3, 2025: West Deptford at Haddonfield

The Eagles are part of the Liberty division of the Colonial Conference, as are the Dawgs. I was expecting to watch the game in person, but due to an unexpected Christmas “gift,” aka COVID, I was instead sitting at my desk at home, waiting for the HUDL feed to begin. (If you haven’t registered—it’s free—for HUDL, check out the Haddonfield page, HERE. You don’t have to download anything: The box at the top of the page that says “Download” is an ad that you should ignore. Just choose the game and click the arrow to start. Any home game, and some away games, you can view the Dawgs’ play live or after the fact.)

Just when I was getting a bit fidgety because I’d gotten a message indicating there was either a delay to the start of the game or technical issues (it was the former), the stream began. I thought being at my home with the play-by-play right in front of me and my scorepad and notebook on the desk (instead of balanced precariously on my lap) would make this game a little easier to record. I wasn’t counting on the breakneck speed of the action or the points being put on the board, mostly by the Dawgs. I nearly got whiplash trying to keep up.

Early on in the season, the starting lineup for the Dawgs has remained constant: forwards Chris Beane (junior) and Ryan Guveiyian (sophomore) and guards Jake Dewedoff (senior) and juniors Chase Stadler and Mike Douglas. Douglas does the jump-ball to start the game, and although the Dawgs got the tip, their first shot attempt did not go in. Good “D” by Beane and Guveiyian led to a steal and a bucket by Beane. A steal by Stadler resulted in 2 by Douglas, giving the Dawgs a 4–0 lead at the 6:45 mark.

The Eagles got a basket to make it 4–2, Haddonfield, and Guveiyian pulled down an offensive board and scored, putting the Dawgs back on top by 4, 6–2, with 6:23 on the clock. Then the Dawgs were off to the races. Although there were some missed shots on their end, Haddonfield would score the next 7 points on a 3 by Stadler, a steal and a basket by Beane, and a basket by Douglas after two offensive rebounds. West Deptford managed to get another 2 with 4:52 left in the quarter to make it 13–4, Haddonfield and after the Dawgs didn’t score for a few possessions, the Eagles got a bucket at the 4:01 mark, making it a 7-point, 13–6 Dawg advantage. And then the Dawgs really went off to the races. (And my neck started hurting.)

Beane nailed a 3 on a pass from Douglas. Another Stadler steal set up a trey from Dewedoff. After a drive in the paint by Douglas, the Dawgs were up by 18, and there was still about 2:45 left in the quarter. Douglas followed that up with a 3 on a feed from Guveiyian. Dewedoff would get the next two buckets, the first on a nice floater, and the next, a drive in the paint, would put the Dawgs up by 26, 31–6, with a minute and change to go.

A steal by Douglas (the Eagles really had a rough time, especially in the first 8 minutes, handling the Dawgs’ pressure defense) made it 33–6, with 53 seconds on the clock. West Deptford got its 4th basket and 8th point of the game before Dewedoff drained another 3 off a pass from Guveiyian, and the quarter ended with the Dawgs really giving it to the Eagles, up by almost 30 points, 36–8.

To the credit of both the players and the West Deptford coaching staff, the Eagles did not come out to begin the second quarter with their wings beneath their legs. Instead, it was quite the opposite. After the Dawgs turned the ball over after inbounding it to begin the quarter, the Eagles turned the tables and scored 9 straight points with a trio of 2’s and one trey. In less than 2 minutes, they had cut their deficit to 36–17. I don’t think this was because the Dawgs came out in the second cocky. I suspect that perhaps they eased up on the throttle a bit, but that’s not taking any credit away from the Eagles’ refusing to give up.

Beane’s trey broke the Dawgs’ dry spell, and Stadler followed with his second 3 of the game off a pass from Douglas. After good D under the Eagles’ basket, Dewedoff drove 2, and the Dawgs had put their lead back up to 27, 44–17, with 3:25 left in the half. After a West Deptford timeout, the Eagles hit a 3. After Stadler got a 2, Guveiyian took an offensive charge at one end and went up and in at the other to make it 48–20, Dawgs, with 2:32 on the clock.

The Eagles hit another 3, Dewedoff made 1–2 from the foul line, and after another Dawgs’ steal, Stadler’s bucket put the Dawgs over the 50-point mark, 51–23, with just under 2 minutes until the half. The Eagles seemed to have better luck beyond the 3-point arc, notching another trey, and the Dawgs would finish out the half on steal and 2 points from junior John Scipione, putting the Dawgs up by 27, 53–26, as the teams headed off the court. It’s worth noting that the run by West Deptford to begin the second enabled them to outscore the Dawgs in the second 8 minutes by 1 point, 18–17.

