Cardinals knocked out
of the playoffs

By Joe Mason
For the Times

Brandon Savage remembers reading the Catholic League previews at the start of the season. He remembers being upset and, at times, a little disappointed.
According to just about every prognosticator, Cardinal Dougherty High School’s playoff run in boys basketball was about to end. That run started 11 years ago, so Savage certainly didn’t want to be one of the players on a team that would be known for snapping the streak.
He also knew it would be a tough season because Dougherty coach Mark Heimerdinger lost four starters and all but two players in his regular nine-man rotation after graduation ceremonies last June.
Things didn’t look good.
"Our problem was we had talent, but as coach Heimerdinger likes to say, we needed to work on our basketball IQ," Savage said. "I mean, we had to improve in all areas, but our biggest thing was playing smart and becoming mentally tough.
"Plus, at the start of the year, when you looked at the (Catholic League Northern Division), you had North — they had all the talent. You had La Salle, which was young but real good, then you had Ryan, which does everything perfect, and Judge. They were good too. Everyone thought we were the odd team out, and that really bothered us."
Enough for Savage and fellow senior Isiah Mason to take on the roles of big brothers to the rest of the younger team.
It also helped that senior forward Sean Williams transferred to Dougherty from Springfield High School in Montgomery County. That provided Dougherty with three seniors to provide stability for a talented group of underclassmen.
"The thing that Brandon and Isiah did was they set the standard," Heimerdinger said. "They were leftovers from teams that were very talented and had high expectations. They worked extremely hard to make sure the younger kids knew we were expected to compete."
Dougherty, minus any star players or first-team All-Catholic selections, achieved a 9-5 record in a balanced Catholic League Northern Division. That record was good enough for second place and yet another playoff appearance.
The playoff streak continued. But that’s also how the season ended.
Archbishop Ryan downed Dougherty, 74-46, in a Catholic League quarterfinal game on Saturday. In fact, this year is the first since 1999 that the Cardinals haven’t competed in the semifinals.
But no one’s really dismayed about the team’s second-place finish this year.
"I think that says a lot about everyone on this team, from the coaching staff to the seniors who didn’t get a lot of playing time but made us work hard in practice, to the freshmen who were learning how to play high school basketball," Savage said. "I’m really proud. Now I’m still really upset that we played the way we did against Ryan, but at the same time, no one thought we’d be playing there, so we have to be a little proud.
"It was tough, but I don’t know many of the Ryan guys who didn’t play great," Savage added. "It hurts, but I had to congratulate them because they played so good. You don’t like to see people play like that against you, but they played great and they were unselfish. They deserved to win."
Like the Ryan players, Savage knows all about being unselfish.
As a ninth-grader, he was a star guard on Dougherty’s freshman team, but prior to the season, Dougherty had plenty of guards but no big men. Couple that with the fact he’d shot up to 6-feet-5 and the image of him going under the basket was a no-brainer.
"If someone asked me what I like better, I would say guard," Savage said. "But it wasn’t about what I like better, I like winning more than anything, so I gladly went underneath."
"In some ways it was good," he said. "I wasn’t as big as most of the big guys, but sometimes they were slow-footed. I tried to use that to my advantage. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. I just tried to do well."
As for his college future, he’s currently being looked at by Division 1 school Coppin State, as well as by some Division 2 and 3 schools. He’s still considering all options, but he is hoping to major in sports management.
"I just want to stay around sports," he said. "I have a great passion for basketball and I want to stay involved.
"I never thought about coaching until this year, but after everything that happened, watching the younger guys get better was great," he said. "But as long as I’m around sports, I’ll be happy." ••
Joe Mason can be reached at joemason70@hotmail.com