Haverford High coach Terry McNichol and the Fords had a rough go this season, finishing with only two wins.

Still, the longtime coach and his players decided to have some fun last month during their last practice of the season. Per tradition, the Fords arrive at Juenger Gymnasium wearing retro clothes. That's retro look AND retro fit, as you can tell by the photos. It's a nice way to turn the page on a tough year. (Though, it is worth noting that Haverford High won two of its final five games.)

The other photo here is of McNichol, right, and senior Dan McWilliams, who arrived to practice trying to replicate what his coach wears. (Pretty good guess on McWilliams' part.) Anyway, McWilliams missed the whole season due to injury ... but he didn't miss any practices. Retro Day certainly was no exception.

Kudos to the Fords for keeping a good attitude during a tough season.

They had only minutes earlier finished off their biggest rival in a game decided by four points. They had, in the moments prior to that game, honored their two eldest players in Senior Day festivities.

Needless to say, The Haverford School coach Steve Cloran's players have not considered playing in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Tournament, which begins next month.

The Fords (11-8, 2-4) were more trained on winning out the rest of their Inter-Academic League slate, which includes two important games with league-leading Chestnut Hill Academy. But they know only four games separate them from the Indy Tourney, which is for all the marbles.

It used to be that representatives from the Inter-Ac and the Catholic leagues - and a host of other smaller schools from outside the Philadelphia area - would play for the state title. Now, with the Catholic kids playing in the PIAA, it's mostly an Inter-Ac heavy playoff. That doesn't alter its importance.

But Cloran's players - and the coach himself - don't want to think about that just yet. They have important games to win.

"You kind of, with high school players, you don't want to put too much in their heads," Cloran said Thursday. "So we might only quickly talk about that with them. Our main goal this year is to win more games in the Inter-Ac League. We're not there yet, but we'll continue to stay in the present."

Added junior center Andrew Acker: "We haven't really talked about that tournament all that much. I think he wants all of us to focus on finishing up the Inter-Ac. ... We've got some tough ones coming up first."

The Pa. Independent Schools tourney kicks off Feb. 15 at the higher seeds' home gyms, and finishes Feb. 19 and 20 at Montgomery County Community College.

COMING TOMORROW: An updated look at the Inter-Ac standings, and what The Haverford School and Episcopal Academy need to do to finish near the top as the season nears conclusion.

Haverford School coach Steve Cloran thinks he's only coached two 12-point comeback victories – one of them being Saturday's stunning 47-45 thriller over Penn Charter at Cabrini University.

The Fords erased their dozen-point deficit by applying a pressure defense that prevented the Quakers from getting into their offensive sets even just once in the fourth quarter. It resulted in an 18-4 scoring advantage for the Fords in the fourth.

After starting 0-3, the Fords (9-3, 1-0) have won nine in a row. That's thanks largely to the play of underclassmen. They have only two seniors on their roster – guard A.J. Jones and forward Matt Lengel. Their primary six-man rotation includes three sophomores and a junior.

“I think, with so many young guys on our team, they get frustrated when the shots aren't falling,” Cloran said. “When the ball isn't going in, they hang their heads. The important thing for them is to keep coming, keep trying and just trusting that the shots will fall.”

Sophomores RaShaan Hollman (12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals), Brendan Purcell (11 points) and Zach Thomas (3 points, 3 steals) were integral to the win. So was junior Andrew Acker, who had 8 points and 14 rebounds.