Episcopal's McNeal a triple threat

CHRIS McNEAL freely admits he was always a pretty bad shooter.

He cannot offer, however, stories about games when he missed maybe 11 of 13 attempts or thumped three-pointers off the sides or top of backboards.

"Since I wasn't good at threes, I hardly ever took them," he said. "Almost all my shots came off drives."

McNeal, a 6-1 junior, is now a starting wing guard for Episcopal Academy's basketball team and Saturday at Neumann University he drained five of seven shots from beyond the arc as the Churchmen bested Malvern Prep, 64-47, in the opening game of the Inter-Ac's annual let's-get-the-league-play-started-party called the Dan Dougherty Tripleheader.

There were two consecutive triples in the first quarter. And three more in the third. Overall, McNeal shot 7-for-10 and 3-for-3 for 22 points while adding four assists.

"That's the first time I ever had five threes for varsity . . . Probably the first time in my life," McNeal said. "Pretty much every time I shot, I was pretty confident it was going in. That's a good feeling. It all starts in warmups. I wasn't really missing, so I knew it was going to be a good game.

"This year I've been a little streaky. Haven't been consistent. When I'm off and then watch the tape, I usually can see that I wasn't bending my legs enough. Wasn't getting enough lift. Shooting starts with the legs."

And becoming good at it requires a major time investment.

Luckily for McNeal, his family's home, in Collegeville, sports a court in the driveway.

"I'll be out there sometimes for a couple of hours," he said. "My dad will rebound for me or I'll just do it myself. That's in the summer, mostly. When it's cold I try to do all the extra shooting in a gym. At Episcopal, usually."

The Churchmen entered this one without two starters, forward Adam Strouss (school issue) and guard Samir Taylor (concussion aftermath; it was suffered during football season). If there was any trepidation, it never remotely showed. Episcopal roared to an 18-5 advantage in the first quarter and four treys were part of the fun.

"We did what we always try to do," McNeal said. "Try to move the ball around. Hit open men. Play strong defense."

Markuan Stutts (12) also scored in double figures for coach Craig Conlin's squad while adding eight rebounds. Kevin Gayhardt added nine points and seven boards, Mike Jolaoso had four assists and three steals, Matt Angelos managed four thefts and sub Connor Martin drained a pair of threes.

For Malvern, Ryan Ammerman (also seven boards) crammed 15 of his 18 points into the second half.

"Kevin and Markuan were setting good screens," McNeal said. "Mike and the other guards were making the extra pass."

The light flicked on for McNeal, who has attended Episcopal since kindergarten, as he eased into high school ball. The wattage increased last season.

"The better I became at hitting threes, the more playing time I got," he said. "That made me work even harder at trying to become a good shooter.

"I've gone from a time when shooting was the worst part of my game to now, where it's what I'm best at."

In the other games

Germantown Academy roared past Penn Charter, 72-49, as Greg Dotson totaled 24 points and five apiece of rebounds/steals and Nick Lindner dished 10 assists . . . Haverford School edged SCH Academy, 53-51, as Eric Anderson (also 10 boards) notched 10 of his 14 points in a 19-15 fourth quarter.