Brady Krautzel for three! 48-46 Garnet Valley with 29.4 seconds left. Image by Owen McCue
By Owen McCue
Brady Krautzel had plenty of practice for the biggest play of his basketball career thus far.
The Garnet Valley junior grew up playing driveway pick-up games with older brother Jack and Jack’s best friend, Quinn O’Hara. For a long, long time now, Brady has known to be ready when O’Hara has the ball in his hands.
“I’ve been playing with Quinn for a while — not as long as Jack has, but pickup games and everywhere, so you learn tendencies,” Brady said. “Whenever Quinn drives, he’s always a pass-first kind of player. He always looks for the open man.”
So when O’Hara started making his way toward the hoop Tuesday night in a District 1 6A semifinal against No. 2 seed West Chester Henderson, Krautzel spotted up. He took the pass he knew was coming and buried a 3-point look from the left corner with 29.4 seconds left, which held up as the game-winner in a 50-46 win.
The clutch pass and shot sent 14th-seed Garnet Valley to the District 1 6A championship on Saturday against Central League rival and top seed Lower Merion at Temple Liacouras Center.