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Prepping for Preps '22-23: Bonner-Prendergast (Boys)

11/28/2022, 10:00am 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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It’s a whole new Bonner-Prendergast. 

New coach, new stars, new attitude, new style. 

Billy Cassidy has already made a big impact on the Friars’ program in just the few months since his June hiring, the former Friends’ Central sharpshooter bringing in a ton of energy and a heaping dose of talent to create another team that has high hopes in the already-loaded Philadelphia Catholic League.

“You’re in a new environment, you’re surrounded with kids that have dreams and goals of playing at the next level and the highest level possible — being able to mesh all the different personalities, talents together, is the challenge that we’ve talked about since day one,” Cassidy said. 

“[I’m] letting them know up front that it doesn’t happen overnight, this is going to be a day-to-day thing where if we’re all improving at not worrying about who’s getting the shine, then at the end of the day, we’re all here to try and win games and compete at a high level and ultimately it’s going to help each and every single one for us get to where we want to go.”


Billy Cassidy takes over as head coach at Bonner this season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Cassidy takes over the Bonner-Prendie boys program from Kevin Funston, who succeeded Jack Concannon in 2018 but stepped aside this spring citing family reasons, not able to devote the time needed to compete in the PCL. 

Not yet 30 years of age, Cassidy comes to Bonner after three years on the Penncrest bench, filling in as head coach during the 2020-21 season when Mike Doyle took a medical leave of absence. He takes over a program that went 10-11 a year ago, including 5-9 in the PCL, and won a District 12 5A play-back game against Mastery Charter to qualify for the state playoffs before a transfer paperwork issue forced them to forfeit both the win and the state spot.

A product of Friends’ Central and Neumann University, Cassidy was known for being a hard-working guard, his 3-point shooting his best asset, never afraid to launch from NBA range if he was open, making 41.8% from deep while taking seven 3’s per game in two years at Neumann.

He transferred that style of play into his skills training and now into his coaching, where he’s encouraging a free-flowing, uptempo style of basketball that lets his skill players be creative and play the way they want to play.

“It’s high, at all times,” senior wing Brady Eagan said of Cassidy’s energy level. “It goes from one player to another. He brings energy, then the next player, then the next.”

Eagen, who averaged 10.6 ppg and 6.2 in a starting role a year ago, and who Cassidy called “the heart and soul of our team, somebody who fills the stat sheet,” is one of a handful of returning players with varsity experience, along with junior wing Deuce Ketner (10.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and junior guard Jamal Hicks (3.9 ppg). After that it’s a lot of new faces, including some notable talent.

A trio of juniors — Nelson Lamizana, Reggie Selden Jr. and Kevin Rucker Jr. — all came aboard this summer, adding all sorts of new dimensions to the Friars’ on-court plans.

Lamizana, a 6-8 wing/forward, comes in from West Chester Henderson, where he spent much of the last two years dealing with injuries but is coming off a strong summer with Philly Pride. Selden, a 6-2 point guard and Lamizana’s grassroots teammate with Philly Pride, comes from Bishop Eustace (N.J.), where he was a First Team Olympic Conference (National Division) selection as a sophomore. Rucker’s an import from Chester High, where the 6-4 off-guard was one of the Clippers’ featured players as a sophomore.

“Nelson has a chance to obviously be a dominant presence on both sides of the ball,” Cassidy said. “He’s long, he’s athletic, he can run the floor, and he’s also able to create matchup problems where he’s going to have opportunities to take advantage of those.

“Kevin Rucker Jr., he’s going to be challenged every game on both sides of the floor, he’s a kid who wants that challenge and he’s ready for it. He brings that toughness, that grit, he has an edge to him that he’s going to make a name for himself. 

“Reggie Selden Jr., he’s getting more comfortable each day in his game, he has a very good motor on both sides of the floor, very smart IQ, he can facilitate, he can score the ball, so we’re definitely going to be expecting a lot out of him leading this team as one of the main guards.”


Junior wing Deuce Ketner is one of two double-figure scorers returning for Bonner. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The addition of Lamizana up front should help Ketner, who at 6-6 was forced to play at the ‘5’ for an undersized Bonner squad last year, though his more natural position is as a combo wing/forward. Though Lamizana is also more of a ‘3’ than a ‘5’, the presence of the both of them in the frontcourt means the two can switch off who’s playing the ‘big’ and who’s on the wing, allowing each of them to showcase their versatility more easily. 

“He can do everything I can,” Ketner said of Lamizana, “so he’s always attacking the rim, and I can shoot a little bit, when he drives he kicks out to me, so it’s just easy connections, and the same thing vice-versa. We’re going to see a lot of that this season.”

Outside of the Friars’ expected starting lineup of Selden, Rucker, Eagan, Ketner and Lamizana, Cassidy has a solid bench group to work with. Hicks, senior guard Randy Cooper-Mukoro and junior forward Mylachi Williams are all high up in the rotation, and seniors Tommy Vendetti and Zach Coneys will both push for time as well.

Ketner and Eagan both thought the Friars’ group was ahead of where they’d hoped they would be at this point in the preseason, playing in a host of offseason events with positive results. They’re the only two of the starters who know what it’s like to play in the Philly Catholic League, the only ones with an exact reference point of what’s to come.

Eagen was particularly pleased with one shootout game against one of the Friends’ League powerhouses, George School; even though Bonner didn’t come out on the winning side of a close game, the Friars handled the competition and atmosphere, the closest comparison to the PCL they’ve gotten so far.

As much as Bonner’s roster has been upgraded, that’s still no sure thing when it comes to the Catholic League. A dozen of the league’s 14 teams have at least one Division I product, and most of them have quite a few more than that; two of those 12 are going to end up on the wrong side of the PCL playoffs come February, and not a single one of them will be okay with finishing outside of the top three or four. 

Last year, Bonner’s 5-9 PCL record was just good enough for 10th place, but the Father Judge and St. Joe’s Prep programs which finished behind them also made significant improvements this offseason. 

“I’m not thinking like that, as far as the PCL and all that stuff, I just want these kids to improve on and off the court,” Cassidy said. “Everybody wants to go to the Palestra, everybody wants a PCL title, but it’s very, very hard. [We’re working on] getting guys to understand that it’s a day-to-day process. we have the talent, can we mesh it together and see where we fall at the end.”


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