January 31, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHA basketball beats Malvern prep
by Justin Goldman

Sometimes it pays to be a football hero. With 21 seconds left and Chestnut Hill Academy clinging to a 43-41 lead over visiting Malvern Prep, forward Matt Mattei, who doubles as CHA’s quarterback, made a perfect 60-foot football pass to forward Todd Cramer, with the five-second clock looming over him. Cramer found Gary Lawrence under the basket for an easy lay-up to put the game out of reach.

“I have always been able to make passes like that,” Mattei, who scored 11 points and had three steals said. “I usually don’t like to be the inbounder  because there is too much pressure, but I saw Todd at the last second and let it go.”

These types of plays have been the glue that has kept this 14-5 Blue Devil team together all season. They have relied on tough defense, balanced distribution of scoring and a different player making the big play on any given night.

On Friday night, Jan. 25, CHA got all of those different ingredients in an important 47-44 come from behind victory over the Friars, who had beaten Germantown Academy earlier in the week to create a three-way tie atop the Inter-Ac standings.

Malvern had a plan to not let Lawrence, the Blue Devil’s leading scorer beat them. In the first half, every time he touched the ball, there were two guys draped all over him.

This tough D forced the other Hillers to step up, which they did all night. Mattei and fellow forward Pat Connaghan made big plays throughout the contest.

“We just do what coach tells us to do,” Connaghan, who is a 6’4” sophomore said. “Tonight, with all the attention on Gary, it freed up a lot of open lanes and cuts to the basket and Gary was always able to find me.”

Connaghan, who scored 12 points, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals on the evening,  made his stamp on the game midway through the fourth quarter when he grabbed his own missed free throw and followed it in with an “and-1” to tie the game at 35. That play deflated the Friars who had been playing well up to that point.

“As soon as I shot it, I knew it was long,” he said. “I just raced after it and got the rebound and was able to put it in.”

Two minutes later, Mattei made a gorgeous steal and zigzagged and maneuvered his way through traffic and made a perfect bounce pass to point guard Mike Rhoads, who put in a lay-up which gave CHA a 42-35 lead and capped a 10-0 run.

“We play our best when we play as a team and have good distribution with our scoring,” said head coach Bill Dooley. “Tonight, Pat and Mike did a great job working together, which is what they have done all season.”

The Blue Devils will need this consistent play from Mattei, Connaghan and the rest of the team if they are to continue to win and possibly move into sole possession of first place in the league.

“With how the league is formulated, every game is huge,” Dooley said. “A lot of times you can say ‘It’s ok, we can correct things in the playoffs,’ but since there are no playoffs, every game becomes that much more important.”