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Cheltenham's Moore learning how to lead on the fly

12/21/2019, 1:15am EST
By Josh Verlin


Justin Moore (above) has had to step up with senior point guard Zahree Harrison out. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Zahree Harrison and Justin Moore talk on the phone every night. Sometimes Harrison calls Moore; sometimes it’s the other way around. But the two Cheltenham students, one senior and one sophomore, have their chats whether they’ve had a game that day or not, to break it all down.

“We talk every night about how I can get the team better, become a better leader, just learning from him,” Moore said

“I’ll tell him stuff he can adjust,” Harrison said, “or sometimes he feels down on himself, so I’ll tell him he did better than how he thinks he did sometimes. He’s a tough critic on himself. I (tell) him to stay confident in himself, stay positive, and everything’s going to be good.”

Harrison is the Panthers’ senior point guard, a Division I commit bound for St. Francis (Pa.) next fall. Moore is two years younger, a first-year starter who’s just starting to scratch the surface of his own D-I potential. And their nightly phone conversations are a major way that the two Cheltenham hoops help prepare their program and themselves for the present and the future.

For Moore, having the example of a D-I commit to follow behind in his first season-plus of high school varsity hoops has been invaluable. The calls started last year, during Moore’s freshman season, when early in the year it became obvious to Harrison that the younger guard would be a huge part of the program his four years at the school.

“After he knew I was going to get a chance to play and playing big minutes, he wanted to help me any way he could, and it’s paid off a lot,” Moore said.  “(I’m) learning from him as a player, the attitude on the court, work ethic; he’s in the gym all the time, so I just try to work out as much as him and get to where he’s at.”

As it turns out, Moore needed Harrison’s guidance a little sooner than he thought. In Cheltenham’s first game this year, Harrison tweaked his knee, and hasn’t been back on the court since.

Cheltenham coach Pat Fleury said they expect Harrison, one of two Division I-bound seniors on the Panthers, back by January, but also knows that Harrison’s basketball future is more important than rushing him back this season if he’s not ready.

“That kid is a kid that will most likely play another 15 years of his life, so the long game is that,” the second-year coach said. “Just want to be cautious...I don’t want to send him to St. Francis trying to do anything that isn’t in his best interest, or in their best interest at this point.”

With Harrison out, Moore has assumed the role of starting point guard, and based on early returns, the Panthers (7-0, 3-0 Suburban One- American) are in good shape for when Harrison graduates this spring.

In a 68-39 win at rival Plymouth-Whitemarsh (2-4, 2-1) on Friday night, Moore scored 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting, coming up with three steals, rebounds and assists in an impressive all-around performance. Harrison was on the bench, serving as an assistant coach while he’s working on his return to the court.

“Though he’s not playing, what he sees, he puts into Justin, he puts into [Rider-bound senior wing] Jaelen [McGlone],” Fleury said. “So he isn’t playing, but he’s very much there...obviously we want him in a jersey, and not on the sideline, but he is very much there.”

A lanky 6-foot-1, 160-pound lead guard, Moore is the son of former Martin Luther King standout Malik Moore, who played on season at Temple before transferring to D-II American International (Mass.), where he became NE-10 Player of the Year in 2002, earned himself a spot in the school’s athletics Hall of Fame and embarked on a pro career that saw him get a Summer League invite to the 76ers and play in China, the D-League, Germany, and Finland over the course of a decade.

Moore said doctors have told him he could grow to 6-3 or 6-4, and given his current frame, that doesn’t look out of the question. He’s got a smooth handle and nice arc on his jump shot, and he got most of his production by breaking his man down off the dribble and getting into the lane, or by driving off the catch when he got a step on a defender.

Even when Harrison returns, Moore’s sure to stay in the starting lineup, moving off the ball or splitting point guard duties. Next year he’ll have the ball in his hands even more, though his classmate Saleem Payne (7 points vs. P-W) looks like he’ll be able to share in some of that responsibility.

Between now and then, Moore said he’s going to be working on his jump shot, his leadership, his confidence, and his voice.

Which means, of course, picking up the phone.

“Like (Zah) calls me, I call some of my teammates,” Moore said, “make sure everything’s going well.”

Additional Thoughts
–– Cheltenham got a stellar game from McGlone, who scored 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-5 from 3-point range, and 6-of-7 from the foul line. The athletic 6-5 wing also grabbed 16 rebounds and three steals, plus an assist and a block for good measure. McGlone had a slow start in the first quarter, but a late 3-pointer in the period got him going, and he was 4-of-4 for 11 points in the second quarter, including a pair of dunks that helped Cheltenham turn what had been an eight-point lead after the first quarter into a 20-point advantage midway through the second. The Colonials never threatened from that point onwards.

–– Though 10 different P-W players got into the scoring column, nobody scored more than six points, as the Colonials struggled mightily from beyond the 3-point arc (1-of-18). The Colonials do have an intriguing sophomore in 6-4 wing Ray Thomasetti, who finished with three points, eight rebounds, and three steals. Though Thomasetti’s jumper wasn’t falling (1-of-8 shooting), he’s a mobile, strong wing with a smooth pull-up game, and none of his misses were bad ones. Definitely one to keep an eye on moving forward.

Shooting
P-W: 16-51 FG, 1-18 3PT, 6-16 FT

Chelt: 23-53 FG, 5-13 3PT, 17-23 FT

Scoring
P-W: DiCanno 6, Jerman 6, Glover 5, Bennett 4, Z. Hubbard 4, Pryce 4, Harris 3, Thomasetti 3, T. Hubbard 2, Peters 2

Chelt: McGlone 22, Moore 18, Emfinger 10, Payne 7, Pope 6, Coleman 2, McClain 2, Scott 1

Score by Quarter
P-W:     7  |  12   | 13  |  7   | 39

Chelt:  15  |  20   | 14  | 19  | 68

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