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Russell solidifies status as Imhotep tops King for Pub title

02/23/2017, 10:45pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Daron Russell (above) won his second Public League championship, the sixth for Imhotep Charter. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Leading up to the Public League championship game, Imhotep Charter head coach Andre Noble needled Daron Russell about one thing, over and over.

“I’ve been teasing him, I always try to give him motivation, I said ‘look, all of our really, really good players, they don’t have one Public League title,” Noble said. “‘They have two, three…’I started naming people.”

And as he reminded his star guard, “you’ve got one.’”

For in a program with five Public League championships and four state titles despite only being in its 16th year of existence, greatness is defined by not just if you can bring home a trophy for the Panthers’ case, but how many.

And there’s a reason Russell will leave the school as its all-time leader in points, assists and steals: he’s one of the greats. He certainly earned that title on Thursday night, leading Imhotep to its sixth Public League championship with a 24-point performance as the Panthers downed the Cougars of Martin Luther King 53-49 in overtime at Saint Joseph’s University’s Hagan Arena.

After falling short in the Pub semis as a junior, the Rhode Island pledge made sure he’d leave Philadelphia on top.

“This is what everything I’ve been dreaming of since we lost to Del-Val [last year],” he said, “so I wasn’t going to let that slip again. I felt like we needed this.”

Russell scored 17 of his points in the second half and overtime, including knocking down 7-of-8 from the line to seal the win in the final minutes of the extra period.

“He’s been special, the kid has played four years here, is our all-time leading scorer, is going to score over 1,600 points in his career," Noble said. "[He's] a 3.0 student and a better person. We're going to miss him when he leaves.”

It was certainly not the prettiest offensive night for Imhotep, ranked No. 7 in the country by the latest USA Today rankings. The Panthers shot just 17-for-73 (.232) overall and 2-of-26 (.076) from 3-point range, which would have done them in if not for a terrific defensive effort.

Imhotep forced 23 King turnovers, preventing the Cougars from getting into an offensive rhythm throughout the game. And it’s a good thing, as King shot 20-of-47 (.425) from the floor.

“This was probably one of our worst-shooting games I’ve seen us have all year, but we pride ourselves on defending, on making plays defensively, and we just made enough plays,” Noble said on the court after the win. “Credit to King...they made it tough for us, but proud of the group that we had. Even when they struggle, they love each other, they love playing around with each other.”

As if to punctuate the point, Noble was nearly drowned out by his team, celebrating loudly behind him.

“This is all day,” he said, gesturing to the players. “The team chemistry that these guys have and they love they have for each other.”

Russell was joined by another Division I-bound senior, Koby Thomas, in double figures as the 6-5 Robert Morris commit came off the bench for 12 points. The third D-I commit on the team, David Beatty, struggled from the floor but came up with a big layup in overtime as part of his eight points.

Though the teams were knotted up at 21-all at halftime, it was King who seized control in the third quarter, going up 38-32 into the fourth. Imhotep started off the final period of regulation with a 7-0 run to take the lead after a Thomas 3-point play and steal-and-score from Russell.

King recovered to keep it tight down the stretch, getting a turnaround jumper from sophomore Jihad "Squid" Watson to tie it at 44 with two minutes left.

Imhotep had a good look at a corner 3-pointer form Bernard Lightsey with seven seconds left, but like so many other Panther shots, it did not fall.

"Bernard Lightsey got a great shot that he normally knocks down," Noble said. "We were shooting our shots, we just didn’t make as many as we normally do."

Senior forward Elijah Kiah-El put in a terrific effort for King, scoring 10 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, throwing in three blocks, a steal and an assist for good measure. Watson came off the bench to lead the Cougars in scoring, dropping 13 before fouling out in overtime.

Even after Watson fouled out, King still had a chance, but a dunk attempt from Will McNair with his team down two and 90 seconds to play bounced out.

Russell's foul shots from that point forward sealed the deal, making Imhotep now 6-for-6 in Public League championships.

"I felt like they should have gotten us in regulation," he said, "so for us to get another chance...once you give us another chance to do something, I feel like we’re going to get the job done.”

Both teams still have plenty of work to be done, in the District 12 championship games -- Imhotep will take on Conwell-Egan in the 4A title game, King will face Archbishop Wood for the 5A crown -- and in their respective state tournaments.


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