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Prepping for Preps '22-23: Philadelphia Catholic League (Boys)

12/06/2022, 5:00pm 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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There’s no doubt which local league is tops in the land.

The Philadelphia Catholic League is absolutely loaded with talent: dozens of players with Division I offers and many others who will play at the Division II and DIvision III level, some of the best prep-level hoops around. Each year, the PCL gets deeper and more difficult to predict, just about everybody in the top 10 has a legitimate shot at playing in the semifinals at the Palestra, and it’s impossible to pick just one or two favorites going into the season.

Here’s our best shot at how the PCL will play out:


Neumann-Goretti junior guard Robert Wright III, a Baylor commit, leads the defending champion Saints. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Predicted Top 5

1. Neumann-Goretti
2. Archbishop Ryan
3. West Catholic
4. Archbishop Wood
5. Roman Catholic

Favorites

Good luck finding ways to separate any of the top five teams in the league. Every single one is loaded with Division I talent, has played at a high level all offseason, and are battle-tested at programs that have proven themselves capable of deep annual postseason runs. Here are the five most likely to be at the Palestra come late February:

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Neumann-Goretti’s junior class has been one to watch for several years now, and now they’re an even deeper and more talented group. Robert Wright III, at 6-feet-tall amongst the top lead guards in his class, is already committed to Baylor; his partner-in-crime, 5-10 Khaafiq Myers, has a solid handful of mid-to-high-major offers already in hand; 6-5 Amir Williams, as high-flying as they come, is starting to come into his own. Now throw in 6-6 Chester transfer Larenzo Jerkins, and it’s a quartet that’ll give anybody problems. 

That’s all without mentioning 6-8 senior forward Sultan Adewale, a British native and Division I recruit now in his second year with the Saints, plus senior guard Bruce Smith, who’s being pursued by a number of the region’s Division II programs. Oh…and keep an eye on freshman guard Stephon Ashley-Wright, Robert’s younger brother, more affectionately known as ‘Munchie.’ He’s one of the top freshmen in the city, and has played a major role for them all summer. Did we mention they’re the defending champs?

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Last year, Archbishop Ryan went 19-9 (8-5 PCL) but beat Wood and West Catholic on the road to make it to the Catholic League championship, where they gave the Saints all they could handle in a four-point loss. Gone from that team are sharpshooter Luke Boyd (West Chester), the Raiders’ second-leading scorer (14.4 ppg), plus two other starters in Jalen Snead (Gwynedd Mercy), who averaged 5.3 ppg, 5.1 apg and 4.6 rpg and David Wise (2.1 ppg), but there’s still plenty left in the tank. And Joe Zeglinski has proven that he’s got his program playing as tough as possible year-round

Speaking of strong junior classes, Archbishop Ryan’s graduating class of 2024 is right up there with Neumann-Goretti’s for the best around. It starts in the middle with Thomas Sorber, a 6-9 space-eating post with great hands and footwork, Ryan’s leading scorer (16.1 ppg) and rebounder (9.4 rpg) a year ago. His classmate, 6-3 point guard Darren Williams (12.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and versatile 6-6 Jaden Murray (3.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg) are joined by Shipley transfer Rocco Morabito, a tough 6-3 combo guard, and 6-3 wing guard Christian Durham. And don’t forget senior guard Michael Paris, a sparkplug do-everything type who will be one of their starters and leaders.

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Could this finally be West Catholic’s year? Miguel Bocachica has built the Burrs into a contender over his first four years, but it’s a program that hasn’t won a Catholic League title since 1959, by far the longest drought for any of the teams in the favorites — in fact, the longest drought for any existing PCL program that’s won one before. West Catholic went 20-5 overall last season, tying with Roman Catholic atop the league with a 12-1 record, but bowed out to Archbishop Ryan in the league semifinals and to Devon Prep in the state quarterfinals. Gone are a trio of college players, twin wing/guards Kareem Watson and Kaseem Watson (Cal-Bakersfield) and forward Nasir Griffin (East Stroudsburg); the trio combined for 26.1 ppg and 12.2 rpg while starting all but one game each.

