 |
Rim Blocked by Red Hot Return to TedSilary.com Home Page Liam
McGettigan, known as "Red Hot" due to his hair, is a senior at Penn
Charter with an interest in writing. He asked to cover the stretch run of PC's season, so
here he is. |
|
Rim Blocked by Red Hot Return to TedSilary.com Home Page Liam
McGettigan, known as "Red Hot" due to his hair, is a senior at Penn
Charter with an interest in writing. He asked to cover the stretch run of PC's season, so
here he is. |
FEB.
8
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Gtn. Academy 68, Penn Charter 49
In the final meeting of the
regular season between these two heavy rivals, GA once again prevailed. As opposed to last year where the games between
the Quakers and Patriots were close and intense, the two this season have been blowouts,
both in GA’s favor. In the first
quarter, soph. sniper Sammy Zeglinski quickly knocked down his first three of the
game, which stirred up Charter fans and got them on their feet. But they were quickly
silenced by an emphatic dunk from GA jr. Andrew Ott. After the dunk, Coach Jim
Phillips of Penn Charter called a timeout to get his troops refocused, and it seemed
to work as the kid they call Sambo came out and quickly drilled another trey bomb (he had
seven of those in the game). The first period ended with Germantown Academy leading the
Quakers 13-8, a score that had to at least be encouraging for the Quakers fans as they
were up against a taller and very talented GA team. However, sadly for the Quakers, this
would be as close as the game would get. PC
struggled in the second quarter with their shooting, but the Patriots offense wasn’t
slowed down. GA continued to score on the Quakers, and finished the first half with a
29-17 lead.
One thing did come to mind
before the game started, though. Injured sr. guard Zack Zeglinski and the Penn
Charter Athletic Trainer Richard Clarke were not on the bench for the Quakers as
they usually are during games. To everyone’s surprise, during halftime, Zack
"Attack" Zeglinski came out on the court fully dressed in game attire and began
taking mid-range jumpers and basket cuts to test out his injured knee (he tore his ACL in
August during a pre-season football practice and had been on the shelf since). As the
third quarter got under way, Zack made his way to the check in table, receiving a standing
ovation from both the Penn Charter and Germantown Academy fans. As soon as
"Ziggs" entered the game, the Patriots coach immediately called a timeout to
configure a way to play against him. A shot made 45 seconds into the third quarter could
have been the most cheered for shot of the season, as Zeglinski made his first basket, a
long range bomb in the face of sr. F Ryan Ayers.
Zack really deserves to be commended for making his comeback tonight. The Quakers had been eliminated from Inter-Ac
three-peat contention a long time ago, and were down big at halftime so Zack really didn’t
need to bother playing in this game. However,
he did, showing how much of a team player he is and how much he missed playing basketball. It really was great to see him back on the court,
and he should be more than ready to resume his duties as starting shortstop for PC’s
baseball team, which will begin practicing in a few weeks looking to dethrone GA as
Inter-Ac baseball champs.
Aside from Zack’s
return, not much else went right for PC. They
were simply no match for the high powered offense of Ayers, Ott and Brian Grimes. Sammy Zeglinski did end up scoring 32 points, but
he received little help from his teammates (only three other Quakers scored in the game—Zack
finished with 5, Brian Teuber had 8, and Joe Rauchut added 4 points). For the Patriots, it was quite the opposite as
they overwhelmed PC with a balanced attack. Grimes
led the team with 18 points, Ayers dropped 16, Ott had 15, and soph. G Kyle Griffin
found a home in Penn Charter’s gymnasium, adding 12 to the Patriots score. Even
though it was a tough loss for the Quakers, it was an honor to see the heroic play of Zack
Zeglinski take the court.
FEB.
4
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Penn Charter 71, Haverford School
45
On
Senior Appreciation night at Penn Charter, the second meeting of these teams ended in the
same result as the first, a blowout victory in the Quakers favor. Following in Penn
Charter tradition, PC honored its three seniors—Zack Zeglinski, Ryan Nanni, and R.J. Hollinshead—for their dedication to the
basketball program over the past few seasons.
The
game started off with some hot shooting from Penn Charter, particularly from jr. G Kevin “Showtime” McGarvey (12 points),
whose accuracy gave the Quakers an early 12-3 lead. Haverford’s squad had trouble
hitting shots for the duration of the first
quarter, and this would not change as the game progressed. Nanni even got in on the
action, showing off his long range skills by hitting a three to increase the lead. This
was Nanni’s comeback night as a member of the Quaker team. He has been plagued with
injuries all season, but his performance, not necessarily on the scoreboard, but his
hustle, earned him quality playing time during the game. Penn Charter’s high pressure
Fr.
