Twelve players scored in the 77-58 victory over Dock. Jim Dillon led the team with 18 points; Fisher had 14.
"We're scoring some points," Holy Ghost coach Tony Chapman said. "We have more talented offensive players this year. All of our starting five can be scorers."
Coming off an unbeaten league season last year, Holy Ghost has filled in the gaps created by graduation with senior starters Gary Nolan and Kevin Carroll, and junior starters Dillon and Ryan Larkin. And somehow, the team became more potent.
"When I was a freshman, no one thought we had much," Fisher said. "We didn't think we had this much talent."
Part of the team's success has been its ability to mesh well so early, an uncommon characteristic for a team with so few holdovers.
"The kids are all playing to their potential and they've blended well together," Chapman said. "Jason Fisher is capable of scoring 20 points a game, but he's given some of that up for the betterment of the team. So he's scoring 13 a game, but getting four to five rebounds and four to five assists a game also."
There is a down side to all of the team's offensive firepower. While Ghost has been scoring almost at will, their opponents aren't being stymied much, either.
"We scored 98 in our first league game," Fisher said, "but coach wasn't happy with the 72 we let up."
Chapman, whose Firebirds routinely advance into the postseason playoffs, knows it's fine to score a lot, but defense will be the key to his team's eventual postseason success.
"I would have to say I wasn't real pleased with the effort and execution against Dock, especially defensively," Chapman said. "I told them, when we play good teams in important games, we have to play good defense. The best defensive teams will win big games."
UNHAPPY ENDING
* With his team leading by six points with 2 minutes, 39 seconds left, New Hope-Solebury coach Gary Pento felt good about the Lions' chances of walking out of Devon Prep's gym with a victory Friday night.
"Then, my assistant said to me, 'Weird things happen in this gym, coach.' I said, 'Don't say that.' "
For New Hope-Solebury, it couldn't have gotten much weirder. Chad Hopenwasser, the school's all-time leading scorer, missed the front end of a one-and-one. So did his brother Brian after getting the rebound on Chad's miss. And perhaps the team's best free-throw shooter, Mike Alexander, also missed the front end of a one-and-one.
At the other end, a Devon player sank an off-balance 25-foot bank shot for a three-pointer with a minute left, and another Devon player scored the game's final points with 7 seconds left. All of which contributed to the Lions (6-3, 1-1) losing the game, 61-60.
"We played like we didn't want to win down the stretch," said Danny Luccaro, one of four Lions in double figures. Chad Hopenwasser led the team with 20 points, Brian Hopenwasser had 16, Luccaro had 11, and Alexander had 10.
The Lions entered the game shooting 78 percent from the free-throw line, but made just seven of 18 against Devon. The Lions had just eight turnovers, while Devon had 18.
The foul shooting was the difference, Pento said. "We had the other numbers right in line. Big games are won and lost at the foul line."
