City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3) +
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
—

CONSHOHOCKEN — The 2024 Donofrio Classic moved into its quarterfinal round on Wednesday night, eight teams left in the running to take home the annual spring tournament’s 62nd championship trophy. 

CLICK HERE to access our full Donofrio 2024 coverage page; here’s a report from Wednesday night’s games:

~~~

Game One: Team Awesome 111, Raw Sports 91
Team Awesome certainly lived up to its name on Wednesday night, as the Lehigh Valley-based group — with heavy Philly-area involvement — broke open a tight game early to lead by double digits the entire second half, cruising down the stretch for a big win. Seven different players finished in double figures for Team Awesome, with nobody scoring more than 15, Manny Jo Samuel (2025 | Camden, N.J.) leading the way; FGCU pledge Tristen Guillouette (2024 | George School) and La Salle commit Deuce Jones (2024 | College Achieve Prep, N.J.) were just behind him with 14 and Hayden Johns (2025 | Perkiomen School) added 13. Raw Sports got 18 points from Maryland commit Malachi Palmer (2024 | Mt. Zion Prep, Md.), and Justin Houser (2025 | Phelps School) got off to a great start with 13 points before spraining his ankle early in the second half.

Game Two: Positive Image Blue 75, NEPA Elite 66
Prospects didn’t look great for Positive Image Blue at the outset, with just five players available against a nearly full NEPA roster inside a gym at the Fel that felt more like a sauna. When a team shoots the ball as well as Positive Image has this tournament, that can be a pretty good equalizer. Jalen Chiles (2025 | Friends Select) led with 25 points, doing most of his damage at the line and inside the paint while TJ Bryson (2025 | Penn Charter) had 24 with four three-point makes and Fazl Oshodi (2024 | Friends Select) had 23 including five threes. The five-man Positive Image group had an eight-point lead at half but did give up to a balanced NEPA group paced by 11 points, some playmaking and feisty defense by Will Marion (2024 | Abington Heights), 10 by Quadri Bashiru (2025 | Hill School) and nine by Gabe Tanner (2025 | Perkiomen School). NEPA took a 54-53 lead on a Brycen Martin (2025 | Scranton Prep) layup assisted by Marion, but Bryson hit a three in response to put Positive Image Blue back in front. Bryson hit another three, putting Positive Image Blue ahead 59-56, a lead they extended then managed to hold over the final six-plus minutes.

~~~

Ellison brings Baltimore touch to Donofrio Classic

Mason Ellison has plenty of respect for Philadelphia basketball.

While the junior hails from Baltimore, a city with a pretty strong hoops history of its own, Ellison was eager to see how Maryland hoops stacked up with Pennsylvania. Playing for Raw Sports gave the high major prospect that opportunity and he came away impressed.

“It’s a lot like Baltimore, just a lot of tough guards,” Ellison said after posting 11 points on Wednesday. “It’s a tough brand of basketball. It wasn’t much of a difference, it was like playing city ball.”

Ellison, a 6-foot-4 guard who plays for Loyola Blakefield, was a first team All-Baltimore Catholic League selection this past season. The junior averaged 20 points per game while shooting 48 percent overall and added six rebounds per game.

His all-around game, coupled with a few explosive scoring outings, likely wouldn’t have looked out of place in the PCL. With a few PCL standouts in Jordan Ellerbe and Jalen Harper on the opposing Team Awesome lineup, Ellison got the opportunity he came to Conshy for.

“Growing up, you always hear about the Baltimore Catholic League and the Philly Catholic League, so getting to play against a few of those guys was a good experience,” Ellison said. “Seeing the guys who played in this like Kobe Bryant, he’s my favorite player, Kyrie Iving, knowing what they went on and did definitely makes me want to go and work even harder.”

Ellison is fielding more than a dozen Division I offers, including Marquette and Maryland plus a bulk of the “DMV” area including UMBC, George Mason, Towson and American. He also listed Rhode Island as an offer and Temple as a program he’s had contact with. 

After transferring to Loyola Blakefield prior to his sophomore year, Ellison has seen his stock rise steadily.

“It definitely felt good, it made me want to work harder,” Ellison said. “I’m not done. I want to get bigger, get stronger, work on my body, work on my mindset and become a better person at the end of the day.”

The guard is also preparing for his last go-round on the Made Hoops circuit with his Mid-Atlantic Select team. Ellison said he just wants to continue developing, pleased with his junior year but eager to show even more going forward.

