City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Wissahickon hasn’t forgotten how close it was to getting to the Liacouras Center a year ago.

The Trojans beat Phoenixville in the first round of Class 5A District 1 semifinals, then faced Penncrest in the second round with a chance to play at Temple’s home court in the district semifinals on the line.

They had two shots to beat Penncrest in regulation and another opportunity in overtime but fell to the eventual Class 5A district champ, 60-56.

Getting to Temple, where the semifinal round is held, is something spoken about on a daily basis by the members of this year’s squad.

“That Penncrest loss is still getting us,” senior guard Max Rapoport said.

“Temple is definitely the goal," he added. "Last year we were a game away from Temple, actually ended up losing in overtime, so we know what we gotta do this year."

The Trojans went 15-12 last season, earning the No. 11 seed in the district bracket. Heading into this season, they had a lot to replace.

First team all-league forward Shane Ford is off playing college ball at Gwynedd Mercy and sharpshooting forward Alex Tappen is playing baseball at Virginia. Senior point guard Zach Gelman also graduated.

Along with the yearly departure of seniors, Wissahickon also lost two members of its rotation to private school transfers. Chaz Owens is at Shipley, while Marlyn Johnson is at the Peddie School (N.J.).

After Tuesday night’s 71-54 win against Hatboro-Horsham, this year’s team is 13-6 overall and 8-3 in the Suburban One American. With three regular season games left, Wissahickon is the No. 3 seed in the current District 1 power rankings and in prime position to potentially host two district playoff games.

“We’ve sat around the 3 or the 4 seed all year long, which looking at the players we lost seniorwise, the two transfers that transferred out who were solid players, I couldn’t give this group more credit,” Wissahickon coach Kyle Wilson said.

Wilson said before the season began, he sat down with Rapoport, senior forward Zach Reiner, a four-year varsity player, senior guard Anthony Lawrence and junior guard Eddie Fortescue, the team’s four captains. He knew after losing Ford, Johnson and Owens, who are all around 6-foot-4 or taller, this year’s group would have to play a different style than the 2016-17 squad.

Rapoport said this year’s group is an unselfish bunch, more reliant on ball movement than last season. Wilson said his team has drawn admiration from other coaches for making the extra pass.

In Tuesday’s win, Rapoport scored 23 points, Fortescue added 16 and Reiner had 14. The trio combined for eight assists as well.

“(Last year) we were a long, lanky team, so we did some things with slashers, athletes,” Wilson said. “We’re a very guard strong team this year with solid bigs that pass and move the ball, so we had to do some things that got our guards moving and cutting.”

Wissahickon plays Cheltenham, which recently lost La Salle commit Jack Clark for the season, on Friday. The Trojans finish the regular season with games against Upper Moreland and Springfield (Mont.) next week.

Last season they had to travel on the road for both of their district games. If they can pick up three more wins, or even two of three, they should stay within the top four district seeds and have a chance to host two district playoff games this season.

Wilson said the program hasn’t done that since former all-state player Jordan Reed led the Trojans to a 22-6 record in 2011-12.

“Right now, we’re looking for that home game,” Rapoport said.

“For me I wanted them to have success because of some of the things they lost and people started counting them out,” Wilson added. “I couldn’t be more pleased where we are season-wise.”