Tuesday night’s Souderton/Hatboro-Horsham boys’ basketball game is an SOL Featured, sponsored by Millennium Administrators in memory of Mark Picard. Check back for photos and a game story.
By Mary Jane Souder
Pete Chimera wasn’t quite sure what to expect when he took over the helm of Souderton’s basketball program in June. The first-year coach was pleasantly surprised by what he found.
“The maturity and the willingness of this team to learn new things is beyond my wildest expectations,” Chimera said. “There have been times that both the coaching staff and the players have been impatient with some of the changes, but through those times, there is a trust the players have shown that has gone a long way to helping us get better every day and will help this program in the long run.”
It’s been a new world for the Indians this season. They returned just one starter – senior John Kanas – from last year’s squad, and Brendan Wagner was the only other player with meaningful varsity experience.
A new coaching staff with a brand new roster might sound like the ingredients for a rebuilding year, and while there have been some growing pains, the Indians have turned some heads with their performances this season. They are 9-5 overall and tied for second place in the SOL Continental Conference with a 6-2 mark.
“We’re the team everyone expected wouldn’t do anything because we didn’t have any experience,” senior Austin Murphy said. “We’ve had a couple of losses that we shouldn’t have had, and we know that. We’re just learning along the way.
“It’s always a big change when you have a new coach, not necessarily in a bad way, but it’s totally new. We learned a lot of new principles, but at the end of the day, it’s still basketball.”
Murphy is one of many players flourishing in their new role. Last year, he was the go-to player on the jayvee. This year, he has shown the ability to pick up the slack when teams concentrate on Kanas and Wagner.
“I see myself as definitely a scorer, but our team has great chemistry,” Murphy said. “I have confidence in every player on the floor.
“When someone penetrates, they always see me open on the wing, and thanks to them, I get my points.”
Murphy’s scoring, according to his coach, often comes in bunches.
In Souderton’s recent win over North Penn, the senior guard finished with a team-high 19 points. He scored all of them in the first and third quarters.
“At CB East, both John and Brendan were out for half of the first quarter and the whole second quarter, and Austin scored 12 of his 14 points during that time to keep us in the lead by four,” Chimera said. “It’s interesting. He knows when to step it up offensively. When either John or Brendan is in foul trouble, he picks it up and really focuses on scoring and being a little more aggressive.
“Because he is one of our better shooters, teams get out on him in a hurry, and he has become very good at getting the ball to others.”
Murphy leads the Indians in assists, and he is a captain.
“Austin has been a leader for us from the beginning when I took over,” Chimera said.
“There’s a lot more weight on my shoulders than last year,” Murphy said. “Especially being at the varsity level, you feel you have to perform every game, you have to show up and do something, but I think it’s a good responsibility.”
While Murphy made the leap from jayvee to varsity this year, teammate Steve Shaffer made the transition from backup to all-league point guard Luke Moyer - who is now playing at Richmond - to starter.
“I learned a lot from Luke,” Shaffer said. “Just going against him in practice every day helped me a lot because he’s one of the best guards. It helped me get better at my defense, and when I made mistakes, he helped me to know how to fix them. It was just great to play behind him and learn a lot from him.”
While Shaffer is capably handling the point, he has grown into a role that Chimera had not anticipated.
“He has become our defensive stopper,” the Indians’ coach said. “Since the holiday (break), I have put him on the (other) team’s best player regardless of size, and he has flourished.”
In Souderton’s win over North Penn last week, Shaffer was assigned the task of containing Jason Jones.
“He held him to six points, and three of them came when I put in a junk defense for one possession,” Chimera said. “Jones has at least two or three inches on Steve, but it doesn’t seem to matter.
“What makes this accomplishment even greater is that Steve is our point guard, and offensively, I am asking him to get us out on the break as much as possible. The last few games I have asked Steve to be more aggressive offensively, and he has responded very positively towards that.”
Shaffer acknowledges that he became more defensive-minded several years ago.
“I definitely love to play defense,” he said. “I feel like defense wins championships and games. That’s why I try to play every possession on defense and do whatever I can on offense. I really do enjoy it. I’ll guard any guy. Whatever coach wants me to do, I’ll do.”
The junior point guard, for one, is not all that surprised that the transition to a new coach and a new system has been relatively seamless.
“We put a lot of hard work in the offseason to prepare,” Shaffer said. “In open gyms, we got to practice our offense and got to know the new system, so I feel we prepared very well in the offseason, and it’s translating into games right now.”
The Indians have won five of their last six games, a trend – according to Murphy – that needs to continue.
“At this point, we really just feel we have to win every game from here on out because we want to make the playoffs,” Murphy said. “We already are tied for second, and if we fall into third, there’s a chance we might not make it, so we’re kind of on a mission right now to win out the rest of the season.”
The Indians will face a Hatboro-Horsham team that is 8-0 in conference play on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Just the facts:
This year’s record: Souderton 6-2 SOL (9-5 overall); Hatboro-Horsham 8-0 SOL (13-2)
Last year’s record: Souderton 19-8 (12-2 SOL); Hatboro-Horsham 8-14 (5-9 SOL)
Last meeting: Dec. 18, 2012 – Hatboro-Horsham 64, Souderton 52 (Hatboro-Horsham: Mike Brown – 33 points, Zach Quattro – 21 points; Souderton: John Kanas – 22 points; Austin Murphy – 10 points; Kurt Muhlberger – 10 points)
Last game: Souderton 53, Harry S Truman 43 (Brendan Wagner – 19 points, John Kanas – 16 points, Dana O’Hara – 8 points, Austin Murphy – 8 points)
Hatboro-Horsham 51, Upper Dublin 41 (Mike Brown – 17 points, Zach Quattro – 16 points, Ryan Kelly – 11 points)
Souderton
Projected starters:
#0 – John Kanas (6-2, Sr.)
#1 – Anthony Williams (6-0, Sr.)
#12 – Steve Shaffer (6-0, Jr.)
#22 – Austin Murphy (5-11, Sr.)
#35 – Brendan Wagner (6-8, Jr.)
The rest of the Indians:
#3 – Carter Knight (5-9, Jr.)
#5 – Vince Kowalick (6-0, Sr.)
#10 – Guilerme Freire (6-0, Sr.)
#15 – Dana O’Hara (6-1, Sr.)
#21 – Kurt Muhlberger (6-3, Sr.)
#23 – Tim Markow (6-0, Soph.)
#30 – Chris Uhrich (6-4, Sr.)
#32 – Ben Wonderling (5-10, Soph.)
#33 – Jared Bernhart (6-3, Sr.)
Hatboro-Horsham
Projected starters:
#1 – Walt Kimble (5-9, Soph., Guard)
#11 – Ryan Kelly (6-3, Sr., Guard)
#21 – Eric Rubenstein (5-0, Sr., Guard)
#32 – Mike Brown (6-4, Sr., Forward)
#33 – Zach Quattro (6-5, Jr., Forward)
The rest of the Hatter:
#3 – Jack Lavery (5-6, Sr., Guard)
#4 – Sami Hameid (6-1, Sr., Forward)
#5 – Ryan Murphy (6-1, Soph., Guard/Forward)
#14 – Ben Reese (5-7, Jr. Guard)
#15 – Chris Hobbs (5-9, Jr., Guard)
#20 – Jack Wingen (6-0, Jr., Guard)
#22 – Chris Mallozzi (5-10, Jr., Guard/Forward)
#23 – Brett Taroff (6-2, Sr., Forward)
#24 – Kevin Barron (6-3, Soph., Forward)
#34 – Jimmy Gavaghan (6-1, Soph., Guard)
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