City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
—

It took Dereck Lively II a good chunk of time to absorb it. The nation’s No. 1 senior, who is heading to Duke, played his final game in a lighter shade of blue Saturday night and it had a bittersweet taste.

Lively wrapped up his high school career playing for area powerhouse Westtown School leading the Moose to a 46-41 victory over Perkiomen School in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association state championship at La Salle University’s Tom Gola Arena.

Lively was a force—as he usually is—scoring 11 points and blocking 12 shots, in support of teammate Quinn Berger’s game-high 17.

But Lively also did what he has consistently done all season—giving up a piece of his game for the betterment of his teammates. It’s rare in this age to have a superstar, even a high school superstar, who is as selfless as Lively.

Westtown’s legendary coach Seth Berger has seen great players come and go through his program. He has no problem proclaiming, “Dereck is the most selfless superstar in high school basketball that I have ever seen. All Dereck cares about is winning and taking care of his teammates around him. He does whatever the game requires for us to win. I’ve been coaching Dereck three years and not once has he ever asked me to look at a box score or much he’s scored.

“Not once. It’s natural for other players to do that. Dereck is not a normal kid. Like I said, he’s the most selfless superstar that I’ve ever seen or been around in 15 years of high school.”

Lively was the sun that the Moose orbited, a recent McDonald’s All-American selection, yet you wouldn’t know it by his actions and his attitude. That’s what Lively wanted. He could have scored 30 points a game if he wanted—and no one would have complained. Instead, his personal mantra was to share and think of others before himself.

“Going into this game and going into the whole season, I knew that everybody was looking at me,” Lively said. “So, I knew I was going to be consistently double-teamed, and triple-teamed. The only way I would be able to score and win was to share the ball.

“I gave up pieces of my game. Finding the hot hand is what you need to do. I know my teammates aren’t in the position that I’m in. I know that they could definitely be in a better position than they’re in now, so if I can get the ball in their hands and they make the right play, which I know they can, I know they’re going to come out in a way better position than I am.

“I carry (Westtown) with me. I grew up. I became a man here, so it’s about carrying with me. I have my brothers and my family here, and I can’t live without them. I learned how to deal with adversity here. You’re going to lose some games; you need to learn from those games. You’re not going to make every shot. As long as you keep fighting through, and you don’t let those games stop you, you’re going to be the best player.”

That came with maturity.

There’s a sagacity in Lively’s voice that belies his age.

He’s going to be missed on and off the court.

“Dereck gets everybody involved and does what he has to do for us to win,” Westtown junior Matt Mayock said. “The most surprising thing about Dereck is how nice he is. I learned too much, way too much from him. He doesn’t even play my position and he tells me ways that I could get better and encourages me to step out of my comfort zone.

“The school is going to miss him.”

The final score gives the impression the game was close. It wasn’t. Westtown (31-7) took a 30-19 lead into halftime, led by Berger’s 12, all from three-point range. Lively was his typical imposing self, blocking shots, causing opposing players to alter their shots, and grabbing almost every rebound.

The Moose trailed twice, 6-3 and 6-5, over the opening two quarters. Then, Lively hit the reset button and the Moose started to go. The Panthers (26-8) tried 6-7 Douda Dembele on Lively first, to no avail. Then, Panthers’ head coach Tom Baudinet tried 6-8 Thomas Haugh without much success there, either.

Westtown led by as much as 27-17 late in the first half. Perkiomen narrowed that to within 44-41 with :03 seconds left in the game, but Quinn Berger finished it with a pair of free throws.

Lively had a no-fly zone around the basket. Anything the Panthers put up near the rim, there was a good chance Lively was swatting it away.

“We just didn’t play well,” Baudinet said. “Give Westtown credit. They did a good job game-planning for us. We’re not a good shooting team. All year we hurt teams inside and they use Lively well. It’s hard to beat them inside with him. They park him in the lane there and that takes advantage that we’re not a great-shooting team.

“We played them seven times and I’m happy to see Lively go. He’s a great player. Dereck seems like a great kid. He’s very unselfish without demanding too many touches. All I know is Lively is a nightmare out of my head.”

Duke may not get a dose of Lively for long.

“Duke is going to have a superstar for one year,” Berger said. “He’s going to have an impact on that team, that program, and on that community in ways that they do not expect. Dereck’s there for one year, and if he has second thoughts about not going to the league (NBA) after one year, I’ll drive down to Duke myself and tell him otherwise.

“I’m going to miss him. I have seniors who only cared about winning. It was such an amazing group this year.”

Led by an amazing leader.

By Quarter

Perkiomen School: 10 | 9 | 12 | 10 || 41

Westtown: 18 | 12 | 10 | 6 || 46

Scoring

Perkiomen School: Xaivian Lee 11, Thomas Haugh 8, Sam Pohlman 8, Ryan Dunn 5, Bobby Rosenberger 5, Dauoda Dembele 4

Westtown: Quinn Berger 17, Dereck Lively II 11, Jameel Brown 8, Matt Mayock 6, Seyphon Triplett 4

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.