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Prepping for Preps '22-23: George School (Boys)

11/12/2022, 10:45am EST
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

(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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The George School boys were optimistic that last year they could overtake the likes of Westtown and Academy New Church and win the Friends’ Schools League title. Then they got a wake-up call: they weren’t quite ready, not yet.

This year, the Cougars are once again aiming for the top. But this time, they’re convinced that now, this is the season.


Kachi Nzeh (above) and George School got a dose of reality last season, finishing third in the FSL. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“I definitely believe that,” senior forward Kachi Nzeh said. “We were a young team last year, we only had a year with each other playing under our belts, and with the guys that we have returning and the additions that we have, [we] definitely believe that we can go pretty far and win it all this year. That’s the plan.”

The 2021-22 season was certainly a bit of a reality check for a Cougars’ program that had more talent than ever on its roster, ready to compete with the likes of Westtown and Academy New Church at the top of the nine-team FSL. 

Nzeh, who arrived at the school in the summer of 2020, had grown into one of the top frontcourt prospects in the Northeast. Head coach Ben Luber, hired to raise the profile of the boys’ basketball program, had brought in a talented backcourt of Dante Weise and Christian Bliss, a junior and sophomore respectively, and several other pieces, like forward Gestin Liberis for one year. It was a lot of talent, but also a lot to learn in a short period of time, against a couple programs that had established themselves as annual presences atop the league.

George did finish in third in the nine-team league, but both Westtown and ANC made it clear that talent alone wasn’t enough. Westtown beat George 63-44 in the regular season en route to its eighth consecutive league title, and ANC won both matchups between the schools: 72-69 in the regular season and then 58-55 in the league semifinals.

The Cougars had talent, but they weren’t quite yet a team.

“We didn’t control what we could control, and that was a good lesson,” Luber said. “We were more focused on having to win the game in one possession as opposed to playing the full game, so that for our team was a good lesson: playoff basketball, you’ve still got to focus and do what we did all year, just turn it up a notch and play more as a team.”

“We didn’t really focus on ourselves,” Nzeh agreed. “We were focusing on what they have, what they can do, instead of going to the gym and working on our team. I think that’s definitely a lesson we learned — but with that being said, this year we’re just trying to focus on what we have to do.”

The Cougars have plenty to build on from last season, with most of their core intact from that 14-5 campaign.  Nzeh, a 6-foot-9 forward committed to Xavier, is one of the most physical, athletic frontcourt prospects around, the former Upper Darby track star having taken full advantage of the extra year of prep school to make himself as college-ready as possible. 

Dante Weise (above) is in his second year with George School along with backcourt mate Christian Bliss. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

Weise and Bliss both arrived at George School last fall, and the two talented guards took time to figure each other out. Both were used to playing with the ball in their hands; Weise more of a true point guard and Bliss more of a scoring combo. Now there’s a much better understanding of balance, of roles, of how both of them can use their different strengths to their advantage.

“Last year, I feel like we were still learning each other’s games and how to play with each other, like sometimes he’s going to have the ball as the point and other times I’m going to have it, so we’re going to have to play on and off the ball when we’re in the game together,” Weise said. “We’ve been really playing really well with each other this preseason.”

George School graduated a trio of seniors in the 6-9 Liberis, 6-7 Evan Heffelfinger and sixth man Ryan Edwards; a couple transfers will help fill that void. Luke Bevilacqua, a 6-11 forward who was a sophomore at Neumann-Goretti last season, has reclassified into the 2025 graduating class, the same path Nzei took two years ago.

That size should help them compete with a Westtown frontcourt that no longer boasts Dereck Lively II (Duke) but has a high-level 2024 post in Matt Gilhool and a number of future high-major wings.


The 6-11 Bevilacqua (above) has taken a big step forward in his on-court production this offseason. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“I feel like (Bevilacqua’s) similar to me: he’s hungry, he wants to get better, he wants to help the team out and help us win, and also (be) a good person,” Nzeh said. “When you reclass, you’re not only working on your skills but I feel like you’re working on yourself as a person.”

Though Bevilacqua, who started his high school career at St. Augustine Prep (N.J.), was deep in the Saints’ rotation last year, the Cougars expect big things out of him from the get-go after a breakthrough summer that saw him receive offers from Cal State-Bakersfield, St. John’s and Texas El-Paso this fall. In preseason events, it’s been clear that Bevilacqua has taken a large step forward, and should start at the ‘5’ with Nzeh at the ‘4’ to make one of the most physically impressive frontcourts around.

“He’s one of the most skilled bigs I’ve ever played with,” Nzeh said. “He adds a lot, he provides spacing, he can hit the outside jump shot, he can space the floor if we need him to or if it’s a smaller team, he provides a down-low presence [...] he just makes our job easier, and he especially makes my job easier.”

At the ‘3’ spot, the minutes will be split between two senior newcomers, Ivan Ryabov — a St. Petersburg native whose family lives in Dubai — and Carson Mastin, who had previously been at the Haverford School. Both 6-3, they each bring something a little different to the table; Ryabov is more of a shooter, Mastin more of a slashes, both of them good on the defensive end. 

The rest of the eight-man rotation will be filled out by sophomore guard Luke Melniczak and freshman guard Max Kipper, a New York native who’s made a positive impression in his first fall in Newtown.

Luber’s scheduled his team against a slate of difficult opponents, from potential PAISAA opponents Hill School and Phelps, plus the likes of the Patrick School (N.J.), Bullis School (Md.), Olympus Prep (N.J.) and more. But the games that will certainly mean the most will take place on Jan. 6 at Westtown and Jan. 24, when Westtown and Academy New Church respectively visit George; they’ll certainly see at least one of them again in the postseason.

“We expect to win the league, we’ve been preaching it all preseason,” Weise said. “Westtown’s going to be at the top until we knock them off [but]…we expect to win a championship here.”


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