GA rallies from 22-point deficit to defeat Malvern Prep

EVEN DECADES down the line, it's likely January 2011 will remain the most memorable month of Beau Jones' life.

For what happened on the very first day, no doubt. But also for a wild-and-crazy event that occurred toward the end.

Jones, a 6-3, 195-pound senior, is a forward for Germantown Academy's basketball team, and for now he'll answer to The Grinch Who Stole The Surefire Victory. (With help, of course.) Back on New Year's Day, representing Jolly Jolly and dressed as a grinch, Jones found himself as a comic marcher in the Mummers Parade.

Friday night, to be blunt, Jones and his teammates were quite the joke through the first half of what became an all-time Inter-Ac League game.

Shooting only 3-for-21 from the floor, they suffered the indignity of having visiting Malvern Prep triple 'em up, at 33-11.

Then they won, 65-61! Might as well be direct, right? They won, 65-61!

In the final 16 minutes, Jones contributed six of his nine points, grabbed six of his nine rebounds, dished all five of his assists and set untold numbers of effective picks for star senior guard Jimmy Hammer.

Several minutes after the final buzzer, which GA's student rooters greeted by storming en masse onto the floor to swarm/pound their heroes, Jones was still shaking and, for a moment, having trouble coming up with the appropriate words.

Jones, an attack who'll play lacrosse at Delaware, said this win deserved equal billing in his sporting life with GA's triumph in lax over La Salle, then ranked No. 4 in the country, in the spring of 2008. He was already a starter in that season.

And that it needed to share the honor, overall, with Mummering.

"I even got some air time," he said, referring to the TV broadcast. "I was in there with some of my buddies from St. Joe's Prep. They've been doing it for a couple years. This was my first time hopping in. Some of us were grinches, all painted green, and the others were heat misers and snow misers, something from an old [TV Christmas special].

"We got down there at 7 a.m. I had no idea what I was getting into. We danced for 10 hours straight, except for food [and bathroom] breaks. Wound up down at Two Street."

He laughed. "Some of my friends have been taking shots at me ever since, but . . . it was a great experience. I had the time of my life."

And then came Friday night.

After playing in unsatisfactory-to-outright-poor fashion in recent league setbacks to Chestnut Hill Academy, Penn Charter and Episcopal Academy (all in an 8-day period), the Patriots somehow found a way to look much worse.

Malvern frolicked through the first 16 minutes, shooting 14-for-23 and making every possible positive play. The half ended as Steve Perpiglia, out of a scramble, wound up with the ball and buried a deep three-pointer.

Funny thing about sporting events. The rest of the game is required.

In the locker room, Jones said, coach Jim Fenerty took the soft-spoken approach.

"You guys are a special team," Jones quoted Fenerty as saying. "If you want it, you gotta take it. You know how hard you play. Just chip away. Possession by possession."

Fenerty, of course, is paid major bucks (just kidding) to express such thoughts. Did Jones believe it was possible? Be honest!

Pause.

"I knew we could play a lot better," he said, finally. "In the third quarter, possession by possession, exactly like he said, we worked our way back."

Hammer and soph Nick Lindner went borderline berserk in that session. Thanks to a boost from three treys, Lindner scored 16 of his 18 points. Hammer notched 11 of his 31.

"Jimmy is our best player, by far," Jones said. "The only way to get us back in this game was give up my body with picks, and get him the ball."

As the third quarter ended, Jones missed a shot and sub Connor Crump rebounded. He whipped a pass back out to Linder and . . . bang! A three-pointer to cut the deficit to 45-43.

"Going into the fourth, we had them. We knew we did," Jones said. "We had the momentum and our fans were spurring us on. Awesome experience."

Jones, on a fastbreak layup made possible by Hammer's dump-ahead pass, made it 45-45. Malvern (5-1 league) briefly regrouped, but GA (3-3) closed with gusto as Hammer (8-for-8) and Lindner combined to snipe 10-for-10 at the line over the final 1:16.

GA's other scorer aside from Hammer, Lindner and Jones was soph Julian Moore (seven), who also grabbed seven boards.

Brendan Kilpatrick (19), Perpiglia (18) and Sean Gordon (10) scored in double figures for Malvern. Gordon added five assists.

Jones, a Chestnut Hill resident, plans to major in business at Delaware.

By the end of his college years, maybe he'll earn a minor for storytelling. And his best ones will be true.