City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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UPPER DARBY, Pa. -- Save just enough time, Jack Concannon implored his Bonner-Prendergast squad, for one final shot. No more.

The Friars’ coach was upset at the way his team had handled the end of the first half in a big-time Catholic League matchup against St. Joseph’s Prep, when a too-early shot allowed the Hawks to get a pair of free-throws just before the teams hit the locker rooms.

In a tie game, with first place in the PCL on the line, Concannon wanted to make sure that the Prep didn’t have any chance to win it in regulation, as his Friars held possession with 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Isaiah Wong, the Friars’ star junior guard, was going to have the ball in his hands.

Wong did indeed let the clock drain down well beyond 10 seconds before making his move from the right wing. But his pull-up jumper from the top of the key hit the iron with a couple seconds still on the clock -- just enough time for his teammate, Ajiri Johnson, to slam home the miss and deliver a 63-61 win for the Friars.

The buzzer sounded as Johnson landed, his teammates immediately mobbing the senior forward by the baseline.

“It feels crazy,” a breathless Johnson said afterwards of his first-ever game-winner. “I can’t really find the words to describe it right now.

“When the ball went up, I don’t know, I just looked at the ball, I saw the ball came out and I said ‘this is it, this is the win right here,” he said. “I dunked the ball, I came down, I couldn’t believe it, the whole team was all over me. That moment was just crazy, I can’t take it out of my head.”

A 6-foot-8 pogo stick bound for Rider University next fall, Johnson’s put-back dunk was his second such of the game, one of quite a few he’s hammered down over the three years he’s spent at Bonner, along with plenty more on the AAU circuit and otherwise. He finished with nine points and nine rebounds, none larger than the last one.

“He’s a freaky athlete,” Concannon said. “He’s the quickest kid I’ve ever seen to the ball off the floor. I’ve said it to whoever wants to listen.”

Wong, the 6-2 combo guard who can do it all, was terrific for Bonner (11-2, 4-0), pouring in a game-high 22 points, to go along with seven rebounds, three steals, two assists and block. The high-major prospect was especially strong in the third quarter, scoring the Friars’ first nine points of the frame, but came up with plenty of big shots down the stretch, including a driving layup that put the Friars up two points in the final minute before the Hawks were able to equalize.

That came after Wong appeared to get injured earlier in the fourth quarter, coming up limping after a hard foul on his way to the rack. But after a quick pit stop at the trainer’s, he was back at the scorers’ table to re-enter the contest, and didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

“He gets beat up, but I told him that’s how it is in this league,” Concannon said. “They don’t care that it’s Isaiah Wong, they’re here to beat you up. He’s a tough kid and he keeps bouncing back. He loves it, he wants more -- I think he thrives on it.”

The tremendous ending was a fitting cap for what had been a well-played game throughout. Both teams shot around 50 percent from the floor, and neither turned it over more than eight times; all-in-all, it was less than an hour and 15 minutes from tipoff to final buzzer.

Bonner jumped out to a 16-2 lead in the game’s opening minutes, but Prep (10-2, 3-1) didn’t fold. The Hawks closed the gap to seven (38-31) at halftime; after Prep senior guards Kyle Thompson and Darius Kinnel opened the third quarter with 3-pointers, it was no more than a three-point game in either direction the rest of the way.

Kinnel paced the Prep with 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. His classmate, La Salle-bound forward Ed Croswell, added 16 points and 12 rebounds, often matching up with Johnson in a physical battle in the paint.

“We’ve played each other all summer long, knew each other for years,” Johnson said. “I know how he was, how he’s going to play me, I know he’s not going to be soft, he’s going to be physical.”

Bonner junior Tariq Ingraham, a 6-9 forward and another Division I post prospect, added 11 points, five rebounds and two blocks for the Friars. Junior wing Gabe Arizin had as many for the Prep.

Both teams get back to Catholic League play on Friday; Bonner will play Roman Catholic at Community College of Philadelphia, and St. Joe’s Prep will host Conwell-Egan at Kelly Fieldhouse. Both games are 3:45 PM tipoffs.