CHC junior forward Gerald Evariste fights to get off a shot in the paint. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

The men of host Chestnut Hill College led last Wednesday’s Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opener almost the entire time, but it took them until late in the evening to finally subdue the visiting Lions of Georgian Court University.

Although the Griffins began to open up double-digit leads in the first half, their guests from New Jersey kept clawing back into it. With 40 seconds to go a three-pointer by the Lions made it a two-possession game (78-72), but CHC sophomore forward Ed McWade broke down the floor for a lay-up and one last three-ball by Georgian Court missed the mark.

CHC won 80-72, chalking up its first CACC win while drawing back close to the .500 mark overall, at 3-4.

“Ed McWade came up with a bucket at some key times to stop their runs,” emphasized Griffins head coach Jesse Balcer, now in his 13th season at Chestnut Hill. “They kept fighting back, so we told the guys we had to continue and try and get stops and then take care of the ball in the set.”

McWade posted a game-high 21 points and pulled seven rebounds, while forward Dapke Yiljep, a freshman out of Westtown School, went three-for-four from the three-point loop and finished with 17 points.

Also with three three-point buckets, senior guard Luke Dickson totaled 15 points along with six assists, and his backcourt colleague Demetrius Isaac, a sophomore from Penn Charter, scored three points and contributed seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Forwards Gerald Evariste (a junior) and Chris Evans (a sophomore) added eight and seven points, respectively.

The Griffins have nine players in the program who are freshmen or sophomores.

“They play really hard,” Balcer said. “Sometimes it forces mistakes because we’re playing so fast and other times it can get us on a roll because other teams can’t keep up with us. We did a bit of both of those things tonight.”

The longtime CHC mentor was asked what traits he’d been looking for while he was out on the recruiting circuit for this year’s squad.

“I would say, unselfish speed,” he replied. “We lost games last year because we couldn’t run with a lot of teams. We brought in guys with speed who can use their speed in a team setting, and we opened things up a little more on offense.”

New arrival Tony Toplyn, a 6’6” forward who’d played in CHC’s first six games, sat out on Wednesday after rolling an ankle. Still, the hosts were able to briskly advance out of an early 4-4 tie. Yiljep became the sixth Griffin to score in the game when his “three” from the right wing gave CHC a 15-5 lead with 13:14 still to go in the first half.

Calling a time-out to regroup, the Lions rallied and were back within three points (15-18) a little past the 10-minute mark in the period.

Chestnut Hill made the mistake of fouling GC’s Keith Hughes three times in a row, and he nailed six free throws. A lay-up then gave the visitors their largest lead of the night, at 23-18.

Now it was the Griffins’ turn for an offensive run, as Dickson stopped his team’s slide with a three-pointer and McWade moved CHC back out in front with a pair of lay-ups, one off a rebound, and the other in transition. A little later during this surge Yiljep and Dickson struck from the three-point arc, adding to a 19-0 outburst that had the Griffins up 37-23 less than three minutes before halftime. When the intermission arrived, the tally was 45-34.

The visitors pushed back at the start of the second half, and in two minutes or so they trailed by just four points, 47-43. Five minutes in, Chestnut Hill had the lead back in double figures, 55-45.

So it went for the rest of the contest. The Griffins maintained a comfortable lead in or around double digits for a time, but later the Lions used some opportunities at the foul line to get the gap down to six points, 65-59, with under six minutes remaining.

The CHC men levered their lead back out to 13 points, but down the stretch they were still challenged by Georgian Court. With the clock down under one minute, the count was 76-69 when the Griffins’ Evariste got loose for a crowd-rousing dunk. Then it was the Lions’ bothersome Hughes who nailed the “three” that made it a two-trip affair (78-72) with 40 seconds left.

On the visitors’ next possession CHC got a defensive stop and sent McWade down the floor on a breakaway. His lay-up completed the scoring for the night, as the Lions couldn’t locate the cylinder again.

With such a young team overall, Balcer appreciates the guidance provided to the youngsters by his four seniors. Dickson and guard Noel Hightower (six points, five rebounds) are starters, while Dexter Harris has been sidelined for the season by a medical condition and La Salle High alum Sean Dougherty has played in only one game so far.

“Whether they play or not,” the coach said, “all four guys receive so much respect from the other kids because they do all the right things. They come to practice, they’re on time, they’re respectful of their teammates, they work hard. They encourage the younger guys and they keep everybody positive.”

It was nice to mark down a “W” in the conference opener, because Balcer foresees a very tough battle ahead in the CACC.

“It’s a very, very, very good conference,” he stated. “The northern division is strong, and in the southern division (CHC’s section) you have Philly U., Holy Family, USciences and other really strong teams. We were actually picked seventh in our division and Georgian Court was eighth, but you can’t tell me that those looked like number seven and eight teams out there tonight.”