“I just want to get better,” Ellison said. “I want to shoot a better three ball, especially off the dribble, shoot from longer and out to the college line, be a better defender and ball-handler.”

~~~

Houser looking for breakout summer

The first half of Justin Houser’s first Donofrio Classic game last week didn’t start out great.

By the second half, the Phelps School junior forward had more than seemed to figure things out and put together a strong closing 20 minutes. Wednesday, Houser picked up where he left off with a solid first half against Team Awesome.

A tweaked ankle injury sidelined Houser for most of the second half but he’s hoping the strong play he showed can carry over to the coming months.

“I think it just took some time getting used to this team,” Houser said of his Raw Sports group. “We didn’t have any practices, so I had to get used to the other guys and their playing styles.”

Houser will be playing with WeR1 this summer, joining Phelps classmate Tommy Vaughn Jr. They have an event coming up this weekend, hence Houser shutting it down on Wednesday when he felt the right ankle that’s been nagging him since the high school season flare up.

The 6-foot-10 post man is looking to add some versatility to his game during the summer months and was looking forward to the travel circuit offering a chance to work on it.

“I’m going to focus on my ball-handling and my shooting,” Houser said. “That’s two things I think can really help me throughout this summer and onto my college career.”

Wednesday, Houser got a chance to match up with Tristan Guillouette, the George School product by way of St Joe’s Prep giving the Phelps junior a good post duel. Houser, who had 13 points before his early exit, also stood his ground on defense and was a disruptive force defensively with at least four blocks.

“I learned how physical you have to be when it comes to posting up,” Houser said. “For me, I’m a skinner dude but I realized I can still play strong even if I’m skinny. I like to change the pace a little bit, you can’t always stay at the same speed but I also saw how important it is to be physical.”

Houser, who played his freshman year at Cedar Cliff before coming to Phelps, has started to draw interest at the next level. He’s got a growing list of offers, having added Temple and St. Joe’s late in the fall and also received an offer from Penn State last July.

“I just have to keep working hard and have a good summer,” Houser said.

~~~

Time at Perk paid off for Addesa

When Alfredo Addesa left his native Italy a few years back and came to the United States, it was understandably a change.

As a junior playing at Doane Academy in New Jersey, Addesa knew he needed a place that could push him and help him grow. Coming over to the Perkiomen School and reclassifying to the Class of 2024, Addesa got what he needed.

The next step for the native of Milan, Italy, will be deciding on his place at the next level.

First, he was trying to make the most of his last appearance at the Donofrio Classic.

“It’s amazing to play with these guys, it’s a high level game,” Addesa, who played with the Old School Cavaliers last year but was on NEPA Elite’s roster this spring. “It’s a different pace, it’s similar to AAU I would say but it’s still a very good game for sure.”

Addesa, who measures about 6-foot-10 with a wingspan a couple inches past that, had a somewhat quiet offensive game Wednesday against a Positive Image Blue team that only had five players, all of them guards, available. He was noticeable in NEPA’s prior game going for 16 points and eight boards.

Similar to many players who make the jump across the Atlantic from Europe to the States, Addesa noted there’s a distinct difference in how the game is played. In Europe, it’s a bit more deliberate, more cerebral and more emphasis on team basketball.

“It took me one year, no lie, to understand to think less, play faster, it’s way more physical and a little more athletic,” Addesa said. “It took me a year to get to this point, but it’s an amazing game because you think less and play more fast. I like it a lot, actually.”

In the US, there are more athletes and players are better at playing in individual matchups, so Addesa had to learn how to speed up. Arriving at Perkiomen gave the big man, who also possesses a nice shooting touch out to the perimeter, a place he could balance the best of both.

Addesa spent his first year playing behind some skilled bigs, which might have seemed like it was burying him. When his time came this year, Addesa proved he was a strong rebounder and helped Perk win a PAISAA title.

“I came to the States and I’m not going to lie, it was pretty hard to put my name on the table,” Addesa said. “I played for a small private school in New Jersey, Doane Academy and I decided to transfer to Perk because it’s a great basketball program

“Coach (Thomas) Baudinet is a great coach, he got me right and thanks to this program, my name is on the table now for sure.”

Addesa hasn’t made a decision on his future yet, mainly because he’s still in the process of gathering his options. The stretch big has a few offers in hand and has spent the last few weeks, plus the near future, taking visits.

“I took an official visit to NJIT two weeks ago, one to UVA-Wise two weeks ago and I’m taking one on Friday to Lehigh,” Addesa said. “I’m also trying to schedule one with Colgate and William & Mary.”

Addesa added he’s not on a hard timeline to make a decision, instead saying when he finds the right fit for him, that’s when he’ll commit.