Despite those graduations, there’s still a lot to like about West Catholic’s 2022-23 group; once again, Bocachica has a group that should be able to play his uptempo, aggressive style. It all starts with a trio of seniors: Zion Stanford (14.8 ppg), a sharpshooting 6-5 do-it-all wing and Temple commit; and point guard Adam ‘Budd’ Clark (12.1 ppg, 6.0 apg), a 5-11 dynamo who’s become one of the best lead guards around, an elite ball-handler who’s become a knockdown shooter to boot; and Shemark Wilbanks-Acqui (11.4 ppg), a 6-3 combo guard who gives them another experienced scoring option. They also have 6-6 sophomore wing Isaac Cole, primed to take a big step forward after averaging 1.9 ppg, and 6-4 senior wing Marcus ‘MJ’ Branker, a D-II recruit who averaged 4.5 ppg last year. They’ve got some freshmen who can play, too. 

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Archbishop Wood's Carson Howard will lead an inexperienced but talented Vikings' team this season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Four starters are gone from the Archbishop Wood lineup, one which went 20-8 last season and fell one win shy of a PIAA Class 6A title. That includes Drexel’s starting point guard, Justin Moore (15.2 ppg), plus Lock Haven’s Mike Knouse (8.4 ppg) and Montclair State’s Tyson Allen (7.3 ppg), along with Basil Laster (8.1 ppg), who transferred to Academy New Church. That leaves starting forward Carson Howard (8.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg) as the only one remaining; despite that, John Mosco has every right to be focused on winning a Catholic League title, thanks to an exciting group of juniors and sophomores who seem ready to step into the spotlight.

One of those juniors has already made that leap. Jalil Bethea, Wood’s sixth man and second-leading scorer a year ago (13.7 ppg), is an elite shooter with size (6-4) and bounce, and after making 46.1% of his 3-pointers last year (90-of-195) he rode that into an offseason that saw him bring in offers from more than a dozen high-major programs, Villanova included. His classmate, Josh Reed, is a tough 6-2 combo guard who averaged 4.3 ppg a year ago; then it’s a pair of sophomores, Deuce Maxey and Milan Dean, who will go from little-used backups to major stars in their second year in the PCL. It’s a group that has some learning to do, and might take some lumps, but there’s too much talent there to count them out for long.

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Roman Catholic went 23-4 last season, finishing tied atop the league with a 12-1 PCL record at the end of the regular season, then lost a heartbreaker to Neumann-Goretti in the league semifinals before bouncing back to win the PIAA 6A title by defeating Archbishop Wood in the title game. But the Cahillites did lose quite a bit due to graduation, with 6-6 wing Daniel Skillings now at Cincinnati and Khalil Farmer at Hofstra, and 6-1 junior guard Toby Ojukwu’s family moved to Georgia, leaving Roman with three starters to replace. 

The presence of St. Joe’s-bound duo Xzayvier Brown and Anthony Finkley helps keep Roman in the top bracket, though they’re somewhere floating between the favorites and a dark horse, with a little more to prove than the teams above them. Sophomore forward Shareef Jackson, a skilled 6-7 post and son of former NBA center Marc Jackson, looks like he took a big step forward this offseason, but there’s still a bunch of question marks about who starts and comes off the bench for Roman, with youth likely to plug some gaps.

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Archbishop Carroll sophomore Jake West, above, and senior Dean Coleman-Newsome will lead the Patriots' back court. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Dark Horses

Typically, in this section we pick one or two other teams that could make a run at the league title. But in the Catholic League, just about everybody has the talent to make a deep run. So instead of only picking one or two of those programs to spotlight, we’re going to give a brief overview of the rest of the pack of competitors, in alphabetical order:

Archbishop Carroll (15-11, 5-8 PCL) will have a bit of a new look this year, with leading scorer Moses Hipps (18.9 ppg) now down in Georgia for his junior year, while Shawnn Smith (8.4 ppg) and Harold Ivery (3.4 ppg) graduated. But the Patriots have looked good this offseason, the backcourt of senior Dean Coleman-Newsome (14.4 ppg) and sophomore Jake West (7.6 ppg) joined by a few freshmen who should play right away. Senior wing Blake Deegan (4.8 ppg) gives them shooting and defense, and 6-4 junior wing Su’Meer Alleyne has taken great strides after playing as a deep reserve a year ago.

Bonner-Prendergast (10-11, 5-8 PCL) has a new head coach in Billy Cassidy and a new trio of juniors who should all make a big difference in 6-8 Nelson Lamizana (West Chester Henderson), 6-4 Kevin Rucker Jr. (Chester) and 6-2 Reggie Selden Jr. (Bishop Eustace, N.J.), as long as they can gel and adjust to the new league and new system quickly. The Friars do have a couple varsity holdovers to rely on in senior wing Brady Eagan (10.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and junior wing Deuce Ketner (10.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg), plus junior guard Jamal Hicks (3.9 ppg). Preseason results have been promising, though it’s all meaningless until things really get underway.

