Mueller-charged momentum sends Radnor past SV

RADNOR — The dunk was almost the least of it from Cooper Mueller, even before he took flight from the floor at Radnor High School Wednesday night.

Countless times this season, the junior guard has jumped a passing lane or picked a pocket, turning those loose balls into easy baskets. When he jarred the ball loose in the second quarter against Sun Valley, he was well on his way to another momentum-injecting passage of play, no matter how he elected to finish it at the other end.

The dunk, and the resultant surge of electricity through the Radnor bench, was just a bonus; an extra exclamation point. Mueller’s defense keyed an early rout by the Raptors, dashing past the No. 8 Vanguards, 53-28, to book a place in the District 1 Class 5A semifinals and a first states berth for Radnor since 2006.

“That’s a great momentum shifter,” wing Charlie Thornton said. “He does it all the time in practice and then in the game he finger rolls it. I was like, Coop, just dunk it. And he finally did today. It was great.”

Top-seeded Radnor (21-3) will host No. 4 Upper Moreland in a semifinal Saturday afternoon at 3.

Mueller, as befits the complementary role he plays in the Radnor side, downplayed the impact his highlight played.

“We often have momentum players,” he said. “Charlie Thornton is normally our momentum play guy. Or Jackson Hicke hitting a deep 3. But we like to feed off our own energy. I wouldn’t say that was huge for us, but we like to live off those plays.”

Either way, the steal was as emblematic of Radnor’s dominance as the slam. Radnor forced 13 turnovers via 11 steals. The Raptors also blocked six shots, Cliff Smith and Mueller supplying two each, one of Mueller’s sounding more at home finishing a swing on a volleyball court.

By halftime, Mueller had 10 points. So did Sun Valley.

“Cooper’s energy on defense, his motor on defense, it’s incredible,” Thornton said. “He’s always up in someone’s face, no matter who it is. He’s going to get to those passes, and for him to finish it like he did today, that was big.”

Radnor spread the scoring around. All five starters scored in the first quarter, after which the Raptors led 19-6. They didn’t slow the pace offensively until the third quarter, by which point their lead had stretched to 41-12.

Given a nine-day layoff since a loss to Lower Merion in the Central League final, a fast start was paramount. Radnor delivered crisp ball movement (Danny Rosenblum had three first-quarter assists). and 3-pointers by Pierce Justice and Thornton forced Sun Valley out of its 3-2 zone.

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