FEB. 21
PA. INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS TOURNAMENT FINAL
Friends' Central 60, Gtn. Academy 58 (OT)
  It was quite a sight from where I was sitting in Malvern Prep’s beautiful gym.  A 31-year-old grown man was actually challenging the mini-GA student section -- average height 5’8, average age not quite 17, average gender somewhere between a girl and a guy, leaning heavily towards girl.  “Friends’ League, what!” screamed Friends Central’s Travis Robinson, pumped over his uncontested game winning layup-line-esque bucket.
  Let’s go back though.  The Patriots entered this game 24-5, more impressively on a 14-game win streak with the wins both of the easy variety (Inter-Ac) and hard (Shipley…weird).  It had been one month and twelve days since GA had last lost a game, that one to CHA, after which the team mourned the entire night in the locker room before Jeff Holton fell asleep early, Jack McDonnell got wrapped up in a firey-red blanket and Dean Melchionni left at 4 a.m. to drive home (what??).  Nonetheless, the buzz around school was State Championship.  “We will win state,” recited Pete Haines.  “We will win state.”  Errrr….PA Independent Schools Tournament, either/or.
  Everything was lined up for a great game.  Jimmy Fenerty applied chap-stick to his lips, just in case he got lucky with the court again like the other Friday night.  Travis Robinson finally successfully taught head coach Jason Polykoff how to shave the peach fuzz that kept showing up on his lip.  Best of all though, Ted’s family was eating tonight! ----just kidding Ted!!!)

 With the first tip the game was underway, and the first four quarters proved to be nothing more than a table-setting to the greatest overtime in PA Independent Schools Tournament history!!!  And that’s saying something!!!!!!  Inside of a minute left in overtime, the aforementioned junior (how is that possible??) Travis Robinson, collected his own board, making a helluva sweet move in the lane, one he’s perfected over his 16-year varsity high school basketball career, to cut the GA lead to three.  One possession later, the Friendly Phoenixes of Friends’ Central found themselves within a trey of making it a tie ball game.  Sophomore Malique Killing, whose name provides enough irony thus saving me from a possible joke, drilled a three with 23 seconds left, tying the game and leaving GA with the last shot.
  Or so they thought.  What ensued was pure mayhem.  As GA junior guard Austin Curry brought the ball down for the final possession, his feet gave out from under him in an obvious puddle on the court.  “Oh gawd,” yelped Curry as he went down in the line of sweat later attributed to FC senior and Martin Lawrence’s co-star in the movie “Rebound,” Peter Chawaga.  Robinson picked up the loose ball, rushing down court to convert the go-ahead layup.  An errant three by GA junior Cameron Ayers as the buzzer sounded made Robinson’s layup a game-winner.  The Patriots’ season was over, and Friends’ Central walked out of the gym with their PA Independent Schools Tournament trophy and gift certificates for Kiddie Sundaes at Friendly’s as champions.

GAME NOTES:

-Kudos to the Friends’ Central headmaster in fighting the urge to reject Malique Killing from his school based on the implied, Quaker-contradictory nature of his last name.

-Cam Ayers later claimed to miss the final three-pointer on purpose, saying the Quakers were “so *$&#@!% nice” he just didn’t want to see them upset.

-Travis Robinson’s toughness continues its upwards trend after transferring from the Inter-Ac to the Friends’ League.

-Now I’ve never read this book “Holes,” but I thought H.J. Gaskins nickname of “Zero” was meant to reflect his significance to his team?  I could be wrong here.

-Impressive display of maturity by Friends’ Central parents, whose uncontrollable excitement over their kids’ victory forced FC sophomore stud Devin Coleman to sift through the parental mob saying “chilllllllll…”

-Sorry for the lateness of this article, but like Travis Robinson’s, my skills age well.

-Friends’ Central will have quite the squad next year, the no-doubt future D-1 trio of Coleman, Killing, and Robinson all returning.

