City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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There have been two notable Pope John Paul II boy’s hoop teams in the school’s 10-year history. Its first-ever team, a combination of the former St. Pius X and Kennedy-Kenrick squads, which won the Pioneer Athletic Conference in 2010-11, and the one two years later, which won 16 games, finished second in the district and won the school’s first-ever state boys basketball playoff game, over Bethlehem Catholic, before falling to Archbishop Carroll in the second round.

Based on the way things are going, a third team could be joining that group quite soon.

“All the hard work we put in the offseason, we knew this was going to be a special year,” junior wing Justin Green said. “We knew we had something special, we knew we just needed to keep working.”

Brendan Stanton’s squad didn’t look like one riding a nine-game win streak, playing at home against a .500 opponent on Thursday night. No, the Golden Panthers of Pope John Paul II HS looked absolutely lost for a good stretch of the middle of their game against Norristown: turnovers, rushed shots that were as good as turnovers, giving up offensive rebounds that resulted in easy Eagle buckets.

A team that had two sophomores and two juniors in the lineup, in a program that only returned two varsity contributors from a year ago, looked like its relative youth and inexperience was finally poking through. 

An early seven-point PJP lead had become a five-point Norristown halftime advantage, and two early third-quarter triples stretched that lead to 11.

“We started to play too much 1-on-1, pretty much all 1-on-1,” Stanton said. “We always talk about maintaining advantages –– going 1-on-1 against Norristown is never an advantage.”

Then –– even though the program’s leader and senior, Drew McKeon, was being continually frustrated on offense, even though Norristown’s full-court defensive pressure didn’t relent –– the Golden Panthers figured it out. 

“We knew that Drew’s been so hot lately, we knew they’d try to take him out of the game,” Green said. “I knew it might be a game...for all the other guys to step up.”

By the end, it was a 55-50 Pope John Paul II win, the latest in what’s now a 10-game win streak, as the Golden Panthers continue a season that very well could be the best in school history.

Green set the tone on both ends, finishing with a stat-stuffing line of 14 points, nine rebounds, nine blocks, four steals, and two assists, hitting a couple 3-pointers along the way. The 6-foot-5 wing’s last rejection came with the Golden Panthers holding a three-point lead in the final 20 seconds, sealing a comeback that stretched over the final 10 minutes of the contest.

“Coach [Stanton] puts me on defensive assignments where I can help to protect the paint and get a shot block, so I’m just doing my job,” he said. 

“I would say tonight was probably overall his best defensive game...protecting the rim and rebounding,” Stanton said. “Projecting to college with how he’s shooting the ball now, he probably ends up being more of a wing, but I feel comfortable putting him on anyone. 

“I would be lying if I said I don’t also like to play him at the ‘5’ just to space people out and try to make mismatches for us.”

Green didn’t actually lead his team in scoring; that honor went to sophomore guard Jaden Workman, who got half of his 16 in the final 60 seconds, all at the foul line. Workman connected on three straight 1-and-1 opportunities, then hit two more after Green’s block to finish off the scoring.

“I can’t tell you the last time Jaden’s missed a free throw,” Stanton said. “He has unbelievable, unbelievable composure, and I don’t even think about it as composure for a sophomore, it’s composure in general. I can’t remember the last time he’s missed a free throw, in all honesty. 

“We really feel comfortable with pretty much any of our guys having the ball, but I do especially like it when it finds its way to Jaden.”

McKeon finished with only six points, one of the few times this season he’s been held in single-figures, but he hit two crucial second-half three-pointers to help PJP II get back in the game and ultimately take the lead midway through the fourth. Junior guard Luke McCarthy had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Golden Panthers, who also got seven bench points from sophomore guard J.P. Baron, including a key 3-point play to open the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to a single point.

Now 15-3 (8-0 PAC Frontier) on the season, the Golden Panthers are one win away from tying the program record, with three regular-season games left. They’ve already locked up a spot in the PAC playoffs, and the season finale at home against Phoenixville (Feb. 1) could be for the outright division title, assuming neither squad loses before then.

“It started last spring, when we started having workouts,” McKeon said. “These guys are scrappy and we go at it every day. Everyone worked hard all offseason, and we’re just doing what we love for the school that we love.”

“Really, the mission of our season coming in, if there was one thing, just to leave the jersey in a better place,” said Stanton, who’s in his second year as head coach after spending the previous two as an assistant at Souderton. “Come season’s end, we want to be better than last year.”

Considering last year they went 12-13 overall, that’s already guaranteed. But this group has a chance to do much more. 

No PJP II team has ever won a district title, and in the new six-classification system, the District 1 4A title isn’t too tough to take. There are only three teams in the district, and PJP II has already wrapped up the top spot in the rankings, with Lower Moreland (7-10) and Springfield (Montco.) (5-12) well behind. Lower Moreland and Springfield will play in a ‘semifinal’ on Feb. 19 before the winner gets PJP II on Feb. 22, with only the winner making states.

“We want more than 16 wins this year,” McKeon said. “We definitely know we’re capable of it, and we just want to keep working.”

By Quarter:
Norristown:    11 | 18 | 10  | 11 | 50

PJP II:           13 | 11 | 11 |  20 | 55

Shooting:
Norristown: 22-59 FG, 2-3 3PT, 4-8 FT

PJP II: 17-41 FG, 6-14 3PT, 15-18 FT

Scoring:
Norristown: Anderson 19, C. DiNolfi 9, Middleton 6, Paulino 4, Johnson 3, Baker 2, Kinney 1

PJP II: Workman 16, Green 14, McCarthy 10, Baron 7, McKeon 6, Green 2