HMHS Boys Basketball: New squad gets off to a promising start

By Lauree Padgett / Exclusive to Haddonfield.Today

Last year, the boys basketball team was loaded with seniors. Their numbers totaled eight and seven of them either started or saw significant playing time most games. The fact that they had all played together since youth basketball helped them lead the Dawgs to a 27–3 overall record, as well as a 15­–0 record in the Colonial Conference (12–0 in the Liberty Division).

This is not the case for what has so far been this season’s starting lineup. It touts one senior, Jake Dewedoff, the sole 12th grader on the squad, who got into the end of a few varsity games last year, as did junior Chase Stadler. Junior Chris Beane and sophomore Ryan Guveiyian saw a bit more action last year, but neither was ever on the court at the game’s tipoff. Only junior Mike Douglas saw significant playing time, often being one of the first players Paul Wiedeman, now in his 26th season as head coach, brought in off the bench.

Another difference is the height of this year’s team. Last year, Zach Langan and Patrick Ryan were listed as 6-4, with Nate Rohlfing having 4 inches on them, at 6-8. This year, the tallest players are 6-3 and include Douglas and junior Mike Mooney. (Speaking of Mooney, it’s worth noting that his older brother Tom and Guveiyian’s older brother Matthew were teammates on the 2021–22 squad.)

After five games in the young season, this lack of experience or height has not come into play, so to speak. Here is a brief recap of these first games, all played before the calendar turned to 2025.

December 17, 2024: Willingboro at Haddonfield

The first half of this game versus the athletic-looking Chimeras made it look as if all four quarters would be close. Both teams started out a little tight, and it wasn’t until just under the 5-minute mark that either team scored. Jake Dewedoff got the Dawgs on the board with a drive under the basket. A few plays later, Willingboro got 1 off the foul line. After a few more trips up and down the court, a steal by Stadler led to 2 from Guveiyian, whose foul shot made it a 5–1 game at the 2:09 mark.

A 3 got the Chimeras to within 1, 5­–4 with just less than 2 minutes left in the quarter. Guveiyian’s bucket made it 7–4 with 1:05 on the clock, but the Chimeras answered with their own 2 and with 43 seconds left, it was 7–6, Dawgs. Douglas sank two from the foul line, but another Willingboro basket with about 19 seconds left made it a 1-point, 9–8, game, and that’s how the quarter ended.

It stayed tight in the second quarter, with the Dawgs maintaining a 2- to 3-point advantage through the first 4 minutes with a pair of foul shots by Guveiyian and a steal and a basket by junior John Scipione. In the last 4 minutes, Willingboro hit a 2 and a 3 between a foul shot by John Scipione (he’s got a twin brother, Nick, so I’ll always be ID’ing them using first and last names!) to go up by 1, 14–13, with 1:09 to go. However, after a bad pass gave Willingboro the ball with :9.5 on the clock, John Scipione stole the ball and fed it to Stadler, who nailed a 3 to give the Dawgs a 17–15 edge going into the locker rooms.

The Dawgs started to pull away a bit toward the end of the 3rd quarter. However, not before the Chimeras had gotten to within 2, 24–22, at the 4:33 mark after having three chances to score in one possession. A 3 by Mooney was followed by what I can only describe as a “bounce” 3 by Willingboro (the ball hit the rim and bounced in instead of out) to keep it a 2-point, 27–25 game, but Guveiyian scored off an inbound pass, and a few plays later, his feed to Beane made it 31–25, Dawgs with 1:36 on the clock.

A steal by Douglas led to a 2 by John Scipione, and the next possession, Douglas hit 2 from the foul line to put Haddonfield up by 10, but a 2 on the buzzer kept Willingboro within 8, 35–27.

The Dawgs outscored the Chimeras 13–5 in the last 8 minutes of the game to notch their first win by 16, 48–32. Guveiyian was the only Dawg in double digits, finishing with 14 points.

