City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)

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Math, Civics & Sciences had reached one of the highest points in program history but could not quite figure out how to get to that next level.

After falling to Kennedy Catholic 71-60 in the PIAA Class A title game, the questions mounted about how the team would continue to grow and develop but the answers were meager or nonexistent. Malik Archer was the leader and offensive catalyst but the supporting cast needed to lighten the load for the then-junior if they wanted to avoid another letdown like they had just endured.

Head coach Dan Jackson knew the answer was simple: role players needed to become more assertive and take on the role of a go-to scorer on occasion when Archer wasn’t having a good shooting night. That mindset change has been seen up and down his bench as the team has pushed on another state tournament run.

“Throughout the whole year, we’ve been trying to be versatile with our offensive approach because early on in the season teams were zeroing in on Malik,” Jackson said. “We were trying to build our other guys up, telling them ‘you have to help us offensively.’ They’ve been buying in and it’s been paying off lately.”

Archer led the way with 17 points but three players were also in double figures as Math, Civics & Sciences routed Masterman 87-52 in the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals at Abraham Lincoln High School to advance to its second consecutive semifinal appearance.

Senior guard Tymair Johnson had 16 points including a stretch of 10 of the Mighty Elephants’ 12 points during a decisive, fourth quarter run to go along with six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Saheed Peoples, another senior, chipped in 12 points and two steals, and sophomore forward Zahir Jackson had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Mighty Elephants never trailed and had twelve players record a basket on their way to a commanding victory. With the added drive of not winning last year’s title, Math, Civics & Sciences looked like the more driven team, coming off an impressive 86-20 over Northeast Bradford in the second round.

Maqui Watson (seven points, eight rebounds, two blocks) won the opening tip then recorded a putback for the first bucket of the game followed by an Ahmad Wimbush layup. Masterman senior forward Jesse Turkson, who finished with a team-high 20 points, answered with four straight points to tie the score at 4-4. That was as close as the Blue Dragon would get.

The Mighty Elephants closed the quarter on a 20-7 run which culminated with a three-pointer from Archer just before the buzzer. The pressure put on by Math, Civics & Sciences’ full court press gave Masterman (22-6) fits all night. The Blue Dragons committed 22 turnovers and were rarely able to get their offense set. The Mighty Elephants tallied 11 steals, the majority of them leading to runouts for easy baskets.

Masterman head coach Timothy Roache knew his team would be tested by a fellow Philadelphia Public League opponent but felt his team just didn’t have the focus they had in their previous two state playoff wins.

“We were making bad decisions and bad passes [like] throwing it at guys’ feet. We were rushing,” Roache said. “It wasn’t anything Xs or Os; it just wasn’t our day in valuing the basketball. They knew they were the underdog here and at times it compounded itself.”

Turkson, the Public League American Divison MVP, added six rebounds and two steals, and fellow senior Liam Shanahan, division MVP in 2015-16, capped off his career with 13 points. The loss ends the deepest run in school history for Masterman, which won its first two state playoff games ever during this run. Roache was disappointed the run had ended for his team notably, those two seniors who both were 1,000-point scorers during their tenure.

“It’s a shame it came here because they’ve been playing good games for about a month or two now. It was not a good game against a very good team and it just all added up,” Roache said.

Roache’s team did show some fight late in the fourth quarter. Shanahan scored four straight points then a putback by junior forward Korey Stewart, who had 11 points in the second half, followed by a Turkson finish inside cut the deficit to 75-45 with just under four minutes to play. Archer stopped the run with another triple followed by a finish from Watson inside to push the lead to 80-45.

Jackson, a player who has found his way among the various, talented options the Math, Civics & Sciences (21-9) boasts, has seen the maturity of his teammates and how much this run means after the letdown from a year ago.

“[Guys] are looking for other people to score in order to get Malik going. All of us want [to get back there] and we’re going to keep going until we get it,” Jackson said.

Compared to some of his teams which have made deep runs through the state playoffs in the past, Jackson, whose team will play the winner of Sunday’s matchup between Constitution, a team they defeated 78-75 in the District 12 2A title game, and Holy Cross, feels this team has a different demeanor than others but feels having had that experience from last year actually benefits them.

“We’ve got some talented guys but they’re a more rigged, rough and grind it out [type of guys.] It means a little more when you don’t have as highly potent of offensive players because you see the work and effort come to play in games,” Jackson said.