EDITOR'S NOTE:
Philadelphia Sports Digest.com would like to say a special thank you to Germantown Friends School senior basketball manager and stats keeper Dylan Lutey. Dylan, who was also honored on senior night, has been one of our junior reporters contributing articles about the GFS's boys’ basketball team this season. Thank you, Dylan for doing an excellent job!
Photos/Video by Ryan Nix for PSD
BY GERMANTOWN FRIENDS SENIOR DYLAN LUTEY
PHILADELPHIA --Rivalry, senior day, league matchup and an old friend turned opponent described a very highly anticipated basketball game between the hosting Germantown Friends School Tigers and the Friends’ Central School Phoenix on Tuesday night.
The night started with a pre-game senior day ceremony celebrating Tigers’ Amir Staten and Jaden Palmer-Waldron both four-year members of the team. After the ceremony, which included the families of both senior captains joining Palmer-Waldron and Staten at center court, Tigers’ head coach Shawn Werdt spoke briefly about the two seniors. Then all attention shifted to the game. As expected, Scattergood Gym was filled with more spectators than usual which included a small student section for the Tigers.
GERMANTOWN FRIENDS SCHOOL SENIOR AMIR STATEN WAS HONORED BEFORE THE GAME AGAINST FRIENDS' CENTRAL. PHOTO/ RYAN NIX FOR PSD
GERMANTOWN FRIENDS SCHOOL SENIOR JADEN PALMER-WALDRON PART OF THE DUO SENIOR PLAYERS HONORED BEFORE THE GAME. PHOTO/ RYAN NIX FOR PSD
The tension in the gym could be felt and began to mount all the way up to tip-off which featured Staten jumping head-to-head for the Tigers against Muhsin Muhammad, the 6’4 junior who re-classed and transferred from Germantown Friends to Friends' Central before this season.
After the tip-off, some of the tension in the gym was released, but for the players the tension mounted. The first quarter featured bad shooting. The Tigers shot just 16 percent from the field, scoring just 6 points.
The Phoenix didn’t do much better, shooting 23 percent from the field, scoring 10 points and carrying a 4-point lead into the second quarter. Both teams continued to struggle with their shooting, but the Phoenix started to pull away with a small lead and they ended up carrying an 8-point lead into the halftime break.
GERMANTOWN FRIENDS SENIOR AMIR STATEN TIPS-OFF AGAINST FORMER TEAMMATE FRIENDS' CENTRAL'S MUHSIN MUHAMMAD. PHOTO/RYAN NIX FOR PSD
By the end of the third quarter the Phoenix started to pull even more, extending their lead to 13 points. Then, the Phoenix put the game away with a 12-2 run in the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter, extending their lead to 23 points. Unfortunately, this has been a pattern where the Tigers stay with tough opponents for a half and then start to let the opposing team pull away. Werdt did his best to explain their challenges.
“You can go back to depth and running out of bodies, running out of steam. Not having enough to counter that punch to start the third or fourth quarter,” said Werdt when explaining his team’s deficit. “Friends’ Central is a good team, and they made some shots on us in that stretch. They got us from the 3-point line and the backboard too. They got us in transition. First quarter we did a good job neutralizing that, but in the fourth quarter they came out and did what they have done [to other teams],” said Werdt.
To Werdt’s point, the Phoenix had 6 of their 13 total transition points in the 4th quarter alone. Additionally in contrast to the 23 percent they shot from the field in the first quarter, they ended up shooting 57 percent from the field in the 4th quarter.
Overall, it was a rough shooting night for the Tigers who ended up shooting just 27 percent from the field and 58 percent from the free throw line. When asked about the offensive struggles Werdt gave credit to the Phoenix.
GERMANTOWN FRIENDS HEAD COACH SHAWN WERDT. PHOTO/RYAN NIX FOR PSD
“Friends’ Central’s defense was really good,” said Werdt. “Fazl [Oshodi ‘24] is a top 2 or 3 on-ball defender in the league. His long arms definitely gave us some issues. If other teams are going to give Jordan (Dill) so much attention the other four guys have to pick up the slack a little bit and make life a little easier for us by knocking down some of those shots, we weren’t able to convert yesterday. It isn’t fair to expect a freshman to go out and score 30 points a game.”
Although the game ended in a 68-44 blowout, the level of chippiness exceeded expectations. There was a total of 5 technical fouls given out which included Dill ‘26 picking up 2 which resulted in his ejection from the game. Werdt didn’t think too much of the aggressive play and enjoyed the intensity of the game.
“Some of it is the refereeing. Some of it is high emotions, rivalry game, friends league game, packed gym. It’s high school basketball. It was a fun environment,” said Werdt.
Another deciding factor was the offensive glass where Liam Foley ‘23, Isaac Moore ‘24, and Nigel Pierman ‘25 used their height and strength to help Friends’ Central gain an 18-6 advantage on the offensive glass. In the end Reid Belcher ‘24 and Collin Bowman ‘23 led the Phoenix with 13 points each and Pierman added 12. For the Tigers, Dill had 13 points and 8 rebounds, and Darius Frazier ‘24 added 12 points and 4 blocks. Two of those blocks came against Muhammad which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
GERMANTOWN FRIENDS VS. FRIENDS' CENTRAL. GAME HIGHLIGHTS/ RYAN NIX FOR PSD)
After another tough loss the Tigers will look to bounce back on Friday in hopes of getting their second league win when they play away against the Abington Friends Kangaroos. When asked about his team’s second to last league game Werdt put it simply.
“We want to win the game.”
Fair enough, especially for a team who is just 1-5 in league play. He also mentioned that he warned the team about how difficult it can be to play in Abington’s gym and how this year’s team is very solid.
“I reminded the kids we had played there two-years ago during the pandemic. We had a big lead and we ended up barely holding on to win by three after they had a chance to win it. We know it is a tough gym to play in. They have a good team. They have two really good seniors and are well coached. We have spent the last couple of days in practice figuring out how to beat them,” said Werdt.
GERMANTOWN FRIENDS VS. FRIENDS' CENTRAL. PHOTOS/ RYAN NIX FOR PSD
The seniors that Werdt was referring to are Ife Ingram, who is committed to Rider University, and Angel Otero. The duo combined for 29 points and 6 threes last season in the Kangaroos’ 69-57 win against the Tigers.
Tonight’s Tip-off is 7 p.m.