City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's "Prepping for Preps," our series of articles previewing area high school teams for the 2015-16 season. For the complete list of schools previewed so far, click here)
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For coach Andre Noble, the goals never really change at Imhotep Charter.

“We want to win the Public League, city and a state championship,” Noble said. “It’s great to have the talent we have, but that’s also the pressure our teams live with year by year. We have those expectations every year.”

This is, after all, a program that won state championships three straight years from 2011-13, two of the last three Public League championships and has battled some of the top teams in the region time and time again.

The Panthers lost four seniors from last season, but they still possess a group talented enough to make one or all of those goals come to fruition.

It starts in their backcourt where they have senior guard Jaekwon Carlyle and junior Daron Russell. Carlyle, who recently committed to Hampton, scored 7.1 points per game last season and really came on late. The 6-footer recorded 10.6 points per game during Imhotep’s final five games and netted at least 12 points in three of those contests.

Russell, on the other hand, was one of the best scorers in the Public League. The 5-10 point guard averaged 16.4 points per game and went for 19 or more on seven occasions.

Russell had a strong offseason playing for Team Final, and he picked up a handful of D-I offers, including ones from Temple, La Salle, Penn and VCU. After the standout summer, Noble sees a difference in his floor general, but it does not have to do with his scoring.

“His passing and his understanding of the game are what I notice,” Noble said. “He’s an elite-level passer and with the way he can score and penetrate and defend – he’s already good at those things, so you add the extra passing ability, he’s playing elite basketball right now.”

With Carlyle and Russell, Noble said he has “one of the best backcourts in the area” a statement that is hard to argue against. But Imhotep is more than just a pair of gifted guards.

In the frontcourt, the Panthers tout senior Nysir Mashburn, a small forward who will play a larger role this year; 6-4 Jaquan Arrington, who scored 26 points over the Panthers’ last four games last season and Koby Thomas, a 6-5 wing who transferred to Imhotep from Mastery Charter North after helping his team into the PIAA Class AA quarterfinals a year ago.

Noble also mentioned 6-5 power forward Josh Townsend, who played a smaller role for the Panthers last season as a junior, as someone who has stood out so far in the team’s early practices and pair of preseason scrimmages.

Alongside Carlyle and Russell in the backcourt, sophomore Bernard Lightsey looks ready to become an important contributor to the Panthers; the 5-11 muscular guard is a 3-point specialist but showed all summer he's capable of doing more than that, with a much-improved handle and finishing ability.

With all these pieces plus some freshmen Noble thinks can make an impact, Imhotep should be able to make a run at the goals the 10th-year coach listed. Imhotep won the Public League title last season with a 77-75 win against Constitution.

However, the Panthers’ run for a city and state championship were ended both times by Neumann-Goretti, and the Saints went on to win both titles.

“I think we can have a really good season, it will be interesting to see,” Noble said. We’re challenging our seniors to be great leaders instead of just being OK, and they’re doing a solid job. We always want more. But we’re feeling good about what we can be if we put together the pieces.”