City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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In a rare Big 5 doubleheader in front of an announced 8,030 at the Palestra, a handful of freshmen got to make some impressions to some Philadelphia basketball fans.

And a quartet of backcourt freshmen put on quite a performance Wednesday night. In the first game, Temple guard Trey Lowe scored eight points in the Owls’ 62-49 win over La Salle. In the nightcap, Penn’s duo of Jackson Donahue and Jake Silpe combined for 30 points against St. Joe’s, while the Hawks’ Lamarr Kimble notched eight points and had six assists in a 75-60 win.

Elsewhere, Villanova freshman Jalen Brunson had nine points and four assists as the No. 4 Wildcats held on for a 72-71 win at Seton Hall.

“I think it says what it’s always said, there’s good young players, and there’s always been good young players at all of these schools," St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli said. "Brunson at Villanova, (Mikal) Bridges at Villanova, I’m not as familiar with La Salle’s young players, I’ve only seen them play one time on tape. But Trey Lowe and Ernest (Aflakpui) and Levan (Alston), there’s always, always good young players and people can be excited."

Here’s a closer look at the four freshmen guards who shined at the Palestra:

Trey Lowe

Lowe, making second career start, made his presence felt early against the Explorers.

Barely three minutes into the game, the Ewing, N.J. native buried a triple to give Temple an early lead. But the loudest play he made, and one of the game’s best highlights, came a few minutes later.

Applying pressure to La Salle’s Amar Stukes, Lowe made a steal, broke the other way and finished with a two-handed slam over Stukes while absorbing a foul.

“Yeah, this was my best start in a long time,” Lowe said. “It’s a big get for my confidence, they always told me when I come out to play, just play hard and leave everything out on the floor.”

The eight points were two off a career high for Lowe and came after he played just three minutes and was held scoreless in Temple’s double-overtime win against Cincinnati on Saturday.

“With Trey starting, it brings a lot of spark, he’s a great player for us on both ends of the court,” Temple senior forward Jaylen Bond said. “We feed off his energy.”

Lamarr Kimble

For the second consecutive Big 5 game, Kimble showed up in a big way for the Hawks.

The Neumann-Goretti grad also scored all eight of his points in the first half, including a buzzer-beating layup which gave St. Joe’s a 39-23 advantage at halftime.

Kimble, who scored a career high 11 points against Temple last month, was also coming off a solid performance against Fordham in which he netted 10 points and added three assists. He also seemed comfortable in the Palestra, a building he played in numerous times during the Catholic League playoffs with the Saints.

For a team clicking and that has just one loss since Dec. 1, Kimble has really settled into his role as the point guard coming off the bench. Starting point guard Shavar Newkirk also was great for the Hawks against the Quakers, scoring 11 points and adding five assists.

“Fabulous tonight,” Martelli said of Kimble. “He’s a great, great kid, works really hard and played well against Temple, did not play very well in that next stretch, I think it was a freshman thing, end of the semester, kind of even though he’s a Philadelphian, being lonely a little bit. And he had a really nice game against Fordham, and the competition is so healthy between the two of them.”

Jackson Donahue and Jake Silpe

First-year Penn coach Steve Donahue has had to shuffle his starting lineup around a lot this season, as he tries to figure out his team and also as that team changes. But he may have found a backcourt combination that works for the rest of the season, and for the foreseeable future.

Silpe and Donahue started their second consecutive game beside each other in the Quakers’ backcourt, and both looked more seasoned than freshmen.

Donahue (no relation to the coach) had a game-high 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and all of those shots came behind the 3-point line. Donahue hit his first triple, which he says generally gets him going, but that wasn’t really the case on Wednesday.

Donahue missed his next four attempts and had just three points at halftime. But he heated up in the second half, going 5-for-10 and scoring 16 points in the game’s final 20 minutes.

Silpe – a Cherry Hill East product – was making his 10th start of the season, and he turned in 11 points and a team-best five assists.

“(Our chemistry) is really good, and it’s a lot about the little things,” Donahue said of playing with Silpe. “In the locker room, I’ll go to him or he’ll come to me and we’ll say ‘Watch me.’ He made fade on this or he’ll look for me quick on a give and go or things like that. So our communication on and off the court is what is really improving. Our chemistry is clicking right now.”

Added Steve Donahue: “They’re both kids that really compete. I’m trying to build a championship program here and they have the main ingredient: competing. Both of them naturally compete every single time, every possession, offensively and defensively. And that’s why they play.”