Haverford's Hollman in no rush

Rashaan "Ray" Hollman is not your typical high school senior.

Boredom with the scholastic experience has not yet appeared, and neither is he antsy to head off to college. In fact, if the calendar were to jump from January right to June, he'd be rather miffed.

"I wish this was my junior year," he said.

OK, so the joyous feelings now coming his way in basketball are mostly the reason Hollman desires to hang around Haverford School for one more year. No problem with that, right? Sports are supposed to be fun.

"I love what's going on here now," Hollman said. "From the atmosphere at the games to our great team chemistry. I know these guys give their all. And away from the court there's not a time when we're not laughing and having fun."

Ends of games can be pretty darn special, too.

Take last night. Before a fully juiced crowd, with bodies wedged into all of the gym's nooks and crannies, the host Fords toppled Malvern Prep, 53-50, in an Inter-Ac League sweetheart.

Hollman, a 6-foot, 210-pound combo guard (he also played football), posted just seven points. But his last two were also the game's, on an exciting play that began with a l-o-n-g pass. Even more important to the Fords' cause, however, was the second-half, defensive lockdown he performed on star wing guard Brendan Kilpatrick, a Vermont signee.

Doug "Henry" Fairfax, Haverford's first-year coach and a first team All-City guard for the school's last title team in 1999, ordered Hollman to dog Kilpatrick in a box-and-one.

Kilpatrick (11 total) scored just two points beyond intermission, and Hollman could not be faulted on those. They came on a quick backcourt steal and dunk. Otherwise, Kilpatrick shot 0-for-3 over the final 16 minutes.

"I definitely think football helped me," Hollman said. "I was able to body him up and not let him do whatever he wanted.

"I never played someone in a box-and-one at Haverford. Outside ball, yes. But not here. My whole thing was denying him the ball. If he doesn't touch it, he can't shoot it. If he doesn't shoot it, he can't score.

"He seemed like he was a little frustrated, but I didn't get fooled by that (dead-pan) face. He always has that face on."

HS went ahead for good, at 51-49, with 58 seconds left as frosh guard Sammy Foreman, who scored all 17 of his points beyond intermission (he attempted NO shots beforehand), canned a layup to end a three-quarter-court drive that followed a steal.

Steve Perpiglia, Malvern's feisty floor leader, hit the second of two free throws at 45.3 (5 seconds were put back onto the clock). The teams then missed two free throws apiece and Perpiglia (20 points, four assists) could not quite connect on a left-side, fall-back trey. HS inbounded at 7.2 with the length of the court to go.

"And Sammy hit me for the touchdown," Hollman said, smiling.

True dat. Hollman broke long downcourt, gathered in the pass and dropped in a layup while drawing contact from Perpiglia. Hollman missed the free throw -- the Fords were 1-for-9 at the line over the final three quarters! -- and Perpiglia snagged the rebound in a scramble.

After a timeout at 3.4, Malvern had to go three-quarters-court. Perpiglia took Ryan Ammerman's inbound pass, scampered to a spot a shade to the left of straight-on and could not quite hit a leaping push shot.

The ecstasy for Hollman & Co. was pronounced.

"It felt like we won the championship, and that it was our last game of the season," Ray said. "I know that's not the case. Still lots of work to do."

Of HS' final offensive play, he said, "That long pass to me was the plan. When we lined up, I made eye contact with Sammy to just confirm that it would work. The pass was perfect."

Malvern and Germantown Academy are now tied atop the I-A at 5-2. HS is a half-game behind at 4-2 and Penn Charter is hanging around at 3-3.

Foreman added six rebounds, three assists and four steals to his performance while Zach Thomas hit two treys en route to 12 points and Sema'j Reed banged for eight points, six boards. Kilpatrick and Perpiglia halved eight assists and the latter even claimed six rebounds. Dennis Gabert and Tom Pitt (also eight boards) managed nine and eight points, respectively.

Hollman, who lives in Chester, is hearing mostly from D-III schools, though some NAIAs and D-IIs are entering the picture.

But again, that's down the road.

"I loved how we did this," he said. "There wasn't one time where someone had that look like, 'I gotta get MY buckets,' or where someone was maybe thinking, 'How come this guy's not passing me the ball.' We all played as one and finished the job."