“When you play, it doesn’t always go your way all the time but if you keep playing hard and always think how to be a great teammate, that’s what’s really going to matter,” Addesa said.

~~~

Perk’s Bosch enjoyed return to the Northeast

Torin Bosch didn’t expect to finish up his pre-college years back in this part of the country.

A New Jersey native, he moved down to Arizona with his family four years back, playing his sophomore through senior years at Basha High School, located about a half-hour southwest of Phoenix. He returned to the Garden State occasionally during the offseasons to play with the same All-In Beasts team he’d been playing for since middle school, but mostly spent his time down in the desert. 

Bosch graduated from Basha last spring after leading the Bears to a 26-win season, then had shoulder surgery in the summer. He planned on taking the 2023-24 season off entirely, working to get back to full health and figure out his collegiate plans. Instead, he ended up coming up to Pennsburg (Pa.) and enrolling at the Perkiomen School in early December, joining the Panthers for a post-grad season and ultimately playing a starting role as Perk defended its PAISAA state championship.

“It was definitely unexpected, to be coming back to the Northeast after finishing out my senior year in Arizona,” he said. “But it was great to come here, end up starting for the last stretch of games after arriving midseason…it was great to come here and get that state championship.

“(Perk’s coaches were) saying they’d seen my film and they needed minutes from guys like me, grind-type guy,” he added. “I knew I was going to have a chance to play coming in, I didn’t know how much, but I just came in and worked, and that’s where it ended up.”

A 6-foot-4 wing, Bosch is a versatile defender who isn’t a ‘go-to’ guy offensively but finds ways to be productive. He showed that with a 10-point effort in the state championship game, and with 11 in Team Awesome’s win on Wednesday night, both games that included a solid number of rebounds, assists, and other plays that don’t wind up in the box score.

“Coach (Tom Baudinet’s) a great coach, he definitely helped me get better on the defensive side,” Bosch said of the Perk head coach. “He’s also been getting my shot quicker, work on my handle a little bit, shots off the dribble, so it’s great.”

Bosch is still figuring out his collegiate plans, though he’s narrowing in on a decision. He received an offer to join UMBC’s squad as a preferred walk-on, while he’s also hearing from small-college programs including D-II Mansfield (Pa.) and D-III Randolph-Macon (Va.). No visits are planned, and he’s not going to play grassroots hoops this spring; Donofrio’s his last chance to get his name out to any coaches, and Bosch said Baudinet has been helping him on that front as well.

“Just trying to find the right fit,” he said. — Josh Verlin

~~~

Johns aiming for first Division I offer

Growing up in Kitchener — a city of about a quarter-million in southern Ontario, not far from Niagara Falls — Hayden Johns watched a steady stream of his fellow Canadians go south of the border to further their hoops careers. Spurred on by the success that the likes of Xaivian Lee (Perkiomen School/Princeton) and classmate Will Riley (Phelps School) have found in the area, Johns decided to take the same path, and played at Perkiomen this season for the first time.

“It went good, you know, it was a big development, big change, especially me coming from Canada, so adjusting to the American style and all that,” he said. “So once I felt like I got adjusted to that, it was good.”

Johns played quality minutes all season long for the PAISAA champs, the 6-5, 205-pound wing showing a nice mix of shot-making and all-around play on a strong frame. Coming into the year without any colleges on his trail, he said he’s heard from D-Is at various levels, naming Arizona State, Merrimack and “a bunch of Ivy League schools” as those who’ve been in touch; all will be watching him with the Northern Kings this summer on the Under Armour circuit, where he’ll try to pull in his first offer. 

“Basically just becoming a more consistent shooter, right now I’m kind of streaky,” he said on what he’s working on, “and being able to attack downhill with my right hand, get downhill, being able to make tough shots, stuff like that.”

~~~

Quick Hits

— Jalen Harper (2024 | St. Joseph’s Prep) is ready to officially declare himself a member of the Class of 2025, as it appears that the 6-2 guard is going to do a postgraduate season at one of the area’s numerous high-academic options, in the hopes of securing a Division I scholarship. Peddie School (N.J.), as well as Phelps, Perkiomen and others are still in the mix, though he said he “should be making a decision soon.” 

Doing a post-graduate year is something Harper said he’s been considering since the beginning of his senior year, though considering his age — he turned 17 near the beginning of his his senior season — it’s also an option that makes a ton of sense. Harper said what he's looking for in a prep school is “what will prepare me the most to go to college — on the court, off the court, being able to get in the gym, working out, things like that.”