City of Basketball Love

Rob Rose (@RobRoseSports)
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Like a lot of Philadelphia basketball fans, Thomas Sorber has enjoyed watching Sixers’ star Joel Embiid this season.

Unlike most everyone else though, Sorber has the size and skills to try out some of the stuff Embiid can do on the court.

The 6-foot, 9-inch Archbishop Ryan sophomore led his team with 18 points on Tuesday night, but it was how he scored that was more impressive than the total. Sorber finished around the rim through contact, hit free throws, dunked the ball and drilled his first 3-pointer of the season.

Sorber’s nicest play of the night didn’t actually count. He grabbed a rebound on defense, eluded a defender and dribbled up the court before he finished a layup through contact after a Eurostep. The official called the foul on the floor to Sorber’s shock, but Archbishop Ryan didn’t need the points as it dominated West York 75-48 in its PIAA 5A first round game.

“I’m just trying to model my game after him and do the same moves as him,” Sorber said of Embiid. “I’m trying to be better than him when I get to the NBA.”

While the sophomore smiled and laughed a little as he said the part about being better than Embiid, he showed a lot of what makes the Sixers’ star so special in the win. Without a player anywhere near his size, West York tried to stop Sorber with a zone defense and double teams.

The sophomore admitted he was annoyed by the defensive tactics but he tried to stay in the game and involved his teammates. He passed out of double teams and found open perimeter players for easy shots.

Luke Boyd had 13 points with a trio of 3-pointers and Jalen Snead and Darren Williams each had nine points and played strong defense.

Archbishop Ryan head coach Joe Zeglinski prepared the team for another game where Sorber was the other team’s focus, but it was nothing new for the Raiders and he was impressed by how they executed the plan.

“They did a good job of packing it in against Thomas and that's when our guards need to step up and get to the rim because they're not helping at all,” Zeglinski said. “It was good to see other guys step up and it's been like that all year. Thomas has been (the opponent’s) number one key to kind of stop him and it all depends on our guards being able to step up and for the most part we have this season.”

Sorber started strong with seven points in the first two minutes as Archbishop Ryan ran out to a big lead. West York cut the deficit to four points two minutes into the second quarter before it became a blowout.

The sophomore wasn’t needed in the fourth quarter with the lead so high, but he did enough during the first 24 minutes to earn an offer from NCAA Division I Drexel University after the win.

Within three minutes, the Raiders were up by 14 points and continued to score in the second half. The lead swelled to 30 points in the third quarter before the Raiders’ reserves got into the game and ran out the clock.

Tuesday night was much different than the last two games for Archbishop Ryan. After a tough loss in the PCL title game to Neumann-Goretti and a loss vs. Imhotep, Zeglinski gave the team two days off to relax and recover and it worked with a strong start and resulted in an easy win vs. West York.

Up next for the Raiders is a road meeting with Chester on Friday after the Clippers beat Exeter Township in round one.

Archbishop Ryan reached the PIAA 5-A title game last season, but came up short. With a group of seniors that bring experience from last year’s squad and some sophomores with NCAA D-I skills, the Raiders are ready for another run in the postseason.

“I told them, ‘Let’s reset, re-energize, refocus and make a run at the state championship,’” Zeglinski said. “We need five wins to get a state championship. Let’s be in the moment and I think that's what we've been doing the last couple of days. We kind of took a step back and are proud of where we've been in the PCL and now our goal is to win the state championship, and I think they're really embracing that.”

By Quarter
AR: 16 | 19 | 29 | 11 | 75
WY:  7 | 10 | 16 | 15 | 48

Scoring
AR: Thomas Sorber 18, Luke Boyd 13, Darren Williams 9, Jalen Snead 9, Ryan Everett 9, Jaden Murray 6, Michael Paris 4, David Wise 3, Frank Monaco 2, Gavin Reed 2.

WY: Jaden Walker 13, Jovan DeShields 8, Landon Gibson 6, Daniel Rice 6, David McGladrie 5, Javair Powell 5, AJ Williams 3, Jacob Knisley 2.