Quarter scores:

1st: Haddonfield 9, Willingboro, 8

2nd: Haddonfield 8, Willingboro, 7

Halftime: Haddonfield 17, Willingboro, 15

3rd: Haddonfield 18, Willingboro, 12

4th: Haddonfield 13, Willingboro, 7

Final: Haddonfield 48, Willingboro, 32

Player scores:

Ryan Guveiyian: 14

Mike Douglas: 9

John Scipione: 7

Mike Mooney: 6

Chris Beane: 4

Jake Dewedoff: 4

Chase Stadler: 4

December 19, 2024: Haddonfield at Paulsboro

My travel buddy and I agree that a game played at the Red Raider’s court can never be considered an easy 32 minutes. And this early in the season, it was hard to know what to expect.

The Raiders stole the ball right after the Dawgs had gained possession from the tipoff and scored the first bucket of the game. That wasn’t the greatest of starts, but after Mike Douglas’ bucket tied the game, a pair of treys by Chase Stadler and Jake Dewedoff put the Dawgs on top 8–2 with about 4:14 left in the quarter. Paulsboro got a 3 in its next possession, but Chris Beane answered at the other end to make it 11–5, Dawgs with 3:51 on the clock.

After a timeout by Paulsboro, the Raiders knocked down another 3, to cut the deficit to 3, 11–8. Dewedoff’s layup was followed by a missed Raiders’ shot and a defensive board by Guveiyian, who scored at the other end after a non-shooting foul by Paulsboro. That made it 15–8 with 1:47 on the clock. Paulsboro hit its third trey of the quarter to get to within 4, 15–11, with 47 seconds showing on the scoreboard. Douglas finished off the scoring of the quarter with a 2 and as the buzzer sounded, the Dawgs were up 17–11.

After Paulsboro got the first points of the 2nd quarter on the foul line, the Dawgs responded with 7 unanswered points. Douglas’ 2 from the line made it 19–13, and Paulsboro turned the ball over almost immediately, stepping out of bounds. (There was an unusually high number of turnovers as players from both sides had trouble staying within court boundaries throughout the game.) Douglas got 2 more, this time from the field. The Raiders again stepped out of bounds and paid the price when John Scipione notched a 3, giving the Dawgs a double-digit, 24–13 lead with only 2 minutes gone. Maybe this wasn’t going to be too tough a game after all …

Of course, that wasn’t the case, as Paulsboro went on its own mini-run, getting the next 6 points of the game and closing the gap to 24–19 with 2:29 left in the half. John Scipione kept it from getting any closer with a steal and a nice hesitation move under the basket to break the Dawgs’ scoreless run, but Paulsboro nailed another 3 and with about 1:30 to go, the Raiders were within 4, 26–24. After turning the ball over, the Dawgs got it back on a steal from Douglas, who went all the way with a basket, giving Haddonfield a 28–22 edge with just under a minute left.

Paulsboro hit yet another 3, Haddonfield turned the ball over again, and Paulsboro got to the foul line with 9.7 seconds to go. Both shots were good, and when the halftime buzzer sounded, the Dawgs were only up by 2, 28–26.

Douglas contributed to the first 4 points of the second half, dishing the ball to Chris Beane and then pilfering the ball and making a great move under the basket to score himself. That made it 32–25 with about 90 second gone in the 3rd quarter. Paulsboro got the next 4 points from field goals, so with about 4:20 left in the quarter, it was back to a 2-point Haddonfield edge, 32–30. A hard drive by Beane pushed it back to a 4-point advantage. However, the Raiders were raining 3’s and the one at the 4:10 mark got them back to within 1, 34–33.

Stadler hit his second trey of the game, Paulsboro traveled but got the ball right back with a steal and scored, and with 3:25 showing on the clock, it was a 2-point, 37–35, Dawgs’ lead. Haddonfield went on a mini run again, with Dewedoff scoring in between a pair from Guveiyian, with Guveiyian’s second coming on a nice bit of passing with John Scipione starting if off and Douglas getting the assist. That made it 43–35 and with :40.3 remaining in the half, Paulsboro called a timeout.

