Patrick Flanagan (L) and Rory Magargee

FriarSide Chats IV-A
 Basketball 2009-10

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  Seniors “Lord” Rory Magargee and Patrick "The Fresh Prince" Flanagan seem to be the only remains of the Friarside Chat community. They follow a great lineage dating all the way back to Drew Flanagan that included legends in their own right: Brian Thomas, Kevin Newby, Ted Rawlings, Matt Thomas and Colin Newby. They hope to bring humor and enthusiasm back into the Malvern Prep Athletics community after a decline of interest, which many people think went down with the economy last year.

  Welcome back everyone. First and foremost, we would like to apologize for the delay. Secondly, it’s been awhile since Sir Colin’s farewell, so let’s catch you upt o date with everything that has happened since then…

  Well, yes it is that time of the year, when Tuesday afternoon games mean more than Friday night games and when seniors start their slide into college, so here it is, the basketball season thus far:

After The devastating loss to Friends' Central School The Friars played the Friars of Bonner (Even though they're not an Augustinian School) on December 11 and came out victorious in a bloodbath 59-49 in OT. After this great game we had to travel out to West Chester University to play Bartram on the very next day. We were victorious 61-50. Then we hit a roadblock against the young Explorers of La Salle and lost at home 44-41. But we would not be denied any more games for the next 7 games including a very successful trip to Canada were we won our 3 games by a combined 113 points. But then we came back to set up what was to be the best game of the triple header Inter-Ac opener at Cabrini. Malvern Vs. Germantown Academy.

Malvern Prep Vs. Germantown Academy 1/09/10

Well it was the game that I think everyone that is involved in either school’s athletics was waiting for. Malvern being the favorites led by Senior captain Ryan “RC Racer” Creighton, juniors DeQuann “DETRAIN” Walker, Lamon “Young Kobe” Church, Tracy Peal, and Sophomore Brendan “BK Special” Kilpatrick. Malvern enters the game with a record of 12-2 against a GA team led by Seniors Cameron Ayers, and Austin “I wish I was Stephen” Curry. The game started off a tight match up of two great teams and Things were going our way on offense when RC gave himself a self pass, but in reality his pass was deflected and he got the loose ball and had a open lane.  It was a close game all game with miniscule leads being traded back and forth. With a minute left in the fourth Malvern found themselves down 60-58 when Young Kobe himself dashed down the lane and, made an acrobatic lay-up just as Kobe would have. (You would have made him proud.) With around 15 seconds left Bootsie has the ball stolen from him by Ayers and he takes off on a fast break with the game tied. Bootsie, having seen what he has just done, decides to hustle himself back into the play and when the lay-up by Ayers goes up Walker is already there waiting for it. Walker makes what was probably the best play that I have ever seen because it was such a hustle play. He made a block on Ayers that was so textbook defense that it was not called for goal-tending and the game went overtime. To the dismay of Coach Fenerty of GA there was no foul called and Malvern went into Overtime with momentum. The overtime was led by Walker who had a lay-up and two clutch free-thows to go up three. Mike Dougherty came off the bench and delivered a touch pass to the bass line where Tracy Peal put it in for 2. And with 22.7 seconds left Bootsie as he always does caps the game with a jam and Malvern goes up 6. Final Score Malvern 75 GA 72. Malvern was led by Walkers 25, Church with 18, Both Kilpatrick and Peal with 13 a piece, RC, DOC and Gordon all had 2 a piece also. It was well played game by both teams but the Friars became victorious.

