By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
HADDONFIELD — Mike Douglas came out firing.
The Haddonfield High senior scored his team’s first seven points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter. Douglas finished with 22 points to lead the Bulldawgs to a dominant 78-31 triumph over Colonial Conference Liberty Division rival West Deptford.
Haddonfield improved to 14-3 with a perfect 7-0 mark against divisional opponents. Due to the weekend snowstorm across the region, the Haddons hadn’t seen the floor since a 40-30 win over Holy Spirit on Saturday.
“It was all by energy today. We saved our legs today and played with our hair on fire,” Douglas said. “Playing up-and-down in transition, getting back on defense and getting easy buckets.”
The Bulldawgs jumped out to a 21-8 lead after the first quarter and took a 41-18 lead into halftime. The clock started running with the mercy rule in effect after the Bulldawgs held a 35-point advantage early in the fourth quarter.
Chris Beane contributed 18 points, Chase Stadler had 11 points — including three 3-pointers — and Ryan Guveiyian finished with 10, making the most of his opportunities inside.
“They’ve been our leading scorers all year, and they usually hit double figures,” Haddonfield coach Paul Wiedeman said of Douglas and Beane. “They figure out ways to score. They attack downhill, they get easy baskets, they might get a couple threes. Chris has a great knack of finishing around the basket. We rely on them to score, but they also play great defense, too.”
Haddonfield held West Deptford to eight or fewer points in three quarters because of an efficient, pressuring defensive effort.
In a highly competitive South Jersey Group 2 field that features traditional state powers such as Camden, Middle Township and Camden Eastside — just to name a few — the Bulldawgs currently stand atop the power points playoff standings.
A conference matchup with Sterling awaits prior to a non-league showdown with St. Augustine Prep in the Jeff Coney Classic at Rancocas Valley on Saturday.
“Those are big games, power-point wise,” said Beane, a senior. “We need home-court advantage in the playoffs, those first couple games will be huge. Everyone knows how important that is and Group 2 is loaded this year, so we just have to stay focused.”
The Haddons also celebrated Senior and Youth Night by signing autographs in the cafeteria after the victory. Douglas, who had a line of future Bulldawgs waiting for his signature, echoed the sentiment of staying focused down the stretch.
“We have to stay focused. These games are huge for power points,” Douglas said. “We’re the top seed right now, but we just have to continue to focus and stick to the game plan. We need the No. 1 seed so we can get the fans here and have home-court advantage, because that’s huge in the playoffs.”
After dropping two of its first three games of the season, Haddonfield has won 13 of its last 14 contests dating back to Dec. 23. The Bulldawgs have scored at least 60 points in all but four games during that stretch.
“Right now, it doesn’t matter who we play, it’s how we play,” Wiedeman said. “As long as our defensive intensity, our effort pressure, sharing the ball on offense — hopefully that translates over to anybody we play against. So whether it’s Sterling or St. Augustine, we have to play the way our standard is all the time. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing against.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Haddonfield hosts Sterling on Thursday at 7 p.m.
