City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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Mel Lindsey Sr. dared him. The Lincoln coach was in a sweaty, joyous mood after guiding Lincoln to an impressive 82-63 victory over MCS in the Philadelphia Public League semifinals on Tuesday afternoon at the School of the Future.

So, he playfully dared his pint-sized junior Rashan Locke-Hicks again, since it’s a question he’s constantly asked: How tall are you? “Go ahead, lie, go ahead,” Lindsey poked at the laughing Locke-Hicks.

The fact is, at 5-foot-6, Locke-Hicks was the tiniest player on the court—though he carried the largest impact. He scored 17 points for the Railsplitters, in support of Naseem Wright’s game-high 19, Aymere Thomas’ 14 and Tamir Powell’s 13.

It will be a Public League championship rematch between Lincoln and defending champ Imhotep Charter, 78-54 winners over West Philadelphia in the other semifinal, on Friday at 7 p.m., following the girls championship at a venue to be determined.

The last time Lincoln won the Philadelphia Public League title was in 1965—57 years ago.

When the Railsplitters needed calm, Locke-Hicks brought it. When Lincoln looked as if it would lose control, Locke-Hicks regained it. When Lincoln needed big free throws to nail down what was creeping back into being competitive in the fourth quarter, Locke-Hicks answered.

“Rashan puts us in great positions to win, because defensively, he’s like a gnat,” Lindsey said. “I tell him to get in a space, and run at whoever dribble-drives, and then get out of the way. “Rashan is Mighty Mouse. He’s the heart and soul of the team.

“He plays with such a chip on his shoulder that it goes throughout the team.”

Aymere Thomas (L), Jamel Lindsay and Rashan Locke-Hicks (R) after Lincoln beat MCS to advance to the Public League Championship on Friday. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

Locke-Hicks said that chip didn’t develop until high school. He felt the eyes on him, since he was always the smallest, shortest guy.

“I figure if I keep playing hard, and with the talent that I’m around, some Division I coach may notice me, and I don’t care about my size,” Locke-Hicks said. “I don’t like to lose. This is a team that has come a long way. We’re back in the pub finals again—just one more.

“They can’t keep overlooking me. I can’t stand losing. If you win, people will come and see you. You don’t want to play video games with me. We’re here. We just have to win it.”

Lincoln used a 15-0 run in the last 3:03 of the third quarter, opening up what had been a fairly close game. MCS really came apart under the Lincoln pressure in the last minute, when the Railsplitters scored nine of the 15 points during the run.

“Lincoln played harder today and they played tougher, and they showed more of a will to win than we did,” MCS coach Lonnie Diggs said. “Credit to them moving forward. We came out with bad energy and we didn’t match their intensity early. There are emotional games, and usually the team that plays with high intensity wins. That’s what happened today.”

What also happened was 6-foot-6 senior Aymere Thomas going off during spells.

“Aymere is a force, I mean a force who can play with anybody, and I mean anybody when he wants to play,” Lindsey said. “There’s no question about his talent. He’ll always want to play in the games, it’s just a matter of preparation. This is a team that really came together from where we were a few months ago.

“I know the last time Lincoln won the Public League title goes a long way back. We went last year and Imhotep got us. MCS has a great team and a great coach, and coach Diggs does a great job. We needed to speed this game up and we saw how they reacted.”

By Quarter
Lincoln: 14 | 19 | 24 | 25 || 82
MCS: 18 | 7 | 13 | 25 || 63

Scoring
Lincoln: Naseem Wright 19, Rashan Locke-Hicks 17, Aymere Thomas 14, Tamir Powell 13, Kyrie Murray 6, Jameer Trout 4, Kyrie Jenkins 3, Naeem Colston 2, Rodney Shelton 2 Malachi Montgomery 2

MCS: Khalif Crawley 16, Chauncey Pressley 12, Niare Poplar 10, Jaheim Bethea 9, Trent Middleton 8, Aasim Burton 4, Isaiah Griffin 4

~~~

Imhotep Charter 78, West Philadelphia 54

The Panthers got out to a 24-4 lead and never looked back in winning the nightcap.

Now, it sets up the rematch with Lincoln, which beat the Panthers during the regular season.

“We owe them,” said Imhotep captain Justin Edwards, who scored a game-high 21 in the West Philadelphia victory. “No excuses, but we just came off playing three big games, and it was mental toughness. We weren’t into the game mentally. Lincoln is a tough team. We should be prepared the next time we play them.

“This win over West was a respect game, a statement game that Imhotep is not going anywhere. We heard the Lincoln yelling (‘We want ’Tep). We’ll see them Friday.”

Panthers’ legendary coach Andre Noble likes the way his team is playing right now. But he concurs with his team captain about Lincoln.

“We got a good effort all around and now we have to prepare for Lincoln, because that’s a good Lincoln team,” Noble said. “The captain is right. Lincoln is a very good team. They are a very well-coached team. We’re moving the ball, we’re sharing the ball and when we’re moving it and sharing, and making threes, we’re happy.

“Lincoln has good length and they’re a physical team. We got a good effort tonight and we need to bottle our effort and give another great effort on Friday.”

By Quarter
West Philadelphia: 10 | 11 | 12 | 21 || 54
Imhotep Charter: 28 | 24 | 19 | 7 || 78

Scoring
West Philadelphia: Dee Miller 16, Zymere Davis 15, Nasir Lee-Washington 11, Elijah Hester 5, Nasir Davis 4, John Fields 3

Imhotep Charter: Justin Edwards 21, Mo Abdullah 11, Makye Taylor 11, Ahmad Nowell 9, Devin Booker 9, Rahmir Barno 7, Isaiah Kennedy 3, Ronny Raphael 3, Chad Anglin 2, Yahmir Satterfield 2

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.