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Prepping for Preps '22-23: Archbishop Wood (Boys)

11/09/2022, 2:45pm EST
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)

(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2022-23 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)
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Archbishop Wood head coach John Mosco didn’t quite realize how lucky he was during the first eight seasons leading the Vikings. 

From Tommy Funk to Collin Gillespie to Rahsool Diggins to most recently Justin Moore last season, Mosco’s had a string of Division I point guards to rely on.

There’s a whole lot of talent — potential Division I talent — at the guard spot this season for Wood but no natural floor general for Mosco to hand the keys over to. 

“It’s going to be by committee,” Mosco said. “I’ve been lucky at Wood since I got there. I had Tommy Funk. Collin Gillespie. Rahsool Diggins. Justin Moore. I’ve been lucky. This is the first year we don’t have that true point guard who can make everybody better.”


Archbishop Wood junior Jalil Bethea is ready to be 'the guy' for the Vikings in 2022-23. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Led by first team All-Catholic League guard Moore, who is now at Drexel, the Vikings posted a 20-8 record last season, including an 11-2 mark in the PCL.

Despite earning the No. 3 for the league’s playoffs, Wood dropped its PCL opener against Archbishop Ryan then rebounded for a run to the PIAA Class 6A championship game where it fell to Roman.

“We lost in the first round and we didn’t make it to the Palestra, so I feel like all of us really have it in our heart that we need to get to the Palestra,” said senior forward Carson Howard, who picked up offers from Millersville, West Chester and East Stroudsburg this fall.

“That was a tough game, end of the year, hard for our seniors,” he added on the state title loss. “We definitely want to get back to the state championship again and win that.”

Moore (15.2 ppg, 6.1 apg), Mike Knouse (8.4 ppg, 58 threes) and Tyson Allen (7.3 ppg) all graduated from last year’s squad. Knouse is now at Lock Haven and Allen is at Montclair State.

The Vikings also lost third team All-PCL guard Bahsil Laster (8.1 ppg), who re-classified to the Class of 2024 and transferred to Academy of the New Church.

Howard (8.2 ppg, 8.1 ppg), a second team All-PCL forward a season ago returns alongside junior guard Jalil Bethea (13.7 ppg, 90 threes), a third team All-PCL guard who came off the bench for the team last season. Junior guard Josh Reed (4.3 ppg) was also in the rotation last season, but outside of that trio it will be mostly a new-look group for Wood.

“They’re just going to have to be under my wing, be under me and Carson because we’re older,” Bethea said. “We have more experience I would say. It’s just basically me and Carson have to put all the younger kids under our wings.”

“The talent’s all there. I just think our chemistry and our camaraderie outside of basketball, being together, I think that’s going to help us a lot,” Howard said.


Sophomore guard Deuce Maxey is one of the young guars who will share point guard responsibilities. (Photo: Josh Verlin/ CoBL)

Talented sophomores Deuce Maxey and Milan Dean, who play on Team Final’s 2025 team together, are prepared to step into featured roles in the Wood backcourt after limited minutes last season. They will work in with Reed as part of Mosco’s point-guard-by-committee approach with Bethea most effective shouldering the offensive load off the ball as a lethal catch-and-shoot player.

“At the end of the day, we’ve gotta handle the ball better and we gotta play defense,” Mosco said. “That’s what I think the problem is going to be.”

Shooting guard Gus Salem, who played at Santa Monica in California last season, is the team’s only other senior besides Howard. He could bring some shooting and experience off the bench or in the starting lineup. Sophomore guard Mike Green is another who could carve out a role.

“It’s all about development,” Bethea said. “We’re young right now, but we’re going to be good.”

Bethea saw his recruitment take off this summer as programs like UCLA and Villanova extended scholarship offers, but even he is learning on the fly as he makes the jump to go-to guy.

The youth and inexperience on the roster provide a challenge Mosco is looking forward to as he begins to close in on a decade coaching at Wood — a stretch that includes a PCL and PIAA title in 2017 and three other state runner-up finishes.

“They’re new so you get to teach everything again and it’s more coaching,” Mosco said. “Carson and Jalil even though they played and Josh, they’re still new. Jalil still didn’t start a game. He’s got all these offers and he came off the bench last year.”

“It’s a marathon not a sprint,” he added.

The standards will not drop at Wood this season though. As has been the case since Mosco arrived, the Vikings believe they are contenders if not one of the favorites in both the PCL and the PIAA Class 6A 

“We feel like right now we’ve built the program where expectations are high every year and right now they have to come in and they have to learn to play the way we want them to play,” Mosco said. “Handling the ball, handling the expectations, playing defense because the league is the best in the state and top three, top four in the country. Every night you’re going to get challenged.”

Even though there might be growing pains at points during the season, the Vikings know it’s all about what the finished product looks like at the end of the season.

“It’s all about development,” Bethea said. “We’re young right now, but we’re going to be good.”


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