F Chris Kurz (brother of former PC star Rob Kurz, now a freshman at Notre Dame) entered
the game in the second quarter, but was quickly sidelined after getting tripped up on a
rebound, landing on his leg. He was examined on the bench by Penn Charter trainer Richard “Wassup Buddy” Clarke and was
deemed OK to play. Kurz, who played some JV
ball as an eighth grader last year, might have a bright future ahead of him. He has grown
quite a bit since last year, and now stands about 6’6’’ as a freshman. Meanwhile, PC jr. Milo “Unabomber” Trauss got the Quakers
off to a quick start in the second quarter by hitting a leaning jumper from the foul line.
Penn Charter made sure Haverford would still have trouble with the ball by immediately
initiating the full court press, smothering the Fords beyond belief. Haverford hadn’t
scored since 1:33 left in the first quarter, and didn’t make a shot again until soph.
John Haldy (8 points) hit a 12-foot jumper
midway through the period. But this was not a sign of good things to come, as
Haverford’s unlucky streak stayed with them. Rory “Rock Hands” Perner
let a pass fly right through his hands, turning over the ball, which pretty much
summarized the game and the season has gone for Haverford. Each team added 10 to its score
in the second quarter, with the Quakers holding an 11 point lead, 31-20, at the half.
Penn
Charter players had hot hands all game, with just a few examples being: Teuber taking off
from outside the paint, leaping around two Haverford defenders for the easy putback,
McGarvey cuffing a bomb from J.J. Redick range,
and Rauchut giving a beautiful bounce pass to Teuber, who then ran the give-and-go and fed
the rock back to Rauchut for the easy deuce. In addition to the superb offensive
performance by the Quakers, the defense also prevailed. Haverford was unable to inbound
the ball and on a few occasions were whistled for 5-second violations. When all was said
and done, the Quakers dominated the third quarter and entered the final period with a
comfortable 20- point lead, 50-30.
Even
with the Quakers up big, the fun didn’t stop there. Remember the old NBA Jam game for
Sega when you get on fire and make literally everything you chuck at the rim? That was the Quakers tonight. People who never even take three’s decided to
JAN. 25
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Penn Charter 62, Malvern 58 (OT)
**Special Note from
Special Ed:
Greetings,
hoops fans, hope you're enjoying the basketball season so far. I just wanted to take a few minutes to introduce
my successor/apprentice/protégé (whichever you wanna call it) as Penn Charter basketball
reporter for tedsilary.com, Liam “Red Hot/The Godfather” McGettigan. Even though it’s late in the season, Liam is
going to make me proud and light up the site bringing you all the action in the post-Sean
Singletary-Rob Kurz era at PC. I’ve
known Liam from our days playing pee-wee baseball back in Juniata (Liam started over me at
second base, but only because his pops was the coach), and he’s the man for the job. I guess it’s appropriate that I’m
passing the torch to a fellow redhead from Northeast Philly, and I’m sure Liam will
provide entertaining reports and be much funnier than I was, even though I am better
looking (smile). So enjoy the second half of
the Inter-Ac season, and show some love to my boy Liam.
--Your favorite, Special Ed Morrone
The rematch. The last time these two
teams went at it, Malvern took the game in double overtime against the Quakers in the
Inter-Ac Showcase over at Arcadia. Now I never doubt my team, but I had butterflies going
into this game. It started off with PC jr. F Brian Teuber winning the tap, and that
was about all the action that went on until the end of the second quarter. Both teams
struggled with shooting in the first and the second quarters. Penn Charter’s shot
selection was solid, but the shots simply weren’t falling. Malvern was in the same
situation, with the only difference being the Friars would wait about two minutes before
they shot the ball, and when they laid up their bricks, Teuber would grab the board. The
score at the end of the first quarter was 16-11 in favor of the visiting Friars. Sadly,
this is exactly how the second quarter went. The Friars upped their score from 16 to 20,
and the Quakers added 8. Both teams were in dire need of a spark that would give them the
momentum going into the third quarter. “The Future” of Penn Charter, soph. G Sammy
Zeglinski, would give his squad this spark. With no time left on the clock, Zeglinski
launched a three from five feet behind the arc right in the grill of defending player Jimmie
Cotton, leaving him dumbfounded with his shorts at his ankles as the ball smacked the
bottom of the cotton, giving the Quakers a huge lift heading into the half.
