City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Here’s a notebook from the final day of the St. Joe’s Commuter Team Camp:

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Bonner boosted by additions of Hyland, Ingraham

Rumors had been swirling for weeks --if not months -- that Bonner-Prendergast would be boosted this upcoming season by some high-level additions. This weekend, those rumors became reality.

Friday night was the first time that rising juniors Na’Shon Hyland and Tariq Ingraham donned Friars uniforms, and by Sunday afternoon they certainly seemed to be fitting in quite well as Bonner romped to a 71-45 win over a Girard College squad that had otherwise been one of the top teams all camp.

Hard to tell that they two had yet to have a practice with their new Bonner teammates.

“Once we get in the gym every day, we’ll have to see how it works out,” head coach Jack Concannon said, “but they’re both really high-level kids, in my opinion.”

That’s not a surprise -- the pair of Delaware natives are already well-established on the hoops circuit.

Hyland, a lanky 6-2 guard with the nickname “Bones,” spent the last two years at St. George’s Tech (Del.); Ingraham, a beefy 6-9 forward, was at Salesianum (Del.) as a freshman and sophomore. Both were two-year starters for their respective schools, and both have Division I offers -- Hyland from Monmouth, Ingraham from Robert Morris. The list of schools interested in each reaches into higher-level territory.

In the win over Girard College, Hyland dropped 25 points, including five 3-pointers; Ingraham added 11 and 10 rebounds.

“This team is very good, we’ve just got to get used to playing with each other, that’s it,” Ingraham said. “Practice in the gym more, stuff like that.”

Ingraham will pair with rising senior forward Ajiri Johnson, a 6-8 Division I prospect with numerous offers, to form one of the most formidable frontcourts not just in the Catholic League but the entirety of the PIAA. Against Girard, Johnson netted 11 points and eight boards of his own, showcasing his much-improved face-up game.

The two of them opened up that particular contest on the same page, with Ingraham feeding Johnson on a hi-low post feed for an easy layup. More of that will be sure to help Bonner improve on its 16-9 (7-6) PCL finish from this past season, and certainly make a run at the Palestra come February.

“We might have some challenges defensively against certain teams,” Concannon said, “but on the other side of it, I think teams are going to have challenges guarding those two, too.”

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Quick Hits
-- This was a productive weekend for Neshaminy, which got to play six games without star guard Chris Arcidiacono, sidelined for the weekend with a minor injury. When Arcidiacono is healthy, the Division I recruit is by far the focal point of his team’s offense, either scoring or creating opportunities for his teammates; with him out, head coach Mark Tingle got to see how the rest of his rotation would handle it.

“Our kids always look to (Arcidiacono) so much, so it’s good that the other guards can really handle the ball a lot more, which is great,” he said. “They have to get more aggressive, which is good.”

Though his team was eventually bested by a sharpshooting Bishop Eustace (N.J.) squad, Tingle got strong outings from senior guards Charles Dominick (11 points),  Cam Jeffers (11 points) and Anthony Papeo (nine points, assists). Also becoming an interesting piece for Neshaminy is senior forward Danny Bodine, a 6-8 post with long arms and a developing feel for the game.

“Danny came out before last year, last year was his project year as a junior and he keeps growing,” Tingle said. “He came to us last year at 6-6, and he’s 6-8 now.”

-- Speaking of Bishop Eustace, the Crusaders turned up the pressure and the pace against Neshaminy to run away with that game, ending the first half on a 10-0 run and then sprinting away from a four-point advantage at the break. Rising junior wing Matt Kempter, a lanky 6-3 shooter got especially hot, knocking down three straight 3-pointers in the second half to propel him to a 21-point effort, including five triples; rising senior Peyton Vostenak added 14 points, five rebounds and two assists while his classmate Pat Fish had eight points and six rebounds. Running point for Eustace is an impressive rising sophomore, 5-11 David Cross, who had four each of points, assists and steals in the win.

-- Eastern (N.J.) has a solid pair of forwards in 6-7 rising senior Onye Okoro and 6-6 junior Ryan Ems. Two versatile big men, each was all over the floor for the Vikings, and the two are certainly tough to miss when they take the court. Okoro is a hard-nosed combo forward who can attack the hoop from the perimeter and likes to bust up rebound opportunities, while Ems is a wide-shouldered left-handed post with great footwork around the rim. With 6-11 2019 center Jacob O'Connell at Stony Brook's team camp with his AAU squad, both Okoro and Ems were able to showcase their abilities in the post.