City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2016-17 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed so far can be found here.)

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For three years, Antone Walker has patiently waited his turn.

After seeing spare minutes as a freshman, the Friends’ Central guard found himself in the starting lineup midway through his sophomore season in 2013-14, useful as an occasional corner 3-point shooter but otherwise deferring to senior Jonathan Lawton and juniors DeAndre’ Hunter and Chuck Champion.

Though Lawton departed for St. Thomas Aquinas last year, Walker still spent his junior year in the shadow of Division I prospects Hunter and Champion, currently starting their freshmen seasons at Virginia and Loyola (Md.), respectively.

Now, finally, it’s his turn.

“Since freshman year, I’ve always been looking forward to my senior season,” the 5-11 point guard said at a recent workout. “It feels good, to finally be the leader of the team after playing behind DeAndre’ and Chuck, and I think we’re going to have a good season.”

Intelligent and hard-working but somewhat soft-spoken, Walker is more of the lead-by-example type, but he’ll need to become a more vocal presence this year with a very young team around him.

After going 18-10 last year, with a 9-1 record in Friends' League play, Friends’ Central is going to have to rely heavily on underclassman production this year to stay afloat in the FSL, and their only starting senior has to set the tone.

“Our guys go the way that he goes,” head coach Ryan Tozer said. “He’s a guy that’s going to give the rest of the guys courage -- (they) see him playing hard, even-keeled in games, and our guys will feed off his energy.”

There’s no way this team is going to be able to replace the likes of Hunter, a 6-7 wing with NBA potential who averaged 23.5 ppg last year; even getting someone to fill the shoes of Champion, a 6-2 sharpshooter who chipped in 14.5 ppg, will be a difficult task at first.

Sophomore Bryce Spriggs (6-1) and freshmen B.K. Kothari (5-9) and Omar Nichols (5-11) will all see significant playing time; another sophomore, 6-4 forward Myles Robinson (the team's only other returning starter from a year ago) is a big part of the program's future but will miss this season with a knee injury.

Though Spriggs, Kothari and Nichols might not need to be the ones to step up in tight-game situations this year, their time will come soon enough -- and Walker is doing his best to make sure they're ready when it does.

“I always tell them to play with confidence,” he said. “I’m not the type of player to say (not to) take certain shots. If they’re open, I tell them to shoot.”

Tozer did get some help in the addition of Tacony Charter transfer Justin Steers, who decided to reclassify from the 2017 graduating class into 2018 during his move to the Lancaster Ave. private school.

A 6-6, 180-pound left-handed wing, Steers is a Division I talent with a rapidly-expanding game, though he currently makes his mark largely through his effort and his athleticism, somewhat in the mold of former Archbishop Carroll star Derrick Jones. As the tallest member of the varsity roster, he’s going to need to play inside -- much like Hunter was forced to last season -- and will likely see time at all five positions at some point during the season.

“I see him being a very versatile player and we can use him a lot of different ways this year,” Tozer said, “so I’m excited about what we can do with him and how he can improve the guys around him, not only being a post presence but a guy that can facilitate from the wing and push in transition.”

Helping not just Steers but the rest of the team is a familiar face around campus.

Mike Cook, a 2002 FCS graduate who played collegiately at East Carolina and then Pitt, is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix. During he day, he's on campus providing in-class student support to anybody in the upper school (grades 9-12) who needs some guidance.

It’s a reunion for Cook and Tozer, who were teammates together for three years; Tozer used to drive Cook to school before his graduation in 2001.

“(Mike's) wealth of knowledge and his experience that he can share, he can talk about what Friends’ Central has done for him, it’s good for our guys to see,” Tozer said. “And the fact that he wants to come back and try to influence these guys’ lives in a positive way shows you how appreciative he was of his Friends’ Central experience."

Tozer and Cook have a long few months ahead to prepare the Phoenix for the season, with the rest of the Friends' League staring down a loaded Westtown squad that's arguably one of the top five prep programs in the country this year.

Before that, they've got to navigate a non-league slate that begins with games against top top-half Inter-Ac programs in Episcopal and Malvern Prep and continues with trips to Haverford School and Girard College before the new year and league competition.

“I think we’re going to have our growing pains for sure, we’re expecting young guys to contribute, returners who haven’t played significant minutes to start playing minutes,” Tozer said. “So it’s going to be a work in progress, but I think every day the guys are competing a little bit harder, they’re buying in. I’m optimistic and I think that come late December, early January, I think we’re really going to be jelling.”