City of Basketball Love

Andrew Hayn (@aghayn24)
––

Whenever public address announcers introduce the starting lineups for Coatesville boys’ basketball games this season, one name is common theme in the Raiders’ starting five: Brickus. It’s easy to assume that all three Brickus boys in the lineup are related –– and they are –– but that’s only scratching the surface. 

As it turns out, all five of Coatesville’s starters are family, including senior half-brothers Jhamir Brickus and DaPree Bryant. Starting alongside them throughout this season are seniors Donovan Brickus and John Proctor, filled out by sophomore Jaeden Brickus. And not just “family” in the sense that many teams use, but literal relatives.

“My dad’s a Brickus, Jig’s mom is a Brickus, Jig and DaPree are brothers, and John’s mom is a Brickus,” Donovan Brickus explained.

That’s certainly something unique to Coatesville’s first-year head coach Marc Turner, who’s got a long coaching history including an assistant’s gig at Villanova and a long tenure at Church Farm School, where he spent more than two decades before taking the Coatesville gig last off-season.

“No, no I haven’t had that before, and I’m sure there’s a number of them on the bench who are related at some level as well,” Turner joked. But what Coatesville has with this starting five is something that doesn’t happen often in high school sports.

Jhamir Brickus (front row, second from right), John Proctor (back row, middle) and Donovan Brickus (back row, far right) played together as 2nd graders in the Malvern Basketball League. Also on the team are Malvern Prep juniors Rahdir Hicks (back row, second from left) and Lonnie White (back row, second from right. (Photo courtesy Brickus family)

~~~

Most of the cousins started playing together from a very young age in the Malvern Basketball League, a youth league in Southeastern Pa. They eventually moved on to AAU, where some played for Rip City, and others for Coaching Victory, two successful local programs in the middle-school circuit. 

According to them, playing together all those years played a huge part in their chemistry today.

“We all just knew what each other could do and where they’re gonna be at, when they’ll be there,” Proctor said. “We all keep each other going because we know what we can do and how well we can be.”

Even outside of basketball, the boys have been inseparable since childhood, developing their relationship from family into best friends.

“Growing up in Coatesville with them around me was always so much fun. We always had each other,” Jhamir Brickus said. “We could go out and play, hang around, laugh, joke and play videogames. It was always a good time.”

Jaeden, the youngest of the group, didn’t get to be a part of those early teams because of his age. However, he still credits pickup games with his cousins as how their chemistry developed.

“We always used to play pickup games together at the park, just play around with each other all the time,” Jaeden Brickus said. “I didn’t really get to play in tournaments like that because they were always older than me, but we always played together at the park.”

While at the park, at family cookouts and any other time they were together, all five boys talked about eventually starting together for Coatesville one day, and they knew they had the talent to make it happen.

They yearned to put their name on the Raiders’ program the way greats like John Allen (Seton Hall) and Rip Hamilton (NBA), among many others, had in the past for one of the proudest teams in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

“As soon as we picked up a ball, pretty much, we just knew,” Donovan Brickus said. “When we were playing, it would always be us versus older people, and we’d go out there and trash the older people. We already knew how much talent and potential we had coming up. We just knew from forever that one day we’d be in that spot.”

(L to R) Jaeden Brickus, DaPree Bryant, John Proctor, Donovan Brickus, and Jhamir Brickus form the Coatesville starting lineup. (Photo: Andrew Hayn/CoBL)

~~~

Now that they’ve made their childhood dream come to life, the cousins have some enormous shoes to fill. 

Despite Jhamir Brickus and DaPree Bryant starting since their freshman year, with Jhamir becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer, the seniors haven’t won a District 1 or state championship to this point. Last season, the Raiders finished runner-up in the PIAA 6A District 1 Playoffs, as well as coming up just short of a state championship appearance, losing in the state semifinals. The duo also lost in the district championship in 2017, their freshman year.

The names Brickus and Bryant have deep roots in Coatesville basketball which go back to 2001, when the Raiders won the PIAA AAAA state championship. A key member of that team was Maurice Bryant, Jhamir and DaPree’s father. 

Now, this generation of Brickus’ and Bryant’s have a chance to expand their own legacy beyond what they already have, as Coatesville’s 77-61 victory over Plymouth-Whitemarsh in the District 1 6A second round on Wednesday booked the team’s trip to the PIAA 6A state playoffs,

“We’re a family,” Turner said. “These guys are embracing where they’re at, what time of year it is and we’re looking forward to the challenge in front of us.”

There are more challenges for Turner beyond this postseason run, as he will have to adjust to losing four starting seniors, including two who have seen varsity minutes since freshman year. However, he will still have Jaeden for two more years, and has high hopes for the sharpshooter.

“I don’t think I’d be saying anything out of line if I said Jaeden’s the next one, and I’m looking forward to seeing what that looks like,” Turner said. “This experience is going to help him for next year when the bullseye’s all on him, but I’m excited for his potential, and the kid has a lot of talent.”

As for Jaeden, he looks up to his older cousins as role models, hoping to take in everything they’re teaching him and give the same message to his teammates in the future.

“They’re always guiding me. They’re like my role models, so it’s good to have them on the same team as me,” Jaeden said of his older cousins. “Listening and learning lessons from them now, so next year I can step up and be the leader they are now.”

For those four leaders, this is their last chance at a championship together, and they hope to take advantage of it. The Raiders (18-6), seeded sixth in the district, play at No. 3 Cheltenham on Friday night, with the winner heading to Temple for the district semifinals. No matter what, they’ve already qualified for the PIAA Class 6A tournament, but there’s no way they’re going to rest on those laurels.

“This is our last shot. We gave it our 100%, but this year we have to give our 150% and leave every single ounce of who we are on the court,” Donovan said. “Just put it all out there, and hopefully we can come out with a win at the end of everything.”