City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Tuesday night’s Donofrio Classic Championship Game featured two rosters filled with some of the best high school seniors in the area. It could have been the final time that some players competed in an organized game with or against others they have become familiar with over the last decade.

It didn’t seem like they wanted it to end.

In one of the best Donofrio Classic title games in the tournament’s history, the Old School Cavaliers topped Team Hardnett, 127-126, needing three overtimes to determine the thriller. It left players exhausted and those who witnessed it in a packed house at Conshohocken’s Fellowship House avidly entertained.

“I’m exhausted. That was a hell of a game,” said tournament MVP Josh Sharkey, who summed up how pretty much every player felt afterward.

Sharkey, who just finished his high school career at Archbishop Carroll and will play collegiately at Samford, scored a game-best 38 points in the wild, back-and-forth contest that needed an extra 15 minutes to settle. He had 10 of those points in the overtime periods, including a bucket with about three minutes left to tie the game at 118-118 after Old School had fallen behind by four a minute earlier.

Old School also got a huge boost from Sharkey’s Archbishop Carroll classmate, Ryan Daly, who poured in 36 points – 24 of which came on eight 3-pointers. But the third and decisive overtime period was highlighted by the play of some Roman Catholic Cahillites.

For Team Hardnett, Tony Carr looked like the only player on the floor not fazed by the game going beyond the 50-minute mark. The Penn State commit got to the basket at will in the first few minutes of the third OT and notched 10 points.

Carr finished with a team-high 35, and the last of his points put team Hardnett up 126-122 with a minute left. Old School needed an answer, and got one in a big way when Dakquan Davis – a Roman Catholic junior – drilled a three from the corner to cut the lead to one. Davis had only eight points, but his corner three might have been the biggest shot in a frantic game.

After a defensive stop, Lamar Stevens got sent to the line for Old School, trailing by one with 32.5 seconds left. Stevens – a fellow Roman Catholic player and Penn State pledge – calmly knocked down both free throws. After another stop on the defensive end, the game was final over and the Old School Cavaliers had captured their second title in three seasons.

“It was special. Their team is full of great players, but we were able to have the upper hand and pull out the win,” said Stevens, who finished with 21 points. “This is my second championship and I’m glad to end it all like this after my senior year.”

The win gave Stevens some bragging rights over Carr and Nazeer Bostick, another Roman Catholic senior heading to State College in the summer. Bostick had a terrific first half, scoring 20 of his 29 points in the first 20 minutes. And while Bostick, Carr and Stevens will practice together next season, a lot of the other seniors are heading in other directions – many of them lead to Division-I programs.

Virginia commit DeAndre Hunter (Friends’ Central) notched 27 points, while Zane Martin, a Neumann-Goretti senior committed to Towson, had 26 – both doing so for Team Hardnett.

Meanwhile, Daly was the second-half star for Old School. The senior, who reopened his recruitment last month, put on a show midway through the second 20 minutes, igniting his team’s bench and the crowd when he nailed back-to-back threes. The first of which came after he shook off Carr with a crossover.

Underclassmen like Cameron Reddish (Old School/Wesstown), Marcus Littles (Old School/ANC) and Daron Russell (Team Hardnett/Imhotep) certainly had an impact on the game. But Tuesday proved to be an unforgettable Philly area sendoff for the high school careers of a handful of talented seniors.

“That was a lot of fun. This is a great tournament, a lot of the top players come here. This was a great game,” Sharkey said. “This is a big time tournament because everyone from Philadelphia and New Jersey come out. This is my second time winning it so that means a lot.”

Added Stevens: “Me and Josh have been playing in this league since our freshman year together. We really worked hard for this.”

In no game in the tournament did they have to work harder than Tuesday night.