City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Here’s the report from the JTBL on Thursday, May 24; for the full league standings, schedule and leading scorers, click here:

Game Scores
Abington 48, C.B. East 16
Council Rock South 65, Holy Ghost 43
Math Civics & Sciences 69, Cristo Rey 37
Neumann-Goretti 60, Father Judge 43

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C.R. South’s Thomas finding new ways to improve this summer

Like most athletes, Council Rock South guard Austin Thomas knows where his strengths lie on the basketball court.

“Definitely shooting is my strength, for sure,” said Thomas, following a 65-43 win over Holy Ghost in Tuesday’s JTBL action.

The rising senior proved that to be true with two big 3-pointers in the second half of the victory, but also showed glimpses of the other facets of his game he’s been working to improve entering his final season as a Golden Hawk.

Offensively in particularly, Thomas has been working to become a more explosive guard in his 5-foot-8 frame. In a few moments, he put that work on display, beating defenders off the dribble for impressive finishes around the rim.

“Especially, at my size, I’ve got to be explosive,” Thomas said. “I’ve been working with the school in workouts and with my trainer, just to apply that type of stuff, explosiveness, and just getting to the basket, because I think I could be a shooting contributor to a lot of teams but I need to be a defensive presence as well.”

Thomas, who is also trying to improve upon on his on-ball defensive ability, is in the midst of an important offseason, where he balances the prospect of college recruiting with his leadership role amid a change in coaching staff at C.R. South.

The Golden Hawks recently hired Derek Wright, brother of national champion Villanova head coach Jay Wright. With Thomas as one of his captains, the focus for the team leaders has been getting their squad to play team-oriented basketball.

“With a new coaching staff, we’ve just really been working on the process of getting together, playing with each other, our problem has been playing together and I think we’re getting the feel of that a little bit more and I think we can be successful if we do that,” said Thomas.

As far as his recruiting is concerned, Thomas mentioned a few D-II and D-III schools that have been on his trail, including Marywood, East Stroudsburg, and Penn State-Abington.

If he can balance that recruitment process with his position of influence on the C.R. South team--Thomas should be in for a memorable summer and upcoming senior year.

“Last year I was a captain so this year I hope to do the same,” he added. “I want to lead this team and lead us in the right direction.”

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MCS looking for chemistry in crucial summer

This time last year, nobody was paying much attention to Math, Civics & Sciences.

The Mighty Elephants were coming off an 11-13 regular season that saw them lose to Public League rival Constitution by 41 in the state semifinals, and graduated VCU-bound guard Samir Doughty as part of an important group of six seniors.

But an unheralded group made a surprise run through the 2016 PIAA Class A bracket, making it all the way to Hershey in March before falling to Kennedy Catholic in the state championship.

And with the majority of the contributors slated to return, MCS has a target on its back.

“It feels good, different,” said Tymair Johnson, one of the five returning starters from the playoff run. “Better communication going on with the team, a lot of different stuff going on, that’s it.”

Johnson and the rest of the returning starters--fellow guards Saheed Peoples, Malik Archer and Kwazhere Ransom, plus 6-6 forward Ed Croswell--all played huge roles for head coach Dan Jackson during 2015-16, but from the first few weeks of the summer it looks like a rising sophomore will be joining them in that rotation.

Zahir Jackson, who had 11 points during a state quarterfinal win over Phil-Mont Christian, had a game-high 20 points during MCS’ big JTBL win over Cristo Rey on Tuesday night. Establishing more depth beyond the starters will be crucial for the Mighty Elephants if they’re to compete with bigger schools like Imhotep and George Washington a nightly basis.

“We’ve got some new players coming in, so we’re just trying to get them to learn our chemistry and all that,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to get that with the new players that are coming in.”

Building chemistry was a theme echoed by Archer, the team’s leading scorer for the majority of last season until Croswell emerged as a go-to scorer in the playoffs.

But to help build chemistry, they need to have a gym. MCS’ own court is finally scheduled to be open for the season after the program has played at Berean Academy and Martin Luther King Rec Center; for the summer, the players are bouncing around from rec center to rec center, anywhere they can get on the court.

Archer and Johnson have gotten some time in at Shepard Rec Center in West Philadelphia; others have found their own places to hold workouts. Experiences like the JTBL, when the majority of the team can get together, are priceless. The more time that bonding can happen, the better.

“We’ve got to get back; it’s there but it’s not there,” Archer said. “But we’ve definitely got to get back in the gym, see how this new team’s going to work out for next year.”

“We’re going to have that team again,” he added. “It’s coming.”