Notable Sightings

Malvern Prep 53, William Penn Charter 39

Alright, let’s set the stage: Friday January 15, 2010. The day started off well, mainly because we didn’t have to go to school and got a chance to sleep in. We were able to fit more kids in Rory’s 2006 Honda Pilot than we were able to pack in the Friar Nation stands all year; 8. This crew was headed by seniors Chris “slow down Rory” Kennedy (shotgun), Mike “Tyson’s got nothing on me” Reynolds (middle row), and “CapTin” Ed Ravert (middle row) along with lone Junior Brendon “I rep Haverford Middle too hard” Bell, and the two freshmen studs Alfredo “Fettichini” Giannaccari and Matt “The MANny” Ramirez. We were fortunate enough to catch upto Sophomore Sensation Jake Stokes who was sprinting down Lancaster Ave since we weren’t going to pick him up at his house (for a number of reasons). Alright, so we got on the road by 6:45 after devouring some Baconators and Frosties at Wendys, not fast food and were headed to Philly U, I mean Penn Charter.  Funny I mentioned that, we actually turned into the Philly U housing lot (right next to PC) thinking it was the parking lot; however, once we saw that the lot was nearly full, we realized that we weren’t at Penn Charter. Either way, an executive decision was made to park there and walk to PC’s gym, which was within eyesight, the only problem was that there was a barb-wired fence keeping us back.  Without hesitation, Rory was the first to climb the fence, citing that he’s overcome more severe obstacles on days he didn’t shave to hide from Mr. Whitney. Kennedy was the next to follow, but then Stokes gave it a shot. Let’s just say that ten minutes later, and a few scrapes on his body, he was able to survive the fence. After the minor setback, we were able to make it into the gym without any major injuries. We made it in time for the player announcements. Right when we walked in, we saw our biggest challenge of the year, not the barb-wired fence or the Penn Charter, the yellow sea of about 80 fans, who called themselves the Quaker Crew. I must give credit where it is due, or at least for now. The Quaker Crew was legit, and everyone was very loud and rowdy, they had great numbers and they were easily the best student section Malvern has played against all year.  However, once we saw the back of their yellow shirts, respect was lost, it read “we run this” then on the bottom “You’ll learn that.” Now we like the top of the shirt and actually listened to the track on the way down, however the bottom never really clicked with us.
  Anyways, onto the game. The Friars jumped out to an early 4-0 lead thanks to Lamon “YoungKobe” Church and Tracy “why’d quaker crew steal my banana?” Peal. However PC took the lead on a three ball from Tom “I develop my game and looks fom Kevin Pittsnogle” Noonan but that lead didn’t last long.  After a big two-handed dunk from Lamon “YoungKobe” Church with about 1:20 remaining which quieted the Quaker Crew, Penn Charter decided to hold for one, sadly, nothing came of the possession as expected, Malvern led 15-9 at the end of the first.  At half, Malvern was on top by 8, 25-17. During the game, we were wondering why we were playing the game at the Middle School Gym. It turns out, that it was Penn Charter’s High School gym, which maybe held 300 people, with only one side of bleachers. As Malvern started to pull away in the fourth quarter, the Quaker Crew tried to channel their frustration at us, by coming at the three of us who were standing up, and that is when the unthinkable happened. A classic David (Friar Nation 3 deep) vs Goliath (Quaker Crew 80 strong) battle ensued in the stands. They came at us with “we can’t hear you” when we were outnumbered by 77 and we said “Stick to squash”. Then, we fired again with “your chants suck” and a fight similar to the one on the third floor of Carney this week ensued, just kidding. As the game went on, we kept on coming at them, and were able to successfully shut up a crowd 80 deep, that was making the place bounce in the first half, just with three of us. Malvern pulled away in the fourth quarter en route to a 53-39 victory, bringing their Inter-Ac record to 2-0.

Notables:
Former Friar Chris Higgins was in the house.
Note to Penn Charter: please keep mop or towel of some sort on hand for the games, I can’t even begin talk about how many times the game was delayed because of sweat on the floor, and how much longer it took to find a towel and dry it.
  Note to the zebras: If you are going to make a horrible call, please at least give the player the proper respect by remembering who the foul was on. Play was delayed in the second quarter for some time because the ref called a touch foul on Bootsie. The only problem was that he gave Lamon’s number. After Coach Rullo informed the refs, they met at half court for a few minutes I guess to go over the plans after the game. After a few minutes, the refs called the foul on Bootsie. However, this caused a major delay and is very embarrassing for the refs, who disrespected Bootsie.
Player-Coach Leo Parsons missed tonight’s game; the Friars are currently 4-0 when Leo isn’t on the end of the bench.
Player of the Game: Lamon “YoungKobe” Church… I mean DeQuann Walker “Texas Ranger.”

Chestnut Hill Academy 38- Malvern Prep 34 (OT)

