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JTBL Report: Thursday, June 10

06/10/2016, 9:30am EDT
By Josh Verlin & Daniel Hughes

Rising sophomore Anthony DiCaro (above) has been a lights-out shooter for Cherokee (N.J.). (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Daniel Hughes (@hooplove215)

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Here's a report from the JTBL on Thursday, June 10:

Tonight’s Scores

Cherokee 54, Pennsbury 51
Harry S. Truman 51, Bishop McDevitt 29
Archbishop Wood 70, Imhotep Charter 61
George Washington 59, Central Bucks West 42

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DiCaro shoots Cherokee past Pennsbury
One underclassman who’s used the JTBL as something of a coming-out party has been Cherokee (N.J.) rising sophomore Anthony DiCaro.

The 6-foot-tall guard has shown off his ability to knock down shots -- especially those from beyond the 3-point arc -- all spring long, and Thursday night was perhaps his best game yet. DiCaro’s five triples to propelled him to a 19-point outing and his Chiefs to a three-point win over the Falcons, 54-51.

After spending his freshman season as a swing player between JV and varsity, playing a good bit at the lower level while also getting a few starts for Cherokee’s main squad, DiCaro looks like he’ll be a mainstay of head coach Eric Cassidy’s rotation as a sophomore.

“It was a great year, I got varsity experience,” DiCaro said of his freshman year. “I’m looking forward to next year and coming back stronger than last year.”

If DiCaro’s name sounds familiar, he has a local Division I background. His father, Anthony DiCaro Sr., played on the Saint Joseph’s squad that upset No. 1 seed DePaul in 1981 and finished up his Hawks career as a team captain in 1982-83.

“He taught me how to shoot,” the younger DiCaro said of his father, an ever-present spectator on the JTBL and Cherokee sidelines. “(I’ve watched) some of his games, like the DePaul game, when they pulled the upset.”

Though DiCaro did the majority of his heavy lifting on Thursday night from the perimeter, he also has shown flashes throughout the spring of a more well-rounded ballplayer. That ability peeked out on a nice drive-and-floater to cap off his scoring effort on this particular evening, and he’s also displayed good court awareness and vision with some slick passes and smart decisions.

“Right now I’m a shooter but I want to expand it to the point where I can take people off the dribble, and I want to expand on that,” he said.

Getting stronger will be a key note for DiCaro, who only weighs 140 pounds at the moment and certainly needs to add muscle to help his game on both ends of the court.

“(Just) working out and eating food,” he said of his summer plans when he’s not playing with either Cherokee or his AAU team, the Jersey Shore Warriors. “I want to stay in shape, but I don’t want to lose weight.”

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Wood senior Matt Cerruti (above) is playing his best basketball for the VIkings this spring. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Cerruti settled in for big senior year at Wood
Matt Cerruti has come a long way in a short amount of time.

Now a senior, the 6-foot-3, 185 pound guard looks ready to be a big piece for Archbishop Wood in his second year after transferring from Lower Moreland High School.

Cerruti excelled at Lower Moreland, one of the top teams in the small-school Bicentennial Athletic League. But after coming to Wood he had to quickly adjust to a different level of play in the Catholic League, the toughest high school league in the state.

“Everyone tells you it’s a different world but you don’t actually realize it until you step on the floor,” Cerruti said. “Just the length of everyone. One dribble and people are putting their hands up.”

“My first jump-shot got swatted right out of bounds,” he continued.

After that, Cerruti’s confidence took a hit. But the supporting cast at Archbishop Wood encouraged him to stay aggressive.

“My coaches and my teammates like (fellow senior guard) Collin (Gillespie) would try to tell me to keep shooting the ball,” Cerruti said, “it’s gonna eventually go in, even if I’m missing.”

After averaging 9.5 ppg as a junior at Wood, Cerruti looks ready to take a big step forward in that category. He’s been strong all spring long, a theme that continued on Thursday as he scored a game-high 23 points in the Vikings’ 70-61 JTBL victory over Imhotep.

Cerruti’s high level of play has garnered the attention of schools such as Division Is Lafayette and Yale as well as D-IIIs Albright and Scranton. He plans on one day attending a school with a strong academic standing.

“I value education just as much as I do basketball,” Cerruti said, “Wherever I could go help a team and get a good education, that would be the best fit for me.”

Archbishop Wood went 14-10 last year, but will lose graduating point guard Tommy Funk as he heads to West Point next year. Funk is leaving the team in the capable hands of Cerruti and Gillespie, a 6-1, 175-pound point guard.

Cerruti and Gillespie, who also play AAU together on Team Final Black, will assume more responsibility for the Vikings next year.

“I think even in the weight room and everything else, me and Collin are trying to keep everybody on track,” Cerruti said, “Only way we play to our potential is if we keep working.”

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Quick Hits

-- Imhotep Charter 2017 SF Koby Thomas has been having an extremely productive summer, and he continued that with a 20-point outing in the loss to Wood. The athletic, 6-6 wing has been one of the area’s better transition scorers the last two years, but he’s becoming a more effective threat out of the half-court offense thanks to a much-improved ability to knock down a 3-point shot; he hit three from distance last night on no more than five or six attempts. Though he’s still prone to a bad shot here and there, Thomas more than makes up for it with his ability to make tough buckets and guard multiple positions. There’s a reason that Saint Louis, Duquesne, Hofstra and more have all offered.


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