PENNINGTON — For Fred Falchi, there’s no nostalgia about returning to coach in the gym where he played more than four decades ago, nor about returning to coaching in general after an eight-season hiatus. It’s still, as it always has been, about getting kids to play the game the right way.
“It’s OK, it’s been fun,” Falchi said after his Pennington School basketball team fell to Haverford, 65-44, Tuesday night. “But we’re trying to teach the kids to play basketball. Unfortunately, the fundamentals of basketball aren’t taught all the way up.
“I’m 64 years old. If I go out on the court and a shot goes up, I’m boxing out. That’s what I was taught, and a lot of times they’re not taught this. It’s repetition, repetition, repetition.”
Falchi’s harkening back to the good old days is not lost on his new team.
“It’s been different, he’s more of an old school kind of guy, which we’re not really used to since we had Mr. (Chandler Fraser) Pauls the last three years,” said Dylan Napoleon, who led Pennington with 16 points. “It’s a lot of getting used to.”
Having gone to Trenton Catholic Academy in middle school, Napoleon knows the Red Hawks have a quality man taking over.
“I’ve seen him coach,” the senior said. “I was excited. He’s a good coach; he has a great reputation. I think it was a good pick-up for us.”
So far, the Falchi era has produced a 2-2 record against some strong competition.
Haverford (4-1) is led by Division I prospect Silas Graham, who recently became just the third player in school history to score 40 points in a game. Graham collected 27 points and seven rebounds, shooting 10-for-17 and making five straight shots while scoring all 11 of the Fords’ second-quarter points.
After Pennington cut a seven-point deficit to 32-31, Graham’s bucket sparked a 13-0 run that put the game away in the third quarter. Despite the Hawks pulling within one at one point, Falchi said, “It was never close. That’s a good basketball team. They just executed; we didn’t execute anything.
“I’m trying to tell these guys it’s got nothing to do with winning or losing, it’s about how we play,” the coach continued. “Not that we would have won that game, because they played well. But we didn’t. That was the bottom line. We were going one-on-one, they were passing.”
Pennington has a young team that lacks depth, going only six players deep. Napoleon, a holdover from the Mercer County Tournament champions, knows that patience is key.
“It’s a process,” he said. “New players. New coach. It’s a whole new team. We’re taking it game by game. Games like this are gonna happen with a new team. Nothing to worry about, just get on to the next.”
Haverford, which made eight 3-pointers and held a 21-15 rebounding edge, got 12 points from Dillon Gamble while Joshua Benker-Coker added 10 points and six rebounds for Pennington. The Hawks showed spurts of good play, but not enough.
“All four of our games have been just like this,” Falchi said. “We’ve played great competition and we’re 2-2. Our schedule is just loaded. Everybody is like this so we have to get ready to play. At halftime it was a four-point game but it felt like a 20-point game. We just didn’t have it today.
“When we can’t get stops we can’t run. And our halfcourt offense is not that good right now. That will be the last thing to come.”
What Falchi wants to see first and foremost is hard-nosed, disciplined play.
“Our goal all season is just to play good basketball,” Napoleon said. “Nothing’s gonna be perfect since we have a new team. But we have to defend and just play hard, that’s our motto this year.”
Falchi noted that late in the game, with Haverford’s subs in, a shot went up and they were boxing guys out 20 feet from the basket.
“Probably from when they were in third grade they’ve played together and been taught the basics of basketball,” Falchi said. “Ever since I’ve been coaching I say the same thing before every game: defend, rebound, take care of the ball. We didn’t defend, we didn’t rebound and we didn’t take care of the ball. It’s that simple.”
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### Game Summary
**Haverford (65)**
Graham 11-2-27, Butts 3-2-9, Gilbert 3-0-8, Morsell 1-0-3, Gamble 3-5-12, Olender 1-0-2, Plimpton 1-0-2, Maguire 1-0-2
**Totals:** 24-9-65
**Pennington (44)**
Napoleon 7-1-16, Benker-Coker 4-2-10, Diamond 1-0-3, Bell 1-1-3, Johnson 3-0-9, Smikle 1-0-3
**Totals:** 17-4-44
**3-point goals:**
Graham 3, Butts, Gilbert 2 (TPS)
Morsell, Gamble, Napoleon, Diamond, Johnson 3, Smikle (H)
https://www.trentonian.com/2025/12/09/pennington-boys-basketball-coach-fred-falchi-still-learning-his-new-team-early-in-season/
