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RADNOR — When the buzzer sounded Saturday afternoon, the crowd spilled onto the floor to celebrate a new chapter in Radnor basketball history.
The Raptors won their 26th straight game, breaking the school mark of 25-0 set in 1961. The 66-52 District 1 Class 5A semifinal win over Rustin vaults the Raptors into the district final next Saturday against Unionville at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.
The last time Radnor started this well, it won a district title with a coach who wound up having the arena named after him. Then again, the late Ellis Dwyer not only captured the District 1 Class A title in 1961, but over a 30-year span, he registered seven district pennants among 524 victories … when he wasn’t teaching mathematics.
It’s safe to say Dwyer, who hailed from Twin Oaks and played at Chester High, would have been proud of current coach Jamie Chadwin, much like the Raptors are for giving them meaning.
“One-hundred percent,” said senior Jackson Hicke, who scored a game-high 23 points and stepped up defensively. “Coach Chadwin has been here seven years and we’re having a lot of success for a school that isn’t typically successful. He gives us 100 percent day in and day out. He’s really special to us. He’s the biggest reason why we’re where we’re at today.”
Hicke, Danny Rosenblum, Jackson Gaffney and Charlie Thornton, among others, followed Chadwin’s plan to the letter Saturday. The 12th seeded Golden Knights (13-13) weren’t so compliant, shooting the lights out in the first half. The Knights drilled six 3-pointers, from a bank shot to a shooter’s roll to conventional nothing-but-net bombs.
With Ian Schlessinger scoring the bulk of his 14 points in the first half and Matthew Nochumson adding 10 of his 12 markers, the Golden Knights led by as many as eight points and were ahead after each of the first three quarters.
“We knew we had to come out and bring it to them,” Schlessinger said. “We watched a lot of tape, and saw a lot of teams sit back and wait for them to go, so we knew we had to come out and try to punch them. I don’t think any other teams have really done that. But yeah, the fourth quarter came and they just started hitting more shots and maybe we were a little gassed from playing so hard.”
Trailing by six points at the intermission, the Raptors made up their minds to deny the 3. If the Knights made contested shots, that’s life.
“They hit some tough shots, but we gave them a lot of open shots in the first half,” Hicke said. “In the second half we made them take off-the- dribble contested threes rather than open catch-and-shoot ones. I think that really paid dividends for sure.”
After Cooper Mueller’s basket got them within four points, Rosenblum (13 points) and Thornton buried 3s to produce a 37-31 lead.
The Golden Knights battled back on consecutive triples by Schlessinger, and a trey by Tyler Guiunta (12 points) provided them a 44-43 advantage entering the final frame.
Schlessinger, however, would score just one point the rest of the game, largely because Chadwin had Hicke use his length to defend him. The Knights were outscored, 23-8, in the final frame.
“Jackson above all else is a smart, competitive basketball player,” Chadwin said. “He’s skilled, he’s athletic and he makes adjustments during the game and makes his teammates better. He’s a special competitor.”
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Radnor’s Jackson Hicke, right, avoids Lower Merion’s Justin Poles in the Central League championship game earlier this month. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY TIMES)
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