February 15, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Tigers Trounce Moorestown
by John O’Reilly

Germantown Friends School (16-4) varsity basketball dominated an undersized and overmatched Moorestown squad, defeating them 55–28 and dropping their season record to 4-13. Despite 19 turnovers, GFS defeated Moorestown on the strength of senior captain Marek Loder’s game-leading 23 points.

“It was sloppy, but Marek had a good game,” said Coach Bill Dooley.

After Santos Gonzalez (seven points) of Moorestown hit their first shot of the game, GFS went on a 14-0 run, effectively putting the game out of reach.

Loder and fellow captain David Gould (eight points) powered the run with swarming defense, causing multiple turnovers that led to a strong transition game. Moorestown’s biggest problem was their ineffective shooting, going 1-10 from beyond the arc.

After leading 20-11 at halftime, the Tigers were challenged by the gutsy play of Moorestown senior co-captain Michael Young, who scored seven of his team-leading 11 points in the third quarter, closing the gap to 10 points. He dueled Loder, trading basket for basket until the GFS senior won the battle with 12 points.

Sophmore Wes Bill put the dagger in the New Jersey school’s heart scoring all of his five points within the first two minutes of the final quarter, hitting a long trey with 6:12 left in the game to put the lead at 16 points.

Junior Nick Mraz (four points) played intimidating defense in the fourth as well, blocking two shots on back-to-back plays, although one was annulled on a travel call on the offense.

After pulling their starters, bench player Luke Sand had an impressive fourth, scoring all of his seven points, including the last basket of the game. Other GFS scorers include Max DeLone (five points) and Rasheed Stewart (three points).

The Tigers have two more games, with the potential to make the Friends School League playoffs. Coach Dooley noted that in the next game against Chestnut Hill they “will play like it’s a playoff game.”

To win, however, hey must remedy their sloppy play, having given up far too many turnovers against a weaker foe to survive a stronger team. Yet win or lose, this season was a vast improvement from two and four win seasons the last two years respectively.

Coach Dooley commented on how hard the seniors have worked to make the improvement, and how much he looks forward to the future of GFS basketball. “In general I’m happy with all our seniors. We have good kids, it’s enjoyable to coach them.”