Schalick boys basketball team getting the chance to play at Wells Fargo Center before Sixers’ game

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – In any other year, a late January basketball game against a non-division opponent wouldn’t draw any special attention, but this isn’t any other game.

When Schalick and Clayton play Jan. 22, it won’t be just another Saturday afternoon matinee. The teams will play under the bright lights of the Wells Fargo Center as part of a high school tripleheader before the Sixers play San Antonio that evening.

“I remember Schalick used to do it even before I even went to Schalick High School, but they stopped doing it I remember when I got to high school, so I never got to experience it,” Cougars coach James Turner said. “Then they picked it up again, but the girls did it a couple times a handful of years ago.

“I’m just glad the kids are going to be able to have that opportunity to be there, be on the floor; hopefully they’ll have some time to take some pictures. They don’t give us a whole lot of time to do all that kind of stuff because it has to be in and out, but we’ll do the best we can to try to make it a memorable night for them.”

The Schalick girls played Clayton in the Wells Fargo Center back in 2016. The Clayton girls beat Overbrook there last season.

The Cougars plan to make a day of it. After playing the Clippers in the afternoon, they’ll head to Dave & Busters for a couple hours of dinner and team bonding, and then head back to watch the Sixers play.

Just the thought of playing on an NBA floor has the players excited. It’ll be a normal high school game with a five-minute halftime, but if the game is running long the fourth quarter will play with a running clock. As part of the deal the schools are required to sell 55 tickets at $35 each.

“Coming into the season we heard rumors of a surprise and we tried to get our coach to budge and tell us, but that didn’t work,” senior forward Jake Siedlecki said. “We ended up finding out a few weeks before the season and we are super excited.

“It’s going to be a really fun day, not only playing there, but watching the Sixers play at night also. It’s really a unique experience and it’s given our team a lot of excitement for this upcoming season.”

It was a no-brainer for Schalick athletics director Doug Volovar. He reached out to Clayton AD Dan Antonelli about the availability of the game and the Schalick board approved the Cougars’ participation in it in November. Officials broke the news to the team at the parents meeting Monday.

“I think it’s awesome,” Volovar said. “To me, as an athletics director, that’s what you’re supposed to do – try to provide opportunities out of the norm for your kids to enhance your programs. That just seems like it’d be a great opportunity as an athletics director to give your kids a chance to do something different, to being a part of something special.”

The Wells Fargo date isn’t the only special event on the Cougars’ radar. The football team is in the mix for a game in next season’s Battle at the Beach in Ocean City and Volovar has entertained the idea of playing a soccer game at the Philadelphia Union’s stadium if that opportunity resurfaces.

“We’ve done it before and I’m trying to do it again,” he said. “Our kids are good enough to play, why wouldn’t you want to give them an experience like that?”