This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Biddle Doing It All for Bulldawgs

Senior Chris Biddle is a versatile weapon for the Haddonfield boys' basketball team.

Chris Biddle has become the master of all trades for the Haddonfield Memorial High School boys’ basketball team.

Need him to get to the low post and score an easy basket? No problem.

Need him to block a shot? Piece of cake.

Find out what's happening in Haddonfield-Haddon Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Need him to set a screen then step back and hit a long 3-pointer? He’s happy to oblige.

Biddle has expanded his skill set to feature all elements a coach desire in a basketball player. It’s not often a coach finds a player as versatile as Biddle and Bulldawgs head coach Paul Wiedeman is happy one came his way.

Find out what's happening in Haddonfield-Haddon Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“He’s like a stretch-4 for us,” said Wiedeman, speaking of Biddle's ability to play the forward position but also step outside. “He can hit the three, has a nice post-up game and sets nice screens for us to set up other guys. He also hits shots so you have to honor his jump shot and defenders have to play him up high and he can get by you to the basket. On top of that, his defense was big tonight with blocked shots and communication with other guys. He’s been a great senior leader.”

Biddle put all of those attributes on display Thursday night helping Haddonfield pick up a convincing 67-40 win over Colonial Conference Liberty Division rival West Deptford. Biddle finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks as the Bulldawgs won their seventh-straight game to improve to 14-1. Haddonfield is scheduled to travel to Westampton Tech on Saturday.

“I just kind of view my role as a leader on the team,” Biddle said. “I have been here four years, so I have to do all the little things to inspire the younger guys. When it comes down to it, I have to make shots, get rebounds, post up and do a little bit of everything.”

Biddle has seen consistent minutes throughout his career, but has emerged as a big-time scoring threat this season. He credits the work he put in during the last eight months as the reason his game has become so complete.

“I just work on my game a lot during the offseason and over the summer and I think I have come back better than ever,” Biddle said.

Biddle’s biggest moments of the game came late in the first half when the Bulldawgs went on a 17-0 run over the final two minutes and 34 seconds. He scored seven points in the spurt, helping the Bulldawgs turn a seven-point hole into a nine-point halftime advantage.

“It was just a lot of energy plays in there that got us going,” Biddle said. “We started to shoot the ball well and made shots when it mattered. That was a big-time run for us.”

The 17-0 run was also fueled by Weideman’s decision to have his team go into its pressure defense package. 

“The first time around it was the same thing where we got down big against them and then pressed in the second half,” Wiedman said of the Bulldawgs' overtime win against the Eagles last month. “This time I said, ‘I have to be smarter than that, I’ll start in the second quarter this time.’ We were fortunate that we got some easy baskets because they are a very good half-court man team.”

Biddle was part of a complete-team effort Thursday night. Billy Griffin led the Bulldawgs with 16 points, while Robby Despersia had 13 points and Ted Stavetski had nine.

Haddonfield’s ability to spread the ball around and attack from multiple angles is what has made them so successful this season, Biddle said.

“I think everything on our team starts with our defense,” Biddle said. “We have many different ways to hurt teams. In some lineups we have five shooters and five guys that can go to the basket and lineups where we can post up and run different sets. There’s a lot of different stuff we can do.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?