HMHS Boys Basketball: Dawgs catchups and wrap-ups
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.