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Gillespie continues hot streak as Wood, Del-Val pick up wins

12/23/2016, 11:00pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Collin Gillespie (above) picked up his third offer in the last two weeks after another terrific performance on Friday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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As soon as he walked off the court at Ben Franklin HS, Archbishop Wood’s Collin Gillespie was met by Hofstra head coach Joe Mihalich, who spoke briefly with Gillespie and Vikings head coach John Mosco, until Gillespie walked away with a smile.

Minutes later, he confirmed that Mihalich had indeed offered him a scholarship, just the latest bit of good news for a senior who’s playing some of the best basketball out of anybody in the region.

Gillespie was the star once again of Archbishop Wood’s 87-56 win over Our Savior Lutheran (N.Y.), the second of three games in the Philly vs. Everybody event at Ben Franklin. The 6-1 guard finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals, showing just why he’s suddenly become of the hottest names in the region amongst mid-major programs.

Hofstra is the third school to offer in the last two weeks, joining Rider and Drexel; prior to the season, Gillespie’s recruiting had consisted of Maine and a host of Division II schools who had Gillespie at the top of their recruiting boards but are now going to have to move on to new targets. 

“It’s exciting, all the talking to coaches and stuff, but I’m just playing,” he said. “We’re playing as a group right now, we’ll playing well, moving the ball, sharing the ball. I shouldn’t be the only one getting all the credit, we do this as a team. But it’s fun.”

That team-first mentality is a big reason why Gillespie is so successful on the court. He’s always hustling for loose balls and missed shots, and rarely looks for his own shot the first time down the court.

On this particular night, he was a distributor early, as fellow seniors Matt Cerruti (19 points) and Keith Otto (11 points) each knocked down two 3-pointers to put Wood out to a strong start in the game’s opening minutes; Gillespie assisted on three of those four shots.

“He’s letting the game come to him, he’s not playing for anything but wins, he’s playing like a senior,” Mosco said. “We really moved the ball around (today) and found the open guy. It starts with Collin, he’s unselfish and it just trickles down.”

It’s vindication for Gillespie, who picked up offers from Albany and Fairleigh Dickinson this summer, though he spent most of the crucial July live recruiting periods sidelined with an ankle injury from which he’s now fully recovered.

“It’s a relief, just knowing that schools are still watching and that you could still showcase your talents and just play,” he said. “I’ve been able to score the ball a lot, I just wasn’t as confident, I didn’t play as confident. Right now I’m playing really confident.”

When he did score, he was able to do so in all sorts of ways. The sharpshooter knocked down 9-of-15 overall, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, along with all four of his foul shot attempts. He attacked the bucket in the half-court setting, finishing tough layups through traffic, and made several terrific passes both to shooters and to Wood’s big men.

Two first-quarter triples helped Wood (4-2) take a 20-9 lead after one period, and it was a 43-21 lead at halftime. Our Savior closed the gap to as little as 14 in the third quarter before Wood slammed the door shoot with a big fourth.

The Vikings will play some big-time showcase games next week at the Slam Dunk to the Beach event at Cape Henlopen (Del.), facing off against Roselle Catholic (N.J.) on Tuesday and Sanford School (Del.) in an event that typically draws dozens of Division I coaches to recruit the nearly 20 high-level high school programs in the event’s three days (Dec. 27-29). So Gillespie is sure to get more exposure, and

And things could get even crazier for Gillespie -- Villanova’s Ashley Howard reached out to Gillespie’s father last week, and the Wildcats’ assistant was in attendance at Ben Franklin on Friday. Whether or not Jay Wright pulls the trigger on a scholarship remains to be seen, but either way don’t expect Gillespie to make a decision before the end of the season as he starts to plan visits and see who else joins the fray.

“I was just trying to find the right fit, that’s why I waited [initially],” Gillespie said. “I don’t know if I wanted to go far yet or stay close, and I really wasn’t ready yet -- I’m still not, obviously. I’m trying to find the right fit, I have to get out to visit schools so I’m a little behind in the process, but I’ll get there.”

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Makhi Morris (above) and Del-Val ran away from Life Center over the last three quarters. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Del-Val Charter destroys Life Center in opener

After one quarter, Del-Val Charter held a slim two-point lead on Life Center (N.J.).

Then, in the blink of an eye, it was over.

The Warriors put on a staunch defensive stand that will be tough to match, holding their opponent to just eight points over the next 16 minutes and running away to an 81-28 win.

“We’ve been up-and-down all year, we’ll play well one quarter, then be bad defensively another quarter,” head coach James Lewis said. “Tonight, I think we played well for 32 minutes, even for the subs to come in the last eight minutes.”

Lewis is in his first year at Del-Val, whose former head coach Jason Harrigan left for Cardinal O’Hara in October after guiding the Warriors to a Public League and District 12 championship a year ago. The 41-year-old is no stranger to the Public League, having spent seven seasons (2008-15) as the head coach at Philly Electric, which folded its athletics program before last season.

“The year off actually rejuvenated me, I needed a year off,” he said. “What consists of being a high school, it’s just not coaching, there’s a lot of things that come with it. It actually helped me, the transition’s a lot easier, I know better what to do, what not to do now. But I’m having a ball, though, with these guys.”

A swarming full-court press did the trick in this one for Del-Val (4-3), which got bucket after bucket off turnovers, taking advantage of a young Life Center squad.

The seniors dominated the scoring column: wing Makhi Morris led the way with 20 points, Mikal Sullivan had 13 all in the first half, and forward Dion Harris had 12. Sophomore Amin Dandridge joined that trio in double figures with 14 points.

Morris is one of two starters returned from last year’s squad, along with junior point guard Antwuan “Booty” Butler, who scored four points in the win as he played more of a distributory role in the victory.

“They’re both my leaders,” Lewis said. “When I first got the job, I talked to both of them and told them I’m new here, I need their assistance to make the transition easy. Those guys made the transition easy for me; they come to practice, they work pretty hard, they’re both great kids, coachable. So the transition actually is easy.”


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