Due to some traffic on 476, Joe “Act like I’m athletic” Milton and I walked into this closet attached to Chestnut Hill’s Cafeteria which turned out to be Chestnut Hill’s Gym at the end of the first quarter with the Friars up 8-3. Now I feel bad that I spent so much time talking about Penn Charter’s gym, because CHA’s gym is a hole-in-the wall. I couldn’t measure it, but I am almost certain that the area of CHA’s bathroom facilities (roughly 12 stalls) was greater than its gym. We were happy to see Malvern Golf-Prodigy Joe “gimme da dough” Fabrizio, who made the trip all the way from Dub C, in the stands. We must start out by mentioning the Kingsley Krazies. This was easily the most embarrassing group of kids I have ever seen. To begin, their T-shirts were very unimpressive, especially compared to Friar Nation’s stitched Jerseys, they were dark blue which read Kingsley Krazies on the Front and had a Blue Devil on the back with “6th” filled in the middle. I wish I could say that their chants were more creative than those blue Hanes t-shirts they were rocking, but that would be a major overstatement of the truth. The Kingsley Krazies is nothing more than a 2 chant student section: “Let’s go devils” and “Airball” (for every time Lamon touched the ball). Lamon air-balled a lay-up which seemed to be partially blocked in the beginning of the second quarter, and the Krazies stuck with their airball chant the entire game (including OT, shouldn’t have said that). Occasionally, they would think of a classic chant such as the FSU Indian call, or D-fense, but all in all they stuck with the two chants. Not only were these men not creative, but they weren’t even that loud, especially for the size (or lack thereof) of the gym. Their efforts during Malvern’s Free-Throw attempts were just not funny and really immature when they chanted “we just farted,” come on, I don’t think my younger brother would find that chant amusing. They also came at the three of us, chanting “where’s your student section” when we were clearly watching the game (taking notes, barking at the refs, etc), and to answer their question, I think that members of Friar Nation were probably walking around campus looking for CHA’s gym. Well back to the game, CHA went on a nice run in the second quarter mainly due to the refs, who legitimately called 5 charges (or offensive fouls) on Malvern in a row, which prompted Rory to bark “you’re pressing more charges than a death row inmate, ref.” Tragically we think the ref heard, because late in the game he began to call blocking fouls on Malvern at the defensive end. Mike “Poppa” Doc hit a nice 6 footer at the buzzer to pull the Friars within one at half, 15-14. By now you are probably wondering why the score looks like a grade school score, which is because of CHA’s style of play. After watching CHA, we really became fortunate of how lucky we are that there is a shot-clock in college and NBA basketball. CHA wasn’t even playing basketball; they were stalling the entire game, turning it more into a chess match than a basketball game. Poppa Doc continued his clutch shooting by adding a baseline runner with 10 seconds left in the third, which brought CHA’s lead down to 24-19. Within the first minute of the fourth quarter, Tracy “t-squeal” Peal gets called for a petty foul and fouls out of the game. He finished with four points, 1 rebound, 1 assist in all of two minutes of action due to the refs (four of his fouls were offensive). Despite playing against a 1920s (pre shot-clock-era) offense, the Friars were able to get within striking distance, they trailed 29-24 with just under 3 minutes to go; however, even 5 points seemed too much against this stalling offense. The Friars picked up their intensity on the defensive end and were able to come up with a big time steal with 2:19 left. After coming out of a time-out, DeQuann Walker “Texas Ranger” hads a nice spin move and gets an easy 2, making the score 29-26 with 2:04 left. Malvern regained some life after they got the ball back from an offensive foul, and Poppa Doc came through again with another runner, putting the Friars down 29-28 with 1:07 left. Malvern got another big time play from its Captain, PG Ryan “RC RACER” Creighton who tipped a pass, then jumped out of bounds to save it and pegged it at an innocent Blue Devil. Thus, Malvern is in a great position to win the game, down 1 with 1:07 with the ball, all they need to do is take some of CHA’s thunder, stall. On the ensuing inbound play, Creighton gives a bad pass to Bootsie which is picked off by Malik Garner, who was fouled immediately by RC. The Friars still have the opportunity to determine their own fate because Garner missed the front end of a 1 and 1. With 9 seconds left, Lamon “Youngkobe” Church gets killed driving to the basket, but unlike the majority of the game, the refs called a foul. Unlike Kobe, Lamon only connected on one of two, thus tying the game up at 29, and losing his nickname. Then, Malik Garner went the full length of the court, only to get invited to a block party (aka blocked) by Brendan “Vinny” Kilpatrick with 3 seconds left and then blocks Malik at the buzzer as well.
  At the beginning of OT, the refs had to redo the tip because he threw the ball closer to the Malik Garner but Mony still found a way to win the tap. Malvern strikes first with a lay-up from Bootsie, sadly that is the only good thing to come out of this overtime period.  After a few easy CHA buckets, and missed foul shots by Malvern, CHA goes on to beat the Friars 38-34. With the win, the Blue Devils sit atop of the Inter-Ac with a 3-0 record, as the Friars fall to 2-1. Back to the Kingsley Krazies, they attempted to storm the court after the win as if they just won the national championship. **News Flash**: It’s only the second week of the season, you didn’t win anything yet, and as we all know, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN INTER-AC PLAY, ANYTHING. But kudos to the Krazies for actually staying awake for the entire game, because by the 3rd quarter, half of the crowd was more passed out than Jack Devine in class because of CHA’s patient/old-school style of play.
Notables:
  Mr. John Ostick was able to make it before the fourth quarter after leaving school after the seventh period; the Friars could have used some enthusiasm from him.
  Fresh from coming off of his 23rd Birthday, Mr. Chuck Chinici was in attendance.
  Mr. Kenney was also in attendance along with the President himself, Mr. Jim Stewart.
  Player of the game: Poppa Mike Doc, today he got big time minutes because of Tracy’s foul trouble, and boy did he really step up, making a lot of shots just to keep the Friars in the game. He shot the ball with a lot of confidence today, and hopefully this game gives him the reassurance that he can be an impact player for this team.