The Raiders got 2 points back from the foul line, but Dewedoff launched a 3 ahead of the buzzer, and going into the last 8 minutes, the Dawgs were up by 9 46–37.

Paulsboro got the first two buckets of the 4th, a 2 and a 3, and it was back to a 4-point game,  46–42, with less than 90 seconds gone. Dewedoff’s 3 made it 49–42. The Raiders answered, but Douglas went in for 2 at the other end, and with about 5 minutes left in the game, Haddonfield had a little more breathing room, up by 7, 51–44. Beane had a nice drive into the paint, increasing that lead to 9, 53–44, with 4:11 on the clock.

Neither team scored for a few trips up and down the court before Douglas made it 55–44 with 2:33 left in the game. A pickoff and bucket by Beane gave the Dawgs their biggest lead of the game, 57–44, with 2 and change left. Douglas got his second basket of the quarter off an inbound pass after Paulsboro lost the ball out of bounds. Paulsboro hit one more 3 before time ran out, but it didn’t matter. The Dawgs had prevailed 59–46 and survived another game in Red Raiders’ territory.

Mike Douglas knocked in 16 points, and Jake Dewedoff had 13. All starters scored.

Quarter scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 17, Paulsboro, 11

2nd: Haddonfield, 11, Paulsboro, 15 

Halftime: Haddonfield, 28, Paulsboro, 26

3rd: Haddonfield, 18, Paulsboro, 11

4th: Haddonfield, 13, Paulsboro, 9

Final: Haddonfield 59, Paulsboro, 46

Player scores:

Mike Douglas: 16

Jake Dewedoff: 13

Chase Stadler: 9

Chris Beane: 8

Ryan Guveiyian: 6

John Scipione: 5

Mike Mooney: 2

December 21, 2024: Haddonfield vs. Lenape at Cherokee (Coaches vs. Cancer tournament)

After the win at Paulsboro, Coach Wiedeman said the next game was going to be a tough one. He was right. The Dawgs managed to stay in the game in the 1st, but were trailing by 4, 9–13. After 2 quarters, Lenape was up by 10. By the end of the 3rd, Lenape was cruising, up 19, 41–22. Haddonfield outscored Lenape by 3, 16–13, in the last 8 minutes, but it did not change the outcome of the game, and when the final buzzer sounded, Lenape had handed Haddonfield its first loss, winning by 14, 54–40. The bright spots of the game were Chris Beane’s second half scoring, in which he got 12 out of his 14 game-leading points. We also so the debut of freshman Ethan Miller (who may be taller than 6-3, but since he wasn’t on the original varsity roster, I don’t have an official height for him yet).

December 27, 2024: Haddons Invitational—Pemberton Township vs. Haddonfield

The Hornets had four senior starters and looked like another athletic team out on the court during warmups. And they definitely had some inches over the Dawgs’ starters. But they did not know how to handle the Dawgs’ stellar (as always) defense. That in part led to the Dawgs 9–0 run at the game’s outset. Mike Douglas started it off with a 3, Ryan Guveiyian’s steal led to a 2 by Douglas, another pickoff by Guveiyian put the ball in the hands of Chris Beane, who went up and in, and Guveiyian would get the last 2 points from the foul line. The Hornets finally scored at the 5:19 mark, so it was it 9–2, Dawgs.

After Douglas’ third basket of the game, off a nice double clutch move in the paint, Pemberton Township scored its second, and last, basket of the quarter, making it 11­–4 with 4:01 on the clock. The Dawgs got the last 7 points on a pair of 2-point field goals by Beane, a pretty maneuver under the basket by John Scipione, and one from the line by Guveiyian. This put the Dawgs up 18–4 going into the second quarter.

Although the Dawgs got 21 points in the second, the Hornets found their groove and started avoiding the pressure defense and making some shots. They actually outscored the Dawgs by 1, 22–21, but were still down by 13 going into the half. Beane provided 9 of the Dawgs’ 2nd quarter points, helping to keep the Hornets from stinging too much.

