City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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Salesianum basketball has established themselves as a bit of a powerhouse in Delaware as of late, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change.

After losing Donte DiVincenzo (Villanova) and a senior class who was fresh off back-to-back state titles to graduation last year, the Sallies added three freshman studs and Delaware natives, guards Fahmir Ali and Trevon Alderman plus forward Tariq Ingraham.

The three freshmen are all in the top six for Salesianum, who beat Math, Civics and Sciences 62-54 in the Kobe Bryant Classic at Philadelphia University on Friday night, thanks to major contributions from all three young stars.

“It’s fairly new,” said Salesianum coach Brendan Haley of his school’s status as a go-to spot for talented youngsters. “We obviously had Donte (DiVincenzo) but we’re really not used to seeing freshman who aren’t phased by anything.”

Ali, a 5-foot 9-inch point guard from Wilmington, Del., who’s best at finding open teammates with crafty passes and great court vision, and Alderman, a 5-foot 11-inch slasher from New Castle, Del., who plays larger than his height due to his ability to elevate and attack the basket, certainly were not phased by anything MCS threw at them.

They’ve both adjusted well to the high school varsity level in a short period of time

“I got used to it when I was younger,” said Ali. “I was always playing up so it was nothing. I’ve always been at the higher level.”

While Ali and Alderman without a doubt made huge contributions to Salesianum’s win, it was the 6-foot 8-inch Ingraham, also from WIlmington, who stole the show.

The son of two Division I basketball players with quite a bright future ahead of him finished with 28 points and 19 rebounds, bringing home MVP honors for the game.

“He’s a great kid,” said Haley. “He’s incredibly gifted.”

From the opening tip it was clear that Ingraham was going to control the game, as he scored the first six points for the Sallies and from that point on, all he did was impress.

At halftime, which was 27-21 in Salesianum’s favor, Ingraham already had 14 points, two of which came on a huge dunk with 2:22 remaining in the half. His seven rebounds were highlighted by a huge defensive board over three MCS players with 1:25 remaining.

After an evenly played third quarter, which featured another big dunk from Ingraham over Edward Croswell, MCS started the fourth quarter off with a 9-2 run and took the lead 46-45.

Haley called timeout, and drew up a play to get the ball to their best player.

“If there’s a formula that’s working, you just keep to the formula,” he said.

And keep to the formula is what they did, as Ingraham was found on the block and continued to do what he did all night.

Ingraham was found on the post with just over five minutes remaining, backed his man down, and scored to give his team the lead at 47-46, and Salesianum never looked back.

Alderman and Ali certainly enjoy having Ingraham in the middle to dump the ball down to.

“It takes the pressure off us because we know he’s a very good player and uses his post moves a lot,” Alderman said. “So that helps us spread the ball out more.”

In fact, the player who’s most adjusting to be a focal point in the paint is Ingraham.

“He came in extremely good, the one thing i would say is you know he plays for the best AAU team in the country and i think when you’re playing with guards that good, you’re probably not getting the ball throw to you on the post a lot,” said Haley. “You’re probably used to getting your points by going and getting it for yourself so we’re working with him in terms of his body language and holding the seal and really sending a message of ‘get me the ball.’’

That message was very clear on Friday night.

Salesianum, which first opened its doors 1903 but didn’t win its first basketball state championship until 2014, is just beginning to establish itself as a top tier basketball program in Delaware

“When I was coming up, it really was like, more of the public schools, but now private schools are getting much better and starting to get a lot more kids,” Alderman said.

Having taken home the state title the last two seasons, many young players are starting to look to Salesianum as the premier basketball school in Delaware.

“We love the fact that lately we’ve been a little bit of a destination for some guys who are highly thought of,” Haley said. “We have great leadership and we want be strong in everything.”

With these three young phenoms, basketball is certainly going to be a strength of Salesianum for years to come.