City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2022-23 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here)
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The Hill School boys basketball team didn’t know what was in store for them last season.

Like many of the other local prep school programs, Hill played a very abbreviated 2020-21 season in midst of the COVID pandemic.

Even most of those returning for the Blues last year had never competed for a full season or chased Mid-Atlantic Prep League crowns.

That’s not the case this season. Coach Seth Eilberg has a group well aware of what the program’s goals are and also aware of what it will take to achieve them.

“It’s terrific. We all know what we did last year and what we’re capable of,” forward Augie Gerhart said. “We made it to the MAPL chip then we lost to Perk in the semifinals. We know we’re a good team. We know we can make it to those big games. We’re just going to push our entire team until we get to the state level like we did last year.”

Hill School finished third in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League last season then avenged a regular-season loss to advance to the league title game, where it fell to Blair Academy — an end season result becoming all too familiar for the Blues.

The Blues took down a talented Phelps squad in the PAISAA semifinals before taking a thumping from local prep school rival Perkiomen in the semis.

Gabe Moss (Delaware), Ethan Meuser (Stonehill), Graham Eilberg (Ursinus), Anthony Wise (Amherst College football) and Oliver Hutchinson are those tasked with being replaced, though Moss missed most of last season with an injury. Still, the Blues have three starters returning.

Along with Gerhart, a 6-8 forward  UPenn commit, HIll brings back 2023 wing Josh Cameron and 2024 guard Trey O’Neil to guide the way for this group.

Cameron is a powerful 6-7 wing who can put the ball on the floor and is almost impossible to stop when he gets moving toward the basket. He also made it his mission to work on his shooting stroke this summer. O’Neil, a 6-2 guard who added an offer from Bucknell last spring, can fill it up and create.

“I just want to keep getting a lot better, definitely be the best that we can be,” Cameron said. “I don’t even think we know what that is yet, whether that’s winning MAPL, winning states. I’m not quite sure that we know what our peak is and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun when we start gelling together and having a lot of fun playing basketball.”

Jacob Meachem, a 5-7 2025 point guard, saw some time as a freshman last season, but played mostly JV. He is stepping into the point guard spot next to O’Neil in the backcourt this season.

Justin Molen, a 2023 6-6 wing from Salesianum (Del.), was the Gatorade Delaware Boys Basketball Player of the Year last season. He is one of two post grads along with Matt Field, a 6-7 forward from North Carolina who committed to Ursinus College next month. 

Sophomore big man Quadri Bushiru, a 6-10 forward from Nigeria, is the program’s most intriguing long-term prospect. He’s still raw but adds plenty of size and can step out and hit the three.  Sophomore guard Anderson Brndjar and junior guard Liam Barney add depth in the back court.

“I think we’re going to be a really good defensive team because we’re all really versatile on the defensive end,” Cameron said. “I feel like I could guard guards, Trey’s gotten strong so he can guard taller wings and stuff like that and we have Justin too, which is a great addition, he can also pressure guards or wings and so can Augie. 

“We’re going to defensively be a really good team this year and when when we’re playing that five out all motion offense there’s going to be a tremendous push for us that we didn’t have last year.”

Offensively, Gerhart, Molen, O’Neil, Cameron and others could all have big nights from game-to-game.

“The really great thing about this team is anybody can get hot and anybody can score the basketball,” Gerhart said. “There’s no pressure for one guy to have 25 every night. We can all pitch in 10, 15, 20 points on any given night. We’re moving the ball well, having fun and just going to see what happens every night.”

“We’ve got good connections,” O’Neil said. “Everybody’s got good connections. I think we work together well. … They’re fun to play with for sure.”

The Blues may not have some of the high major of the area’s other top prep programs this season, but Eilberg seems to always get the best out of his group, particularly late in the season.

Hill’s vets know that too. They will have to find an edge some other way.

“We’re going to have to be the toughest team because we’re not always going to be the most athletic, we’re not always going to be the tallest,” Gerhart said. “We gotta be taking charges, getting every loose ball, just really scrappy.”