The Quakers and the Friars
would trade buckets as the third quarter progressed. Cotton and fellow jr. Mike
Creighton led the Friars on fast break opportunities which would help them maintain
the lead. Cotton ultimately finished with a team high 21, and Creighton tallied 13 points
in the game. Despite the solid Friar effort, the Quakers weren’t going to give up
anytime soon. Jr. Milo Trauss came off the bench for PC and scored a quick 6
points, boosting the confidence for the home team. This woke up all Penn Charter fans, who
decided to take a nap during the game. But the Quaker fans were silenced after soph. Mike
Francisco threw the ball back into the face of PC jr. F Joe Rauchut after he
attempted a layup. With the Friars controlling the ball with 13.2 ticks left on the clock,
sr. Zac “Slip 'n Slide” Fordham decided to put on his roller blades and
cruise across the hardwood floor sailing into the padding against the wall with ball in
hand. Thanks for giving us back the rock, Slip n’ Slide. The third quarter ended with
Friars on top by three, 35-32.
The fourth quarter started
with Zeglinski nailing a three to tie the game. The boy is possessed. With 4:30 left in
the fourth, Rauchut-Man gave Charter its first lead of the game, 38-37. Penn Charter kept
the pressure high, causing Malvern a five-second violation on the inbound play. The Friars
retook the lead, but it was once again cut to one with the long ball of phenom Sam-bo
Zeglinski. Creighton then rushed the ball back down the court, going through the Penn
Charter team and made a clutch lay-up. Malvern got the ball back off a steal, but sr. Matt
“The Dribbling Machine” Borgerson decided to moonwalk across the court and
the ref was not impressed with his double dribbling abilities. With the ball on the
Quakers side, Zeglinski ran around a teammate's pick, threw up a three, and Belgium dipped
all over Creighton who also fouled him on the play. Sammy went on to make the free throw.
The momentum was now on the Quakers side. Along with an incredible 13 rebounds, Brian
“Franchise” Teuber had a huge steal with 8 seconds left in the game. Soon after,
Zeglinski was fouled and went to the line with 3.8 seconds left. The overpowering noise of
the whole 1 fan from Malvern was not enough to break the concentration of the 6-foot
guard, who hit both shots. All of Penn Charter’s fan section rose to their feet and
were on cloud 9 until Mike Creighton threw up a prayer and stroked a controversial three point shot (it appeared that
his foot was just over the line) with no time left on the clock. For the second time in
almost three weeks, these two squads were headed to overtime. Both teams were in shock. I
was told injured senior G Zack Zeglinski was seen breaking a pool stick over his
thigh. I would be angry too if the refs counted a 2-pointer as a 3-ball.
Overtime kicked off with
soph. F Drew Fullen sinking a mid-range jumper for the Quakers. But Malvern’s Tom
Grandieri responded with a fast break lay-up. The Quakers raced down the court, and
once again Sam Zeglinski was in the right place at the right time, putting back a missed
shot by Quaker jr. G Kevin McGarvey. Grandieri tried to respond with a lay-up, but
Teuber would have no part of that, sending the ball back on the floor with a monstrous
block. But his block was matched when soph. Phil Gosselin threw Fullen’s shot
across the court. Teuber once again was found with the ball down low and was fouled. He
missed both foul shots, even air balling the first attempt, but I believe the ball only
hit air because of the strong gust of wind that hit Teuber’s eyes right before he
released the ball. Penn Charter held a two point lead with 30 seconds left, but the game
was once again tied by Grandieri with 25 seconds left on the clock. PC Coach Jim
Phillips took a time out as the Quakers regrouped and planned out a play to win the
game on the final shot. Silent all game, McGarvey got the ball with 1 second left. You
know him as Kevin McGarvey, I know him as “Showtime” and Showtime didn’t
disappoint. With defenders' hands all up in his eyes, McGarvey miraculously made a fade
away jumper with .2 seconds left, scorching two Malvern defenders in the process.
Creighton tried to preserve time by calling a timeout, but he must have left his memory in
his other basketball shorts' pockets because the Friars had none left. Zeglinski made both
free throws caused by the technical foul, and the Quakers went on to win the game by four,
62-58 in an overtime thriller.
Game Notes
Penn Charter
Zeglinski: 29 pts (21 in
4th), 6/11 from 3 point land, 5 rebounds, 3 assists
Teuber: 8 pts, 13 rebounds, 3
assists, 4 steals
Malvern
Cotton: 21 pts (Team
High)
Creighton: 13 pts