Cardinal O’Hara (12-11, 6-7 PCL) might just be the most likely of this group to break through, led by senior and Siena commit Izaiah Pasha; the do-everything 6-5 wing averaged 17.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 3.7 apg last year, shooting 42.5% from deep; senior Josh Coulanges (10.3 ppg) and junior forward Pearse McGuinn (9.1 ppg) are also back, meaning they return three of their top four scorers from a year ago. They’ve also added recent Drexel offeree Asim ‘Flash’ Burton at point guard, the junior coming over from Math Civics & Sciences, who should give them a nice boost in the backcourt as well. If McGuinn takes a step forward, the Lions will have a number of interesting pieces who can contend for first team all-league status, and the bench is quality enough to give them a boost.


Senior and Army commit Jacen Holloway and Devon Prep should be in the mix after a PIAA Class 3A title last season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Devon Prep (19-7, 7-6 PCL) is going to be in the mix yet again, the Tide having shown they have some staying power after a surprise semifinals appearance a couple years ago, even if they didn’t finish quite as high last year. They won the PIAA Class 3A championship anyways, beating West Catholic in the process, and return the senior wing duo of Lucas Orchard (14.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and Army commit Jacen Holloway (13.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg), plus junior point guard Ty Mishock (5.2 ppg, 3.5 apg); look for 6-5 sophomore wing forward Zane Conlon (1.7 ppg) to take a nice step forward.

Father Judge (9-10, 4-9 PCL) had lots of adjusting to do last year — to new head coach Chris Roantree, who was himself adjusting to being the boss after serving as Mosco’s right-hand man at Wood, and to a bunch of new pieces and responsibilities. Senior guard Kyle Jones (15.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg) is back, as is senior Ernest Shelton (11.4 ppg) and junior LaQuan Byrd, who averaged 15.4 ppg in five games before getting hurt last year; junior forward Anthony Lilly (5.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg) looks ready for a bigger role as well.

La Salle College (15-8, 8-5 PCL) has quite a bit to replace from last year in current Rutgers running back Sam Brown (15.8 ppg), Rider shooting guard Nix Varano (14.0 ppg) and Arcadia’s starting point guard, Chris Williams (7.7 ppg), a trio who started a combined 66 games last year. But they do have a nice inside-out combo in senior Horace Simmons (14.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg), a 6-5 wing and Drexel commit, plus forward Tim Jennings; look for junior Joe Shields (2.3 ppg) should take a nice step forward as a 6-4 junk guy who can do a bit of everything.

St. Joseph’s Prep (6-12, 2-11 PCL) missed out on the playoffs a year ago, Jason Harrigan’s young Hawks learning quite a few lessons in their first year together. They’re still fairly young, led by junior forward Tristen Guilleouette (11.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg), with sophomore Jaron McKie (11.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg), junior Jalen Harper (6.5 ppg) and sophomore Olin Chamberlain (5.2 ppg) all coming off quality summers. If McKie can become one of the league’s best guards, they’ve got a real chance of moving into the top eight.

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Conwell-Egan lost leading scorer Niame Scott (15.4 ppg) to transfer, as he’s now at Mt. Pleasant (Del.), and second-leading scorer Jordan Garrison (11.3 ppg) to graduation; this year, they’ll turn to junior shooting guard Aidan Mondragon (11.8 ppg) and senior point guard Tyariq Corbin (7.2 ppg) to carry the load; Corbin already has a game-winning jumper in overtime to beat Avon Grove in their season-opening win last weekend.

Lansdale Catholic will have an uphill battle in the PCL once again after a winless league season in 2022-23. Senior guard Matt Hopkins (5.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg) has been praised for his maturity and senior 6-4 forward Evan Lojewski (5.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg) will have tough it out inside for the Crusaders against some bruising frontcourts.


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Tag(s): Home  Contributors  Josh Verlin  2023-24 Preview  High School  Boys HS  Catholic League (B)  Archbishop Carroll  Archbishop Ryan  Archbishop Wood   Bonner-Prendergast  Cardinal O'Hara  Conwell-Egan  Devon Prep  Father Judge  La Salle College HS  Lansdale Catholic  Neumann-Goretti  Roman Catholic  St. Joe's Prep  West Catholic