City of Basketball Love

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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(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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Getting Robert Wright III or Khaafiq Myers to murmur a word was like pulling teeth this time last season. The Neumann-Goretti guard tandem knew their place on the Saints. They were sophomores then, more than willing to defer to the seniors when it came to running the team on and off the court.

By the end of the season, Wright and Myers were the ones leading the Saints. In Neumann-Goretti’s 62-60 Catholic League semifinal victory over Roman Catholic, the pair combined to score 13 of the Saints’ 16 fourth-quarter points. In the PIAA Class 4A state championship game, they combined to score 28 in the Saints’ runaway 93-68 victory over Quaker Valley.

Now juniors, Wright, a 6-foot point guard bound for Baylor, and Myers, a 5-10 guard with plenty of Division I interest of his own, run everything and everything will go through them if the Saints are going to equal the same success that they had last season.

Neumann-Goretti finished 23-4 overall and won their coveted triple crown: the Catholic League championship, District 12 Class 4A title and the ninth state championship in school history.

Legendary Saints coach Carl Arrigale won his 12th Catholic League championship last season, becoming the all-time leader in Catholic League championships on the boys’ or girls’ side. Arrigale did it by shaping a team he knew something about, but not everything about. It’s knowledge he gained during the season. That accumulated information formed a strong nucleus that Arrigale will have back this season, beginning with Wright and Myers.

“We weren’t really sure what we had this time last year,” Arrigale admitted. “We knew we had a good team, and I knew Robert and Khaafiq were good, but I didn’t expect them to take off as quickly as they did last year. Robert and Khaafiq took the reins, and they even exceeded my expectations. We had solid seniors last year, and didn’t know much at all how Sultan would fit in.“We got hit with COVID-19 last year and there were a lot of obstacles. We had some interruptions during the season and we were shut down for two weeks. We missed a bunch of games that we had to squeeze in there hoping we could land in the top four of the Catholic League and take our chances. So, we never really knew how good we were until late in the season.

“We didn’t build an identity until we got into the state playoffs. This year, it’s completely different because we have a target on our backs. We had a target on our backs last year, too, but with all of the starts and stops, no one knew how good we could be. We know what we have back and we’ll be tested by the time the league schedule starts.”  

Wright and Myers will be joined by 6-8 senior center Sultan Adewale, 6-1 senior guard Bruce Smith, 5-10 senior guard Shawn Battle, who’s committed to Boston College for football, 6-5 junior wing Amir Williams, 6-6 junior forward Larenzo Jerkins, a transfer from Chester, 6-3 junior forward Matt Guokas and 5-11 freshman guard Stephon “Munchie” Ashley-Wright, the younger brother of Robert Wright III.

The graduation of senior leaders Masud Stewart (Binghamton) and Aamir Hurst (Holy Family) will sting some, but Wright and Myers have more than experience and confidence to fill that void.

“I like how we have a lot of different pieces and different threats, where any night, anyone can have a good game,” Wright said. “We’re close. We can all get on each other if we have to, and tell each other if we’re doing something wrong or playing around when we shouldn’t, so we’re all going to stay on each other.

“Personally, I’m putting a lot more on myself, because I’m going to have to make sure everyone is locked in on every game and that everyone is playing hard and giving their best for the team.”

Wright said committing early to Baylor is a big reason these next two years will be smooth.

“I have a lot of pressure off me and committing early is allowing me to just play my game and make sure we’re ready to dominate,” Wright said. “We’re dealing with things now before the season starts on how our chemistry will be. We’re looking for everyone to know their role, who’s going to shoot more and who’s going to do what. We have everyone back and I think we’re good enough to go all the way and be state champions again.

“Plus, I can’t wait to play with my brother. We play off each other and we both do different things well. It’s going to be good.”

The Saints’ non-league schedule will be challenging. They’ll get on a plane for Hawaii in December to play four games in the Iolani Prep Classic from Dec. 16-21. On Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, the Saints will play Vashon High School (Mo.) in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Hoophall Classic.

“It’s always a good place to start and Neumann-Goretti has always been known for good guard play, so that’s definitely one of the areas I like about this team,” Arrigale said. “Bruce is another good guard, and Munchie will get some good minutes as a freshman. Amir Williams is emerging and if he can improve to where we think he can be, Amir can be a special piece for us.”

Arrigale wants to see more consistency from his team. With last year’s starts and stops, he wasn’t able to see that throughout much of the season. Without the interruptions, he expects the Saints to play consistent on both ends of the court.

“Defensively, we should be very good, and that could be our strong point, which will allow our offense to get out a little bit and run,” Arrigale said. “Last year, we would play a good game or two, then we would hit that wall and struggle through a game. I’d also like to see us shoot more consistently. We were consistent with our efforts late last year.

“This team is a year older and a year better. Everything will go through Wright and Myers and we’ll go as they go, but they also need to get everyone involved.  

“We have to keep the outside noise outside and make it about us, and what we need to do to win. It’s as simple as that. This team can do some good things. They’re battle tested. Everyone in the Catholic League is good, and it’s why we focus on ourselves and what we need to do to win. When you have good guards, you always have a chance. And we have good guards.”
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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 .