-It’s been fun writing for the GA basketball team over the past three years.  Thanks to Ted for putting up with me, and I hope this year’s articles were taken in good fun, as they were meant.  Thanks to Dean for not getting mad at me about the PC joke.  Thanks to Coach Fenerty for producing consistent, quality, smart, winning teams and to Coach Weiss and Coach Conlin for providing the sideline intimidation some of those teams lacked (just kidding….but seriously).  Finally, thanks to the senior basketball players who leave with three Inter-Ac rings, 31 Inter-Ac wins, but MOST importantly, countless Inter-Ac memories.
  (Ted's note: Thanks for everything, Timmy! Hard to believe the time has flown by so quickly. All the best and I'll see you this baseball season.)

FEB. 10
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Gtn. Academy 53, Chestnut Hill 28
  It’s always nice to see coaches of opposing teams shaking hands after the game, a true sign of the grace of the Inter-Academic League.  Head Coaches Jim Fenerty and Bill Dooley, of Germantown Academy and Chestnut Hill Academy, respectively (and respectfully), had a prolonged talk near the scorer’s table after the game.  “I asked to borrow some of his office space,” explained Fenerty.  “There’s no more room in mine to house the trophies.”
  Coach Fenerty won his 12th Inter-Ac championship after a 25-point drubbing of an inferior CHA squad.  The fans in attendance were as surprised as the players were when the buzzer sounded at the end of the game.  “I thought it would be a tough game,” GA junior Cameron Ayers told Ted Silary of TedSilary.com fame.  “But it really wasn’t at all.  I was unbelievably under-whelmed by the amount of effort I had to put forward in such a blowout.”  Only the first half of the quote was published.
  “Coach told us defense wins championships,” Jeff Holton recapped, “but we didn’t listen and figured that if we just let CHA shoot they’d miss.”  And did they ever.  The Blue Devils went 0-7 from long distance and 9-39 total from the floor.  A disappointing performance was seen from CHA should-be-senior Todd Cramer, who dominated the Patriots at their (and Todd’s old) home court, but came up with a clunker on the Hill, shooting just 1-for-5 from the field.  JK lolz he actually didn’t make a shot all game (© HawkTalk ’08).

  The ultimate disappointment came from Gary Lawrence, who after being presented with a brightly colored basketball for 1,000 points (courtesy of junior sharpshooter Andrew Kraft, figuring he should contribute somehow), went out and scored just 1/67th of that on 5 of 18 shooting, including one coming on a surprisingly very smooth and creative breakaway dunk.  If only it counted for 26 points CHA may have won the game, which may be what Gary thought given the way he frolicked down the court after the uncontested flush.

  The game remained out of CHA’s reach throughout the second half, allowing the Patriot players to rest up, and Mr. Yuschak to join the GA student section in an overt display of excitement.  The Patriots showed their spry legs in a 16-point victory over PC that ended league play, Fenerty’s squad finishing the regular season on an 11-game winning streak, 21-5 overall with a 9-1 league record.

Game Notes:
-- Senior Dean Melchionni faked an ankle injury in order to depart early enough to catch a movie with the PC girls’ basketball team.
-- The blowout allowed Holton and fellow senior Eric Yuschak to pull out their cell phones, receiving volleyball text updates from sellout Pete Weindorfer.
-- Pete Haines showed up on the disabled list with what trainer Val Thevis is calling “psychosis,” as Haines has apparently gone insane while attempting to discover who the true author is behind HawkTalk.
-- The GA fans completed a victory lap around the Blue Devil gym before realizing their team won by nearly 30, thus making their efforts unnecessary.
-- Thanks to CHA junior Jon McAllister for reminding us that he is an All-American.
-- Jimmy Fenerty, who can dunk like Gary Lawrence without fluttering his arms after, continues to regret ever giving Ted Silary an interview about his relationship with his father/coach, unaware that Ted called his vertical leap a mere 18 inches.
-- The Patriots now turn their attention to the ever-intimidating Shipley School Gators in the first round of the PA Independent Schools tourney, where another contest with CHA is possible, both teams just two wins away from a Friday night rubber match.