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NEBL Notebook: Tues., May 23

05/24/2017, 12:00am EDT
By Josh Verlin & Austin Petolillo

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Austin Petolillo (@APetolillo)
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Here’s a notebook from the NEBL action on Tuesday, May 23:

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Chavis takes over at Bishop McDevitt

When you play under a legendary coach, and you make the transition to coaching, lessons will surely be handed down.

Former Engineering & Sciences and Texas Tech guard Will Chavis had the privilege to play under legendary coach Bobby Knight and will be looking to take some of the lessons taught to him, with him to Bishop McDevitt.

“I just don’t want them to take anything for granted,” Chavis said. “I think a lot of kids in this generation, they take a lot of things for granted and I want to impress upon them that you don’t get to do it twice, that’s one thing Coach Knight always told us was you don’t want to have regrets.”

Chavis was given the news that he will become the next McDevitt head basketball coach on May 15 and after having some coaching experience with youth basketball players in Germany, this will be Chavis’ first head coaching gig in the states.

Chavis is taking over for former head coach Sean Ryan who had an overall record of 12-54 during his three year tenure at McDevitt and a rather lackluster 2-37 PCL record in that same timespan.

There’s certainly a road ahead to compete with the likes of Neumann-Goretti, Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll.

“First thing, you have to get good student-athletes to want to attend McDevitt, that’s the first step,” Chavis said, “and not just the athlete but the student-athlete, that’s one big thing I really want to stress when it comes to coming to McDevitt. The second thing is you could be part of something special, be part of something that hasn’t necessarily had such a strong tradition, so you can be one of the first.

“I want it to be hard to play against us,” he added. “No matter how much talent we have or you have, I want the kids to compete, because I think that’s really important to building character.”

After his college career came to an end in 2013, Chavis went on to play professional ball overseas for ten seasons playing in France, Italy, Iceland, Czech Republic, Holland, and Germany. He also coached professional ball in Germany before returning to the Philadelphia area to be with his two children last October.

“It was awesome,” Chavis said. “I learned how to speak German, I almost speak it fluently and it was just a good experience, I learned about different cultures and how other people interact around the world.”

Now, after nearly 20 years away from the city he called home, Chavis is ready to bring all the lessons he’s learned and impart them upon the next generation.

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Central Bucks rivalry continues in Mayfair

No matter where they go, Central Bucks East and Central Bucks West can’t escape each other.

The Suburban One Continental rivals, members of the same school district, are plenty familiar with one another; their players grew up together, in many cases went to middle school together. They play each other twice a year in the regular season, but that’s not the only time the Patriots meet the Bucks: they play in no fewer than three offseason leagues together, meaning there’s at least twice as many offseason matchups as in-season ones.

“We know each other so well, I could probably coach his team and he could probably coach my team,” West coach Adam Sherman said of himself and counterpart Erik Henrysen. “We’re probably more familiar with each other than any two teams in the state.”

Both programs are replacing a large group of seniors; West from a 15-8 (9-3 SOL) squad, East went 13-12 (6-6) this past season.

West won both 2016-17 matchups: 37-33 at home in December and then 49-47 at East in January, the first of a run of six straight wins that ended with a loss to Hatboro-Horsham in the first round of the district playoffs. East actually had the more successful playoff push, beating Council Rock South in the opening round before season-concluding losses to Plymouth-Whitemarsh and Lower Merion.

The latest round also went in C.B. West’s favor on Tuesday night, as the Bucks took home a 54-49 decision. The last time they played? Just last week, in another offseason league. In fact, they’ve played three times already since the season ended, all three of which ended up in West’s favor.

“I feel like the more we see them, the more comfortable we get playing them so I think it helps us to play them,” Sherman said. “They keep you honest, If you make mistakes, they pounce on it.

Result isn’t nearly as important this time of year, however; progress is. The Bucks are learning to play around seniors Collin MacAdams and Shane McCusker, plus junior guard Jack Mulhearn; the Patriots are developing around 6-6 rising junior big man Nick Roggio and rising senior guard Kyle Cassidy.

“We’re trying to get the skill work we work on in practice and make it work in games,” Sherman said, “and you’re always trying to work on your defensive principles and you want to be consistent there, but you’re also trying to work on playing as a unit.”

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A matchup between Marcus Littles (left) and Eric Dixon drew quite a few scouts to Mayfair on Tuesday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Quick Hits

-- Lots of eyes were on Court 2 for the opening set, which featured two of the league’s top programs in Abington and Neumann-Goretti going head-to-head -- including a matchup between future D-I big men Marcus Littles (2018/Neumann-Goretti) and Eric Dixon (2019/Abington). In the end, it was Littles and the Saints who emerged victorious, 66-61, though the two powerful posts battled to what was basically a draw; Dixon had 17 points while Littles had 12, but when they were matched up against each other, both had a tough time getting easy looks. The Saints were led by 13 points from 2019 guard Christian Ings and 12 from rising senior Noah Warren and rising sophomore Hakim Byrd; Abington was paced by 20 points from 2019 wing Lucas Monroe, who knocked down a trio of 3-pointers.

-- Speaking of Byrd, the 5-7 point guard was playing a lot on the ball for Carl Arrigale’s Saints, allowing fellow 2020 prospect Ahmad Fair as well as Ings to play off the ball and do some damage from the wings. Byrd started off the game with a steal-and-layup, and carried that confidence through the remainder of the contest. While the high-flying 6-2 Ings provides the fireworks for Neumann-Goretti, Arrigale’s attack has always relied on no fewer than three talented guards all on the court at the same time, and though this might be one of his youngest groups it’s one with some significant upside.

-- The most exciting finish of the night came down to Frankford and Father Judge, as Frankford rising senior Taleek Anderson’s layup in the final 20 seconds lifted Frankford to a 53-52 win. That was enough to spoil a 14-point outing from Judge’s Tom Quarry, including a big corner 3 in the final minutes to tie it at 51.


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Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Josh Verlin  Boys HS  Bishop McDevitt  Father Judge  Neumann-Goretti  SOL Colonial (B)  Central Bucks East  Central Bucks West  SOL Patriot (B)  Abington