City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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Here’s the report from the JTBL on Thursday, May 26; for the full league standings, schedule and leading scorers, click here:

Game Scores

Pennsbury 78, Bishop McDevitt 46
Imhotep Charter 58, Cherokee 37
Archbishop Wood 73, George Washington 55
Harry S. Truman 60, Central Bucks West 44

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Gillespie focusing on point guard duties

This summer, Archbishop Wood rising senior Collin Gillespie has to prove a point to Division I schools: that he’s capable of playing point guard.

Gillespie has an offer from D-II Holy Family under his belt already, but he’s chasing those from the next level; schools like Bucknell and Lafayette have been in touch, as have a few other D-II schools since the end of the season.

So far, the 6-foot-1 rising senior has made his mark for the Catholic League program as the second fiddle in the backcourt to lead guard Tommy Funk, a two-time second team All-Catholic selection. But with Funk headed off to West Point to begin his Division I career, the onus now lies on Gillespie to run the show for head coach John Mosco; it’s something he’s familiar with, having run point for his AAU squad, Team Final Black, the last few summers.

“In April, (coaches) texted me before a lot of our games saying they were coming to watch me,” he said. “Just ‘play hard,’ do what I do, get my team involved because that’s what I do for Team Final, I get my team involved and I score when I need to.”

After averaging 7.1 ppg as a sophomore, Gillespie was the Vikings’ third-leading scorer as a junior (13.1 ppg), behind only Funk (14.5 ppg) and rising junior Tyree Pickron (14.7 ppg). A strong outside shooter capable of either pulling up and draining shots or working off screens and finding room for catch-and-shoot situations, Gillespie is also a capable shot-creator, as he showed in dropping 26 points against a tough George Washington side.

Most impressive were a few spin-and-finishes by Gillespie, who also showed he can get to the rim through contact and find his way to the line. If he can play like that during the July live periods, those elusive offers could come their way.

“I’m getting a lot stronger, I’m in the weight room three days a week,” he said. “I need to get stronger, a lot of coaches see me and think I’m a little white kid, I can just score a little bit, shoot it from the three [...] now I’ve got to show off some athleticism; I’m kind of athletic, too, not a lot of people see that. I’ve got to get stronger and show them I’m athletic and keep on doing what I’m doing.”

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Flagg looking for first Division I offer

Pennsbury rising senior Mark Flagg saw very few minutes for the varsity team his sophomore year back in 2014-15. One year later, and about one inch taller, Flagg led the Falcons in almost every statistical category.

When CoBL asked Flagg to define his role for Pennsbury, he simply stated:

“Rebound, block shots, (and) score.”

The 6-foot-7 forward scored 21 points in Pennsbury’s 78-46 win versus Bishop McDevitt on Thursday. A stretch-forward, Flagg can certainly shoot the ball; against McDevitt, he hit three 3-point shots and knocked down all four of his free throws.

Despite Flagg’s numbers in tonight’s JTBL action, he feels that his individual performance, as well as the team’s level of play, have been inconsistent during the first couple weeks of league competition.

“It’s been kind of up and down,” he said. “A few games ago, I was pretty sick going through the Truman game, and we have been missing a few players. I think we’ll pick it up, though.”

Pennsbury, 2-2 in the JTBL, is currently positioned in the middle of its division. Coming off of Thursday’s game, Flagg noted what the team has to work on next.

“We want to move around, we want to cut, more things like that,” he said. “We want to move the ball around, instead of (playing) one-on-one against other teams.”

Regardless of Pennsbury’s standing in the summer league, Flagg has great expectations for next season.

“I think that we’re going to be one of the top teams in the district,” he said. “We are bringing pretty much everyone back, and our younger guys are stepping up in workouts and stuff like that. I think we’ll be a pretty good team in (Suburban-One) and District 1.”

So far, Flagg has yet to receive a college offer. However, St. Bonaventure, Stony Brook and schools from both the Ivy League and Patriot League have shown interest. Flagg told CoBL that schools are still looking for him to improve his defensive game when guarding big men, to shoot better from the outside and to have more control over his ball handling.

He plans to visit Stony Brook and possibly St. Bonaventure this June. The class of 2017 prospect will also be participating in St. Joe’s and Temple’s team camps that same month with the rest of the Falcons.

Wherever Flagg ends up in his collegiate career, he will look to continue his playing ways.

“I want to be known as a hustler and a really good teammate - helping them (teammates) when they’re down, helping them out when they’re taking a bad shot,” he said.

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Quick Notes

--Imhotep’s JTBL roster is loaded with young talent. They were lead tonight by class of 2018 guard Bernard Lightsey who went for 23 points with five threes in the Panthers’ 58-37 win over Cherokee. He will likely be alongside Daron Russell in Imhotep’s starting lineup come next season, forming one of the deadliest backcourts in the Philadelphia Public League and the city as a whole. Two members of Imhotep’s class of 2019 that stood out were the tall and lengthy wings Chereef Knox and Dahmir Bishop. Knox dropped 13 while showcasing his ability to get to the rack on multiple occasions; however his main weapon was his mid range / floater game due to his sweet stroke and soft touch around the basket. Bishop also had 13 on the night with most of his points coming from him attacking the basket and using his length and athleticism to finish at the rim. They both tacked on a few blocks and steals as well; their length was notably bothering Cherokee on the defensive side of the ball.

-- Archbishop Wood 2018 SG Tyree Pickron made his return last week from a foot injury that cost him all of April and most of May, but tonight was his first extended minutes in nearly two months. The 6-3 guard’s shot certainly was rusty, as the normally reliable 3-point shooter missed badly on several attempts, but he also showed off the motor and aggressiveness that has him as one of the area’s most productive underclassmen over the last two years. The next four weeks will be big for Pickron, who will make his WeR1 live period debut in July and could find some Division I offers coming his way if his shot is again falling by that point.

-- Pennsbury bounced back from last week’s loss against George Washington with a dominant 78-46 victory over Bishop McDevitt on Thursday night. With three players in double figures - Mark Flagg (21 points), Gary Francis (18 points) and Chad Weldon (10 points) - Pennsbury overpowered its opponent on the offensive side of the ball. McDevitt showed promise at times, but was inconsistent from the perimeter, and turned the ball over frequently, serving as a catalyst for its expanding deficit. Francis, a rising sophomore, was explosive with the ball in his hands for the Falcons. In the second half, he had a string of six consecutive points scored on the fast break, all of which were created by steals; two out of the three thefts were forced by Francis himself.