In the second half, the Dawgs found ways to stifle the Hornets again. In the 3rd, Pemberton only got 8 points on the board to Haddonfield’s 16. This time it was Mike Mooney’s trio of treys that kept the Hornets at bay. Going into the last 8 minutes, the Dawgs were up by 21, 55–34. The 4th quarter was more of the same. The Dawgs added 15 more points, holding the Hornets to 10. When the final horn went off, the Dawgs had won handily, 70–44. I made a note in my scorebook that by the end of the 3rd, the Dawgs had already put up 11 more points—55—than the Hornets would garner in 4.

The Dawgs had some nice balance in their scoring, with three starters hitting double digits. Chris Beane finished with 19, Mike Douglas had 14, and Ryan Guveiyian had 12.

Quarter scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 18, Pemberton Township, 4

2nd: Haddonfield, 21, Pemberton Township, 22

Halftime: Haddonfield, 55, Pemberton Township, 34

3rd: Haddonfield, 16, Pemberton Township, 8

4th: Haddonfield, ,15 Pemberton Township, 10

Final score: Haddonfield, 70, Pemberton Township, 44

Player scores:

Chris Beane: 19

Mike Douglas: 14

Ryan Guveiyian: 12

Mike Mooney: 9

Jake Dewedoff: 8

Ben Raus: 3

John Scipione: 2

Van Lefakis: 2

Jude McFillin: 1

December 28, 2024: Haddons Invitational—Clearview Regional vs. Haddonfield

The Clearview Pioneers looked, yes, big and athletic during warmups the next afternoon. And four of their five starters were seniors. And once again, it did not matter. In that always important first quarter, the Pioneers could not handle the Dawgs defensively and could not do much to stop them offensively either. Although the first 4 minutes of the game were fairly competitive, with the Pioneers actually going up 4–3 at the 6:38 mark, they wouldn’t score again for more than 2 minutes, and that would be their last bucket of the quarter. Meanwhile for the Dawgs, Chris Beane and Mike Douglas led the way in those first 8 minutes. Beane scored 8 points on four 2-point field goals. Douglas had four buckets as well, one of them a 3-pointer. When the quarter was done, the Dawgs were up 26–6.

The Pioneers did tally more points on the board in the second, putting up 17 to the Dawgs’ 21. For Haddonfield, Beane continued to shine, this time from the foul line, knocking in 7 points, one after a bucket. Speaking of the foul line, Haddonfield only missed one shot, going 9 of 10 the whole game. At halftime, the Dawgs were up 44–23.

The third quarter was the tightest of the 8-minute periods. Although the Dawgs put 20 on the board, the Pioneers got 19. The Dawgs made a string of questionable shots (mostly from beyond the 3-point arc) that did not drop, which had the score been closer at the half, could have caused some serious trouble. The Pioneers also were able to outsmart the Dawgs’ defense a bit more in the 3rd, even though the team was still trailing by 22 points, 64–22, at the end of the quarter.

In the 4th, Clearview outscored Haddonfield by 3, in part because Coach Wiedeman cleared the bench, but even so, the Dawgs still came out on top with another double-digit victory, winning by 19, 78–59. Chris Beane and Mike Douglas both topped 20, with Beane notching 26 and Douglas scoring 23. Ryan Guveiyian also hit double figures with 16.

Quarter scores:

1st: Haddonfield, 26, Clearview Regional, 6

2nd: Haddonfield, 18, Clearview Regional, 14

Halftime: Haddonfield, 44, Clearview Regional, 23

3rd: Haddonfield, 20, Clearview Regional, 19

4th: Haddonfield, 14, Clearview Regional, 17

Final: Haddonfield, 78, Clearview Regional, 59

Player scores:

Chris Beane: 26

Mike Douglas: 23

Ryan Guveiyian: 16

Ethan Miller: 6

Jake Dewedoff: 4

John Scipione: 3

Next Up:

Haddonfield will have two games after the New Year begins. First is a home Colonial Conference game on Friday, 1/3, at 7 versus Audubon. The next day is an away game at 11:30 a.m. versus BCIT Westampton