City of Basketball Love

Chris Stewart (@CStewTU)
--

(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.)

~~~

When local basketball folk hear the words St. Joe's Prep, a lot of history runs through their minds about a school which has turned out quite a few notable hoops alumni.

“When you hear the name ‘The Prep,’ there is definitely a prestige that comes to mind,” said Kyle Thompson, a junior on the Hawks’ squad.

St. Joe’s Prep holds seven PCL championships in its history, and has been the home to many successful players during the Hawks’ reign. The Prep has a dozen 1,000-point scorers in its history and three of the last five Catholic League Players of the Year: Steve Vasturia (now with Notre Dame) took it home in 2012 and 2013, and current Saint Joseph’s University sophomore wing Chris Clover won it as a senior in 2015.

The Hawks’ basketball acumen is matched with who’s currently on its sidelines -- Speedy Morris, who is entering his 16th season with the Hawks. Morris comes into this season with 975 career victories, 238 coming from his time in the college world at La Salle, where he holds the record for most wins; at the high school level, the former Roman Catholic coach is the only coach in Pennsylvania with 300 wins with two different programs.

Those on the Hawks’ roster don’t take it for granted.

“You think of all the history the school has, it is definitely a honor playing for Prep basketball,” Thompson said. “Speedy Morris is a Hall of Fame coach, high school and college, just playing for him alone is such a honor because you get the tutelage of someone that has experienced all levels of basketball.”

The Hawks have failed to win a league playoff game since the 2012-13 season, Vasturia’s senior year. The Prep suffered a loss to Neumann-Goretti in the semi-finals at the Palestra that year, but were upended by archrival La Salle in the league quarterfinals in ‘14 and ‘15 and to Roman at that same point last year.

After a strong 6-0 start in PCL play last season, St Joe's prep finished 1-5 in the second half of conference play, going through a stretch that included Carroll, Neumann, Roman, Judge, Egan and La Salle.

“We had an unbalancing schedule, we played the Neumann-Goretti’s and the Roman’s at the end,” Morris said. “We had some good wins early, but we have to win all games.”

The players and coaches are more motivated than ever to build off of their successful start from last season and hopefully turn it into a trip to the Palestra.

Reflecting on the the ugly finish to PCL play, Thompson (team-high 13.6 ppg as a sophomore) feels that the team needs a change in mentality this season, that they need to play every game with all their effort.

“I just feel like we got complacent because we went 6-0, we started smelling ourselves a little bit,” he said. “We got a little too cocky and we took the next games for granted and we didn’t come out playing as hard as we should. This year, we can’t take any team lightly, any team could beat us and vice versa we could beat any team, so we gotta come ready to play every game.”

Thompson’s backcourt running mate, 5-11 junior guard Darius Kinnel (11.4 ppg), will be looked upon as one of the team’s leaders along with Thompson.

Kinnel believes that despite St. Joe's Prep performance last year, that they are a known commodity among the PCL and that they should not be slept on. Kinnel trusts he and Thompson could be one of the top backcourt duos in the PCL.

“We try to challenge each other every single day,” Kinnel said. “We always try to get better; we know we are going to have to carry a big load this year. Everybody knows about us now, I think we will surprise a lot of people this year.”

St. Joe's Prep will be getting some additional help on the block this year after losing big man Pete Gayhardt (8.7 ppg), who will be playing lacrosse at Notre Dame this season.

Ed Croswell was previously at from Math, Civics, and Sciences, where he helped lead them to the PIAA Class A State Championship game.

Morris believes the 6-6 Croswell is a work in progress, but a much-needed acquisition. Although his progress is going to take some time, the team believes he will be worth the wait.

“He’s a really big addition,” Kinnel said. “Him playing the post inside, Ed stepping in and filling that role, he’s going to carry a lot on his shoulders too.”

Also expected to play big roles this season are seniors Brian Griffin and Matt Hartz; Griffin scored 38 points as a junior while Hartz was a swing who didn’t score any varsity points. Sophomore Gabe Arizin, another wing, should also make an impact on a typically-short Morris rotation.

The main objective for the Hawks is to reach the Palestra, a destination that was on Kyle Thompson’s mind before he even stepped foot in the Kelly Fieldhouse.

Last time the Hawks were in the Cathedral of College Basketball was when Vasturia (Notre Dame) and Miles Overton (Wake Forest/Drexel) were seniors in 2013, when Prep made it to the state semifinals before losing to Chester.

“It would mean a whole lot, we haven’t been back since Steve and Miles were here,” Thompson said. “Coming in as a freshman that was my main goal, to get to the Palestra at least once in my four years. It would mean the world to me to get there, this year I think we have the best chance to do so.”

In order for this to be possible, Kinnel feels like there are a couple keys that the team needs to hold onto to keep each other on their ‘A’ game.

“I think this year a big piece to our team will be keeping each other energized, keep everyone feeling good about themselves,” he said. “We have to really motivate each other, keep motivating everybody.”

For Morris, getting back to the Palestra is a big deal and he knows that it is every PCL teams’ ambition when the season begins.

“It would be great, it’s our goal every year, Morris said. “We haven’t been there since 2013. Hopefully this year we can do it. It’s not easy, hopefully we will be back.”