Despite a tremendous start to the season the SCH Blue Devils Boys Basketball team entered their first Inter-Ac battle on a two game losing streak. The Inter-Ac is structured as a ten-game regular season with no playoffs, and each game can impacts a team’s season, so it is crucial that SCH starts the season off on the right foot. 

First up for the Devils was a trip to “The Gris” for a Tuesday evening battle with the Germantown Academy Patriots. SCH came into the game as the favorite leading GA in almost every statistical category. Even with all signs pointing towards success for the Devils, The Patriots came ready and showed early that they weren’t messing around. 

While the Devils still played decently in the first, the patriots couldn’t miss. GA seniors Flinn Brooks and Tyler Nolan were lights out from three in the first half as the team made nine of its fourteen attempts.

There isn’t a play that better describes GA’s first half shooting performance than Brooks’s fade away buzzer beater that sent a stunned SCH team to the locker room down 35-26 at the half. 

SCH senior Kam Waters and junior Jules Sanders echoed similar messages about how the team started the game. Sanders said the team “started off pretty slow.” While it definitely felt like the team started slow they were right around their first half average for the season of 30.8 points.

SCH assistant coach Jake Webster spoke about some of the issues he saw in the first half saying, “Yeah, we came out slow off the snow day. There was a little bit of a lack of focus in the first half.” 

As the 3rd quarter began, adjustments needed to be made. Coach Webster praised the team’s hard work: “Coach McFadden did a really good job of getting the guys to focus back in on our goals, focus back in on the scouting report, and just executing the game plan in the second half, which was to take away the perimeter game of GA and focus our offense on playing fast, playing in transition and getting to the rim.” 

SCH did just that as they began to climb back into the game. With 6:33 left in the third still down nine the Devils moved to the full court press defense as Jules Sanders defended GA’s Mick Mckee. That possession ended abruptly when Sanders and fellow junior Stew Greenleaf trapped the Patriot’s Anthony Hall forcing a turnover. 

On the next possession down the court SCH Junior Owen Kelly found open space and hit a mid range jumper cutting the Patriots lead to seven.

When it felt like SCH was gaining momentum GA went on a 5-0 run bringing their crowd back into the game. 

With 4:37 left in the third Kam Waters chased down a loose ball. Once Waters got the ball he was hit hard by GA’s Mick McKee and Finn Reckner on what seemed to be a chaotic defensive play.

On the very next play, junior AJ Trunfio found Sanders in the corner who drilled a clutch three-pointer. When asked about his team- leading fifteen point performance Sanders said, “I thought I played pretty good… Hit some key shots.”

With 3:50 left in the third, great defense from Jules Sanders led GA’s Andrew Hall to try and force a pass that was intercepted by SCH senior Keni Williams who took it the length of the floor for a layup.

After another Williams steal and layup, the Blue Devils were rolling and weren’t planning on slowing down.

At the end of the third the Devils had cut the Patriot’s lead to one with the score being 42-41.

Twenty seconds into the fourth the Blue Devil’s press intensified and GA just simply had no counter.

Williams came up with another steal and threw the ball up the court to Waters who made a tough and 1 giving the Blue Devils their first lead since they lead it 1-0. 

Williams came up with another steal and threw the ball up the court to Waters who made a tough one, giving the Blue Devils their first lead since they lead it 1-0.

Waters talked about how he felt after that play: “I felt good because my baskets were kind of streaky yesterday, so it felt good to get on the board, especially a big momentum swing like that.”

Stifling defense from the Devils left GA’s offense scrambling and Kam Waters was continuing to show everyone why he is one of the top players in the league by grabbing a contested board and taking it coast to coast for another layup. 

With 6:12 left Mick McKee went up for a layup and came down wondering what happened as Kam Waters sprinted across the court to block his shot. 

On the next play Keni Williams found Owen Kelly in the corner, and you guessed it, he drilled the three. 

Following this play, the GA student section decided they’d seen enough and they headed for the exits. As all of this was unfolding, any last bit of momentum that GA was holding onto was gone.

As the game progressed SCH stayed steadily in control winning the game by a final score of 57-48. 

Waters said the comeback “showed that we have a lot to we have a lot to prove. I don’t think anybody expected us to get to where we’re at right now, with our record right now having only three losses, but it shows that we have a lot more to prove, more than what we show on paper. Our plan is to win an Inter-Ac championship, and that’s the main goal right now.”

Coach Webster said the team’s resilience “shows that we have a group that’s really bought in and a group that really wants to succeed.” He then continued saying, “They’re playing for the guy next to them. There’s no selfishness, they’re working hard. They kept their head down they trusted one another, trusted in the coaches, and it shows that they’re never going to give up, they’re going to play the final whistle every single night and that’s all a coach can ask for.”

Coach Webster also spoke on how important starting 1-0 in the Inter-Ac is, “it’s really, really tough to win this league, especially if you open with a loss. It’s a ten game grind. I tell people every year, every single game, from the first to the last, feels like it’s a championship contest. To start the year off with a victory is huge.”

It only gets more difficult from here as SCH is set to embark on what Coach Webster called “a back to back game gauntlet.” Those challenges  this Saturday at the Sixth Man Center as SCH faces off with the states number 3 team, The Haverford School.

Following that game SCH will return to the Kingsley for a Tuesday afternoon game with the Penn Charter Quakers.

Can’t make it to the game? Tune in live on GameTime Sports!