Boys Basketball: KJ Carson’s late show gives is a winner for Haverford School

By Matthew DeGeorge

HAVERFORD — KJ Carson didn’t have the first 36 minutes of basketball he wanted Tuesday afternoon.

Thanks to some early foul trouble, a bit of cold shooting and a modicum of wise senior deference, the Haverford School point guard entered the second overtime period against Episcopal Academy with just four points to his name.

With three of his fellow Fords starters fouled out and Haverford School having already forced extra sessions with two unlikely last-possession executions, Carson made the most of his bonus basketball time. He hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight points in the second OT period, leading Haverford School to a wild 74-67 win over their local Inter-Ac League rivals.

“That’s what you prepare for,” Carson said. “You prepare for moments like this. Two guys step down, you’ve just got to step up. That’s what you’ve got to do.”

With floor general Silas Graham, leading scorer Manny Butts and shooter Duke Cloran all having fouled out of a zealously officiated game that saw 47 total fouls and five disqualifications, Carson was about all Haverford had left. He opened the second extra frame with a 3-pointer, fed by Graham. Butts extended the lead to five, his 22nd and 23rd points before fouling out. The deficit was back to one when Graham was assessed his fifth.

Carson knocked down a step-back 3-pointer with 1:53 left to make it 67-63, then he and Dillon Gamble combined to go 7-for-8 from the line to ice the victory, the Fords scoring 15 points in the second four-minute OT period after failing to score that many in any of the four eight-minute quarters.

“It definitely shows the leadership he brings, because I don’t think he started off the way he wanted to that game and he was struggling a little bit,” Graham said of Carson. “And he was able to get a flow. When we all go out, he has that mentality that he needs to score and he needs to go get one, especially when we’re all out. And he’s able to turn it off and on. He turned it on and got us a big bucket.”

How the game even reached that juncture was baffling, yet befitting the rivals. Neither team led by more than six in the final three quarters. Haverford School (15-2, 2-2 Inter-Ac) led by four early in the fourth. Episcopal Academy (9-9, 2-3) led by four in the final minute of regulation. Neither would stand.

Dawson Brown hit one free throw with 16 seconds left to put Episcopal up 52-49. After a foul to give, the game appeared over when Graham’s 3-pointer rimmed out and was put back by Jacob Becker at the horn. But Fords coach Bernie Rogers was granted a timeout with 0.6 seconds left and the Fords trailing, 52-51.

One attempt by EA to get the ball in ended in a timeout. The second had Timmy Dennis hurl it to the opposite free-throw line, where the referees judged Gage Cunningham to have raked the outstretched arm of Graham with 0.3 seconds left.

With Haverford in the bonus, up the court they walked for Graham to clang the first free throw, then hit the second and tie the game at 52.

“We were just trying to just get a tip,” Graham said. “When I saw the ball up in the air, I was like, I’m just going to try to draw a foul. I kind of threw my body back into him. I got one, luckily. … I was just thinking, it’s like any other free throw. I’ve shot millions of those so, no pressure.”

EA recovered, taking the lead in the first OT on a Dennis 3-pointer from the wing, then a Langston Foster triple. It led 59-55 with 30 seconds left on one of Matt McCarthy’s made free throws.

“We have a codeword we all say to one another. We all say, ‘attitude,’” McCarty said. “So on the road, we know especially, things aren’t going to go our way. So if the ref makes a questionable call that maybe we don’t like, just start clapping attitude, attitude, just try to focus on the next play and leave the things that we can’t control.”

Graham answered with a drive to the hole to halve the lead. Butts’ pressure in the backcourt caused a turnover on the inbounds with 7.0 seconds left, then he went up and under on the ensuing play to tie the game at 59 and head to another overtime.

McCarthy scored all eight of EA’s points in the second OT. He finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Foster tallied 15 before fouling out. Dennis had 13 and Brown added 14, the only four Churchmen to score. EA did itself no favors by shooting 10-for-21 from the line.

Butts led Haverford with 23 points, on 10-for-17 from the field. The junior, who missed much of last year with a knee injury, is back to being an influential presence in the paint. He had 19 points on 9-for-10 shooting in the second half.

“He’s fully, 100 percent back,” Graham said of Butts. “It’s been so much easier just spacing and able to have him as a release and have him just go get a bucket whenever he wants.”

Graham paired 17 points with his usual court brilliance – eight rebounds, four assists, three steals. Carson finished with 12 points, and Becker had eight, including two first-quarter 3-pointers.

For two teams looking to change their fortunes in league play, Haverford found one, at some great effort.

“I think it definitely helps us build momentum: 2-2 is a lot better than 1-3,” Graham said. “So I think now we’ve just got to go focus on SCH on Friday.”

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