Haverford School Shines In Season Opener

There was a stir among the larger-than-usual crowd for a
season opener. Then he walked on the court, and the answer came: They were there out of curiosity to see , the 6-foot-11, 265-pound transfer student from China. Instead, what the crowd saw was quite possibly the best Haverford School team in decades.

The Fords led from start to finish in their season opener, putting a hurting on New Beginnings, a charter school from Chester, 83-56, Wednesday afternoon. Haverford School was led by senior Zach Thomas, who dropped in a game-high 23 and sophomore Eric Anderson chipped in with 19. Xu finished with two points and two rebounds, but he magnetized every onlooker each time he ran up and down the court.

Including one area high school basketball fixture, Norm Eavenson, a veteran scout for decades for the All-Star Scouting Service.

“It’s going to take some time for Xu to adjust to the American game and his teammates are going to have to adjust to him,” Eavenson said. “They’re going to have to learn to throw passes to him to use his height advantage, instead of thinking he’s 6-foot-5. But I thought he showed a good foul-shooting stroke. Big men can always aggressively seek the ball, and you can tell Xu has been schooled on setting picks.

“There’s certainly a lot to work with there, though. He’s a legitimate 6-11, 265 pounds and he has athletic (skills). All of his feeds came with his back to the basket, so let’s see what else he can do. He’s certainly going to be faced with a better test next week, when Hans Brase (a 6-foot-9 Princeton commit) comes in.”

In the meantime, Thomas, freshman Sammy Foreman, junior Semaj Reed, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds, plus Anderson’s pin-point outside shooting, are going to make the Fords a competitive team in the Inter-Academic League. Fords’ coach Henry Fairfax couldn’t resist smiling afterward, but his enthusiasm over his first-career coaching victory came tempered for the long winter ahead.

“It was surreal coming back to the school where you played and now you’re the coach,” Fairfax said. “The bar has been set high. Expectations are high. I liked a lot of things I saw, but it’s going to take a while to jell. I’d like us to be a little more disciplined, but in the second half, I liked how unselfish we were.”

Expect Xu to improve. He just finished his first full practice on Monday, still recovering from a back injury.

“The first thing that surprised me about Tao was how fast he adjusted to us,” Thomas said. “Talent-wise, I think the talent is there. Our biggest thing is working together.”

Anderson pointed out no one on the team ever played with a 6-11 international player before, and it will take some getting used to, especially the physical part.

“Tao admitted the American game is a lot more physical than how basketball is played in China,” said the sophomore, who already has an offer from Davidson. “We know there was a lot of rust there from two months of not playing.”

Xu will only get better—and the Fords, it seems, along with him.