by Jonathan Vander Lugt

For Germantown Friends School, Thursday evening’s 48-37 win over Springside Chestnut Hill Academy could be construed as little less than a very positive sign.

Two days after senior guard Sam Istvan broke his ankle in a 45-35 loss to William Penn Charter School, the Tigers rebounded about as well as head coach Shawn Werdt could have hoped.

“We played Penn Charter really tough, and losing Sam (a captain) at the end of that game was really a punch in the gut for everybody,” Werdt said. “We tried to regroup and looked at this game as an opportunity to respond to some adversity. It was good to see the kids do just that.”

GFS jumped out to a 10-6 first-quarter lead on the strength of Pietro Berghella’s stellar play. The six-foot-seven-inch big used his size to push around the Blue Devils while netting eight in the frame.

“When Pietro is scoring for us, we’re a much better offensive team,” Werdt said. It lightens the load off of Mike Buckmire, and makes defenses close in around the junior in the paint, opening up opportunities outside. “We challenged him prior to the game that he should be getting a double-double every time he hits the floor.”

And he did—12 points and 12 boards.

“If Pietro does that, we’re certainly happy,” Werdt said. “We played through him a lot in the first half. You saw them really packing it inside. Down a guy offensively, this is what we needed.”

Not surprisingly, senior guard Mike Buckmire picked up most of the rest of the slack for the Tigs. He scored 25 on the strength of a 15-for-16 clinic from the charity stripe.

“What would we do without Mike?” Werdt asked. “He’s a really good player—he can get by almost anybody. His outside shot is very improved, and he’s just the head of the team.”

Once SCH started collapsing on Berghella, Buckmire took the reins, scoring eight in the second quarter. GFS notched 18 in the frame—while holding SCH to 10 (the first two of which took six minutes to tally)—to push the lead to 12 at the half.

The GFS offense slowed in the third—just eight points—but the Blue Devils couldn’t muster more than a pair themselves.

Nonetheless, SCH kept it competitive, cutting the lead to just eight with around two minutes left in the fourth. Germantown Friends maintained the lead thanks to Buckmire’s work from the foul line, but the mini-comeback gave the Blue Devils something to hang their hat on.

“I loved that resolve,” brand-new SCH head coach Julian McFadden said. “Last night, I was watching some of their games from last year, and when they got down, spirits got really down too.

“Down as much late as we were today, last year, that could have ballooned to about 40. I really like the fight and the effort.”

Zuri Peyton led the squad with 14, and Matt Rahill chipped in with nine in fourth quarter.

“I’m hoping they worked out any first-game jitters,” McFadden said. “I think they had them probably the whole first and second quarter.”

They probably extended through the two-point third frame as well.

“They didn’t go away fast,” McFadden said. “I’m hoping that after that fourth-quarter run where we got back in it, they worked through it and found the trust that you need in basketball.”

“It won’t be quick—we haven’t gotten all of our offensive work in. We’ve been focusing on defense,” McFadden added, but “it’s getting there.”

GFS lost a big one to the Peddie School (in Highstown, NJ) 79-49, but shouldn’t lose sight of the positive signs against SCH. The Tigs will take on Princeton Day School Tuesday in their next match, while the Blue Devils will face off against Cardinal O’Hara on Friday night.

“We’ll need some guys to step up down the stretch,” Werdt said.

After having to pivot the team’s offensive game plan due to the injury to Istvan—whose primary role is as an offensive sharpshooter—GFS is going to have to rely on other players to fill the void.

Down one facet of the offense, little things—like hitting free throws (they were 4-for-9 outside of Buckmire), handling the ball, taking advantage of open threes—are going to become that much more important.

“It helps that we’re playing with a bigger lineup,” Werdt said, “but it’s one of those things that we’re forever working on.”