City of Basketball Love

Austin Petolillo (@AustinPSports)
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Imagine this: what if a player spent his first two years on a low-major Division I team, and then in his junior year transferred to a school in the ACC and all of a sudden was a contributing starter?

That is what Martin Luther King High School junior Will McNair Jr. is going through.

Well, maybe not those exact circumstances -- but he has made the transition from Philadelphia Public League’s ‘C’ division on Parkway Center City’s squad to Philadelphia Public League’s “A”division for MLK.

“I’m getting used to MLK because it’s very different from Parkway Center City but basketball-wise, MLK can help me go a lot of places.” McNair said.

Even though this is his first season at MLK, McNair showed chemistry with his teammates that made it look like he has been in the program his whole high school career, helping his team to a 46-33 victory over Simon Gratz High School in round two of the Philadelphia Public League playoffs on Wednesday afternoon.

He was one rebound shy of a double-double as he scored 10 points to go along with nine rebounds and three blocks.

“He played at Parkway but the competition he went up against, that’s not Imhotep, MCS, Constitution -- that’s not that level, this is a higher level,” Martin Luther King head basketball coach Sean Colson said.

With the addition of McNair Jr to the team this year, it helped bolster MLK’s post presence alongside senior forward Elijah Kiah-El, another transfer (George Washington). The two provided a much-needed filling to the huge hole in the middle left by big man Rasool Samir who graduated last year.

Colson and his coaching staff took a risk with McNair who according to Colson was a “very raw prospect” coming into this season.

“We as a coaching staff put in a lot of work with Will,” Colson said. “He would stay after practice and show a lot of dedication and I have to give him credit because he wants to be good, he wants to be better.

“When he first came, to be honest, the talent level was not high, his work ethic was not that high but he’s learned how to play on this level,” Colson added.

The game was a very low scoring game for the most part with MLK leading 8-5 in the first quarter and then leading 17-15 at halftime.

“Gratz is a scrappy team and the pressure is on us because we’re the favorite so it got to us a little bit I think in the first half when they slowed it down,” Colson said. “They made it a little ugly and we fell into that trap, rushing threes up and things like that and we got the advantage inside so the second half."

It was in the first half where McNair showed some dominance against Gratz, scoring eight points and collecting six rebounds by halftime.

In the fourth quarter, MLK went on an 11-0 run led by the 6-7 Kiah-El who finished the game with 11 points, five rebounds, one assist and two blocks.

Colson and the rest of the MLK squad were delighted to welcome back junior point guard Denelle Holly Jr. and insert him into the starting lineup as he was previously injured and unable to play the past couple of games. Holly scored nine points to go along with four rebounds and three assists in his return to the lineup.

“Normally we are a really big pressing team but because of Holly’s injury, I decided not to press,” Colson said. “I felt like they would have difficulty scoring over our size so I just decided to play tough man to man defense and not really speed them up."

Senior forward Rashon Johnson led the way for Simon Gratz. He scored nine points and added four rebounds and four blocks to his name.

Up next for MLK is a date with undefeated Mastery Charter North, led by Bowling Green State University commit Daeqwon Plowden. The Pumas, which made it to the PIAA Class AA championship game a year ago, are now 22-0 after dispatching Mastbaum earlier Wednesday.

“Mastery North is a really good team, they’re having an incredible season this year,” Colson said. “But we’ve played Imhotep and a lot of good teams around the country so it’s going to be a good game.”

McNair only has one thing on his mind when it comes time to face off against Mastery Charter North.

“I’m determined to win, and whatever I can do to help the team win the game,” he said.