After pounding 53 points into the net in the first half of the game, the Dawgs would “only” muster 49 in the second half, to the Eagles’ 22. Coach Wiedeman, as he’s done most games so far this season, put junior Mike Mooney in the second quarter along with John Scipione. Scipione also saw some action in the third, but it was the five starters who did all the scoring. In the third, Douglas got one more 3 and a pair of 2’s to total 21 points. Beane matched his first half 10 points by putting up 10 more in the third. Dewedoff, who knocked in 13 in the first half, added 4 more in the third. Stadler drove in 10 in the first half and added a 3 in the third. He, Bean, and Douglas each had a trio of treys in the game, and the Dawgs drained 13 altogether. In the third, Guveiyian added two from the foul line to finish with 6. As the third period buzzer sounded, the Dawgs were cruising, up by 44, 79–35.

That is why in the fourth quarter, the starters sat on the bench and cheered on their teammates, who showed the Dawg fans they could put up some points as well. Mooney got the offense going with a 3. Sophomore Bill Raus made it 84–35, before the Eagles hit from beyond the arc, making it 84–38.

Adding to those last 23 points were John Scipione, with a pair of buckets and a foul shot, and his twin Nick, who drained a 3. Freshman Ethan Miller drove in the paint for a pair of baskets, Raus would get another basket, and junior Griffin Breen also scored two baskets. The second Breen bucket, which netted the Dawgs point 102, came off a feed from junior Jude McFillin, and on my notepad, scribbled that Jude’s feed looked very much like those I was used to seeing last season from his bro Phil. While I’m talking about brothers, I want to apologize for an oversight from last week. I should have noted that Chris Beane’s brother Sean also was a senior on the 2021–2022 squad with Matt Guveiyian and Tom Mooney, older sibs of Ryan and Mike.

With all this offensive output—11 Dawgs scored 3 points or more—it’s not too surprising that Dawgs ended up defeating the Eagles by 54 points, besting them and then some, 102–48.

Quarter scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 36, West Deptford, 8

2nd: Haddonfield, 17, West Deptford, 18

Halftime: Haddonfield, 53, West Deptford, 26

3rd: Haddonfield, 26, West Deptford, 9

4th:  Haddonfield, 23, West Deptford, 13

Final: Haddonfield, 102, West Deptford, 48

Player scores:

Mike Douglas: 21

Chris Beane: 20

Jake Dewedoff: 17

Chase Stadler: 13

John Scipione: 7

Ryan Guveiyian: 6

Griffin Breen: 4

Ethan Miller: 4

Ben Raus: 4

Mike Mooney: 3

Nick Scipione: 3

January 4, 2025: Haddonfield at BCIT–Westampton

I may not have gotten to this game even if I hadn’t been following COVID protocol. And since BCIT belongs to the NFHS network, which is a paid subscription streaming service, I had to rely on my travel buddy, who did make the trip, as well as another courtside reporter for the little information I have on this game. (If you want a bit more info about the game, including player stats, and have a paid subscription to NJ.com, you can go HERE.

Historically, Haddonfield boys teams do not fare well when playing morning games. That this contest followed a night game in which there was a high-end production of points probably did not help. Here’s what I can “pass” along about the game.

My travel buddy texted after the first quarter that the Dawgs were down 7–10 and were 0–8 from behind the arc. “They are BIG,” I was informed.

My courtside reporter had this to say: “The biggest thing that struck me was a slow start by our team and a lot of missed shots early in the game. Our shooting kind of went cold but even with not being able to hit a three and a bunch of missed layups, we were still only down by a couple at halftime.” (The score was 18–22.)

By the end of the 3rd, the Dawgs were trailing by 5, 29–35. My travel buddy sent this short update in the 4th: “It’s getting away now,” with BCIT up by double-digits, 48–36. The next text I got I figured would be the final score, but instead, I was told: “Wait … 49–54. 1:00 left.” Of course, then I was hoping the Dawgs would pull off one of their final-minute heroics only to get one last text: “Nope. It’s over now. 49–61 final.”

My courtside reporter elaborated more on the last 8 minutes of the game. “[The] team played really well in the fourth, but the other team was big, and it just didn’t work in our favor, as they made their free throws down the stretch when we started fouling them on purpose.” [The game] was closer than the score shows given this.”

When I asked if the timing of the previous game had any impact, I got this reply: “I do think the quick back-to-back scheduled worked against us.”

The Dawgs are now 5–2 overall, 2–0 in conference play.

The Week Ahead

There is a scheduled home game Monday, 1/6 at 7:00 versus Audubon, however, Mother Nature’s dropping of snow is likely to cause a postponement. Whenever you are in doubt or just want to get an updated schedule, the best place to go is to the boys basketball page of the high school website. Here is the direct LINK:

The boys also are scheduled to have a home game on Wednesday, 1/8 against Sterling, also at  7:00. Saturday is a road trip to Delsea for a 1 p.m. game. If you get signed up for HUDL, you can stream this game live or at your leisure.