PC's fans go silently into a bad night

Intentional silence at the beginning. The version caused by major disappoinment, punctuated by hoots and hollers from the other end of the gym, at the conclusion.

That was the experience for Penn Charter's student fans Friday night during an Inter-Ac League basketball game and it's unlikely Drew Dowds will forget it.

Dowds, a 6-2, 175-pound senior, is a forward (even center) for Springside Chestnut Hill Academy's vastly undersized squad, and he received word during the school day that PC's kids would be staging a "Silent Night."

While he definitely enjoyed the entertainment, he had much more fun helping to dish out eventual pain.

SCH 39, PC 38.

That was the final score, thanks to Frank Jackson's buzzer-beating layup off a hard, left-side drive. Among the disappointed: A firefighter dressed in an old Reggie White jersey, cowboys, indians, an ice cream cone, a hockey goalie with a back-in-the-day mask, a rabbit, three refs, five bananas . . .

Maybe 125 PC students participated in Silent Night. The tradition can be traced to Taylor University, a small school in Indiana, and aside from wearing costumes, the kids remain quiet until their team scores its ninth point. They then leap from their seats, go absolutely berserk and stay fully involved thereafter.

"I thought it was pretty cool," Dowds said. "I liked that they had to wait a while (to begin making noise) because not too many points were being scored. We were hoping to keep them silent the whole first quarter."

And they did.

Points Nos. 9 and 10 for PC were posted shortly into the second quarter as Mike McGlinchey converted a follow after rebounding Sean O'Brien's missed trey. There'd been a false alarm moments earlier: Chase Kumor canned a layup AFTER an out-on-the-floor whistle had blown. One PC student misunderstood and jumped to his feet while yelling, "Yay!!!" His face is still probably red.

Anyway, Dowds finished with 14 points (two treys), five rebounds and four steals and his brassy man-to-man skills were crucial in limiting the 6-9, 275-pound McGlinchey, who's bound for Notre Dame to play football, to eight points and five boards.

Dowds' final rebound came after Demetrius Isaac missed the front end of a one-and-one with 11.4 seconds remaining. From there, Pat Costello wound up with the ball on the left side and gave it to Jackson, who scampered to the hoop with confidence and won the game.

"I saw that Pat was waiting for someone to come get the ball," Jackson said. "I shot right to it and PC's defenders got caught up in the handoff. Then I just finished it.

"I thought they were going to call a foul after my first dribble, but I was glad they didn't. I knew I was going to finish the play."

The Blue Devils -- and Jackson, especially -- had an interesting week. Tuesday he hit two late throws to provide a one-point lead over Haverford School, only to see that "win" disappear because of a last-second trey.

"I feel like this makes up for it," he said.

Noted Dowds: "We owed ourselves one. We felt we deserved a win this week, so we went out and got it. Since we were down one, we knew we didn't have to hit a three to win it. We were just trying to get it to the basket; maybe get fouled. Luckily, Frankie was kind of isolated on the left side and he got it to the rim."

McGlinchey finished 4-for-10 overall, and 0-for-4 on three-pointers.

"He's not like most big guys, who are slow," Dowds said. "He's actually kind of fast. I tried to be tough inside and give him some time if he was out on the floor a little. He hit that hook shot on me in the fourth quarter, but he didn't hit many shots overall."

The hook shot, off a pass from Dave Huber, gave PC a 36-35 lead and came shortly after teammate Austin Williams scored a second-chance bucket; his steal had been followed by Sean O'Brien's miss. Isaac followed with a steal and the PC kids roared the cheer that, eventually, features the phrase, "I believe that we will win! . . . I believe that we will win!"

SCH then committed five fouls in 7.7 seconds (might be a city record, right?), sending Kumor to the line for a one-and-one at 36.2. He nailed both. Paul Dooley converted a drive for the visitors at 27.4, then Bobby Keyes made a steal, tipping the ball to Dowds, that was followed quickly by a turnover at 12.3 (high pass by Keyes out of bounds).

Dowds has waited patiently to become a mainstay.

"This is what you work for, from the time you're a freshman," he said. "We had Malik Garner (now at UMBC), last year, so I'm trying to fill those shoes as much as I can. And this is coach (Jamie) Chadwin's first year, so it's cool to be a senior leader as he's getting his program started."

Dowds, who lives in Glenside, is unsure on a college major. His other sport is track (the 100 and high jump are his specialties) and what he'll pursue will depend on the level of the school he chooses. Boston College, Connecticut College and Haverford are among the possible destinations.

By the way, due to the snow/slippery roads combo, this game was pushed up to 5 o'clock.

"Because of that," Dowds said, "we weren't sure if they'd follow through with 'Silent Night.' But they had a really good turnout. Felt good to send them home unhappy."