SCH juniors Ke'Shawn Williams (left) and David Robinson (right) powered the Blue Devils to their first .500 finish in almost a decade. Williams, a bull-dozing guard, was named to the All-Inter Ac First Team. Robinson, a transfer from North Penn, was named to the second team. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

Springside Chestnut Hill basketball head coach Julian McFadden knows, by most standards, that his team’s 2018-19 season was average at best. The Blue Devils finished at 14-14 overall, and at 4-6 in the Inter-Ac.

Their season ended with a pair of double-digit losses; they dropped their regular season finale to Germantown Academy 76-57, and fell two days later to the Perkiomen School 76-53 in the first round of the Independent Schools playoff.

It’s a sour way to end the year, so having a week between its conclusion and asking him to recap the season proved useful.

“It puts things in perspective,” McFadden said. “Thinking about where we were a few years ago to where we are now, we’re trending in the right direction.”

“That was the biggest takeaway after having a week off the decompress,” he went on. “It was good to look back and see that we’re improving and hopefully we can take that into next season.”

The improvement might not be immediately obvious – SCH was just a game better in league play – but a look at the context around their wins and losses makes it clear that the Blue Devils were a different team.

For one, their point differential (points scored minus points against) in Inter-Ac play went up by six points per game, from -91 to -30. For another, their record alone was as big of an accomplishment the basketball program has seen since most of the team was in grade school.

“We haven’t won over 10 games in about a decade. So for us to get 14, that was major,” McFadden said.

The last time they won 10 was 2012-13, and the last time they saw .500 was the season prior. 14 games is as many as they’ve won since 2009-10, back when they were known only as Chestnut Hill Academy.

“We played some tough teams. It was important for them to see that we can play with the La Salles, Sankofas and Shipleys of the world,” McFadden went on.

In each of those games, the Blue Devils were competitive, but ultimately lost.

“And we let those ones slip away from us,” McFadden said, with a subtle amount of frustration that showed, months later, how those losses still stung. “We had some of those games.”

“But,” he went on, “we can definitely compete.”

The junior duo of David Robinson and Ke’Shawn Williams were perhaps the biggest reasons why. Williams followed up a First-Team All-Inter Ac football season with another one on the hardwood, while Robinson made the second team and added a dimension that the Blue Devils haven’t had in recent years.

“Dave made us look completely different,” McFadden said. “Now, we have an inside presence that we could get the ball into. Having him really helped us.”

Juniors Delonce Hines (left) and Jared Sprague-Lott (right) each play best as guards, though their respective styles of play are almost polar opposites. Hines is a slasher, always looking for ways to spring toward the hoop, while Sprague-Lott is a bit more discerning and prefers to operate on the perimeter to find open looks for teammates (like Hines). Regardless, both will feature heavily in the success of SCH basketball in 2019-20. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

Robinson transferred from North Penn (Lansdale), where he was entering what would have been his senior season at age 16. Wanting a better opportunity to play hoops in front of college scouts, he joined SCH’s program and was classified as a junior.

His game mostly stays within the restricted area, though he’s got just enough shooting touch to keep teams from sleeping on him in the mid-range or along the perimeter. Usually though, he leverages his six-foot-six frame and crafty hands to finish plays around the basket.

“He’s coming into his own,” McFadden said. “He’s coachable, and learning what it’s going to take to really learn how to be a basketball player at the next level.”

His teammate, health willing, has a chance to finish his career as one of SCH’s all-time best. After ending the season with 423 points, he now has 866 in his career. It wouldn’t be a shock to see him eclipse 1,300 next season, which would put him in the top-five in the program’s history.

“Ke’Shawn is just one of those kids that’s going to keep coming and coming,” he said. “He’s tenacious, a fireball and there’s nothing that’s going to veer him away from competition.”

SCH has two more rising seniors that saw heavy minutes in 2018-19: Delonce Hines and Jared Sprague-Lott. They, along with Williams, represent the first core of players that McFadden will have coached throughout their entire high-school careers.

“I think they’re ready,” McFadden said. “Because of the experiences we’ve had and the way we’ve lost games we should have won, we have teachable moments and things we can point to.”

“Last year, we didn’t really have many of those because a lot of our losses weren’t very close,” he said. “Now, we’re getting teams’ best efforts because we’re not a team to overlook any more.”

"That was really important for us. I relished in it – but it was still an adjustment,” McFadden went on. “It was great to get the respect that I’ve felt we deserved.”

Next season, the Inter-Ac may be as wide open as it’s been in any recent year. Haverford School (this year’s champ) will lose four seniors out of their rotation while most of the rest of the league’s brightest stars – Malvern Prep’s Deuce Turner, Fran Oschell and Rhadir Hicks, Penn Charter’s Ryan Holmes and Germantown Academy’s Jordan Longino – will remain for their junior or senior seasons.

So, McFadden knows that it’ll be now or never for his squad.

“We’re back to being relevant. Kids actually want to come here to play and watch SCH basketball,” McFadden said. “I’ve got to make sure that we capitalize on it and that I continue to get better and learn everything that I can as a coach.”

“ is going to come in with a lot to prove,” he said. “They’re going to want to well and show everybody that they’re not just a mid-level team. They’ll have a chip on their shoulder, and I know I will too.”

Around the Area:

La Salle advanced to the Catholic League final with a tight, 49-47 win over Bishop McDevitt last Thursday. Jake Timby and Zach Crisler led with 14 points (tying a season-high for Timby), while Allen Powell added 10. The Explorers will duel Roman Catholic Monday for the league crown. The winner of that game will go on to play the winner of the Boys Latin-Lincoln game (the Public League 6A championship) to determine the Philadelphia city title, while the loser of the PCL final will face Simon Gratz in a PIAA tournament seeding matchup.

Historical information from TedSilary.com was used in this article.