Delran basketball honors teammate Mason Williams after tragic death, beats STEM Civics

DELRAN – Bryce Foster could hear Mason Williams cheering him and his teammates on.

Danny Murphy heard Williams’ screaming at him to shoot every time he was open.

The Delran High School boys’ basketball team felt Williams’ presence whenever they looked at their bench and saw his No. 3 jersey hanging over the first chair in the aisle.

Williams, the team’s starting point guard for the past three years, died tragically on the morning of Jan. 7. He was 17 years old.

He was with the Bears in spirit on Tuesday evening though as they defeated STEM Civics 68-41 in their first game in 27 days.

“It felt like he was there,” Foster said. “We know he is there, watching and cheering us on, clapping, giving us the energy he gave us when he was here. It felt good knowing he’s still with us. We definitely do miss him and it’s going to be a struggle to keep going, but every time we look at that (No.) 3, it’s motivation.”

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Williams and his family moved to Delran from Willingboro in fourth grade and he started playing basketball with fellow seniors Pat Little, Christian Morrison, Justin Smith and Murphy that same year. The quintet had been together ever since, and they were joined by Foster and Zac Palmer-Smith as freshmen.

Williams was a shining light in the school, they said.

“Mason, every time he walked in (a room), he was one of those kids, you could say Mason’s name to anyone and there would be a smile on their face,” Little explained. “No one would ever have anything negative to say about the kid, so positive.”

It’s what made the past week so difficult for the community.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” head coach Travis Murphy said. “We have a couple good hours and then you get down again and you try and pick it back up.”

Murphy couldn’t express enough gratitude for his assistants and said he leaned on them for support.

The school provided grief counselors for the student body throughout last week, and the basketball team did its best to keep busy between pizza and video games at the school, going to an ice cream shop to hang out, watching the Philadelphia 76ers live last Wednesday and having a Friday practice that consisted of pick-up basketball, half-court-shot contests and other fun games.

However, Little said what helped him most was his teammates.

“I know all my coaches and all my teammates are going to be there for me,” he said. “That’s something I really learned in the last week. I can turn to anyone of these guys and they all have my back and I’m the same way. They can come to me and I have their back. That’s something we truly learned with each other this week. We knew that before, but now we really know that.”

They wanted to be there for Williams’ family too, which is why they went to visit them and presented them with a signed basketball, the same game ball Mason would choose before each contest.

Playing games was the last thing on the team’s mind, but Mason’s father Rick, who’d coached many of them for years, didn’t want them to stop.

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“Finish what you started,” he told them.

“It meant a lot to the kids, meant a lot to me when he said that,” coach Murphy said.

The Bears wanted to honor his wish. They also wanted to honor their friend. Murphy left it to his players on how to do that.

They responded by placing his jersey on the bench, designing a light blue and purple bracelet that read “Mason Williams #3; We Love You,” as well as a white, long-sleeve warm-up shirt with Williams’ name on the back, and they opened Tuesday’s game with four players, the final spot belonging to Williams, who was announced as a starter.

“It was definitely hard playing without him,” Danny Murphy said. “Starting with four men, I was emotional there.”

Murphy then experienced elation as he knocked down a 3-pointer on the game’s first possession, giving his team a 3-0 lead, symbolic of Williams’ number.

“It was definitely a special moment,” said Murphy, who connected on six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 24 points. “It’ll forever live with me. I saw it open and I had to take it. He’d scream at me if I didn’t, so I let it fly.”

Morrison took over for Williams at point guard and finished with 7 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.

“I’m going to miss him,” he said. “He’s always going to be here with us, but I feel as though this win definitely was for him.”

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Wins and losses aren’t what’s important though, coach Murphy said. He just wants the Bears to be able to play and smile.

COVID erased half of last season and already cost them multiple games this year before Williams’ passing.

Murphy also wants them to know how proud of them he is.

“There’s not words to tell you how proud,” he said. “What they’ve done and what they’ve gone through, to be 17 and 18 and to have that happen, to have it happen and have to pick up in a week and move forward is so hard. I’m so proud of their effort and what they did, what they accomplished and how they stood together, stood tall and played for Mason.”

Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at jfriedman2@gannettnj.com. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Delran basketball mourns, honors Mason Williams after tragic death