Turnovers plague jittery Fords in defeat
EAST MARLBOROUGH » You expect a lot of jitters in a season opener, and that’s exactly what happened Friday with the Haverford and Unionville boys basketball squads. The two combined to turn the ball over 45 times.
But the host Indians forced a lot more mistakes than they committed, and the end result was a convincing 61-42 non-conference triumph over the turnover-prone Fords at the Unionville Tournament.
“I’m ecstatic for our players. They deserve it,” said first-year Indians’ head coach Chris Cowles, who spent the previous two seasons at West Chester East. “Everybody says it, but they’ve really been putting in the work.”
In all, Unionville forced 27 turnovers and never trailed. For a nice chunk of the first half, the Fords had as many turnovers as points. It was close, however, until the Indians used a 14-3 third quarter run to take command.
“We did not value the ball, unfortunately,” said Haverford head coach Keith Heinerichs. “To win on the road your first night, you have to play good basketball, and we had too many turnovers to win.
“We didn’t trust our fundamentals. We went to the dribble too soon and that messed up our spacing.”
Junior Shawn Rafferty scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second half for Unionville. It was enough to equal the careerhigh in scoring for the 6-foot-4 junior. He said that the transition to a new coaching staff has been uneventful.
“It’s been smooth,” Rafferty said. “We started workouts this summer with 6 a.m. practices and everybody showed up and put in the work.”
The Indians scored the seven points of the second to open a double digit lead, first half and after guard Connor Ash buried a 3-pointer and a 3-point-play, the home team was in control 39-23.
“When you turn it over that many times, it leads to a lot of points for (Unionville),” Heinerichs said. “I didn’t think our defense was great, but our offensive mistakes led to more scoring opportunities for them.” In other nonleague games: At the Vanguard Invitational: SUN VALLEY 65, COLLEGIUM CHARTER 42 » Vinny DeAngelo poured in a game-high 26 points, and Marvin Freeman canned six 3-pointesr to score 19 as the Vanguards advanced to Saturday’s final against the winner of Interboro-Motivation, details of which were not reported.
At the Radnor Tip-Off: RADNOR 50, PALUMBO 36 » Vernon Harper led a balanced effort with 12 points, and Lewis Robinson paired nine points with seven boards. EPISCOPAL ACADEMY & SCIENCE 41 » 58, ENGINEERING Alex Capitano scored 23 points, and Matt Dade chipped in 22 as the Churchmen advanced to the title game against Radnor.
At the Delco Christian DELCO CHRISTIAN 64, CHRISTIAN HERITAGE 31 » Tyler Penley nailed five 3-pointers to score 19 points, and Jackson Piotrowski poured in 17 points to pilot the Knights to the final. CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 43, ATLANTIC CHRISTIAN 32 » Sam Geathers poured in 20 points to go with seven rebounds as the Crusaders meet their Delco rival in the final at 4:30 Saturday.
At the McBride Tournament: HAVERFORD SCHOOL 71, ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 45 » Gavin Burke scored 21 points, and Christian Ray added 17 as the Fords waltzed to the victory.
In nonleague action: PENNCREST 54, ACADEMY PARK 50 » Tyler Norwood picked up right where he left off last year, scoring 33 points to lead the Lions. The Invitational: reigning Daily Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year scored 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Lions recouped a deficit. Chris Mills added nine points.
Naseim Harley led Academy Park with 14 points, and Jalen Cassidy tossed in 13. BONNER & PRENDERGAST 74, OVERBROOK 54 » Isaiah Wong scored 19 points in his debut at the school, Chris Haynes dropped in 16 and Ajiri Johnson was limited to just six points but made up for it with 15 rebounds and 10 blocks. DOWNINGTOWN EAST 61, GARNET VALLEY 56 » Connor O’Brien led the way with 19 points, and Austin Laughlin added 14, but a 15-5 hole after one quarter was too much to surmount. Greg Vlassopoulos chipped in 13 points for the Jags. AVON GROVE 48, STRATH HAVEN 28 » Cooper Driscoll led all scorers with 17 points to go with seven rebounds, but no one else on the Panthers hit more than one field goal in the home setback.