City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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OLNEY — Every ding of his phone or post game conversation is sometimes hard to believe.

Just one year ago, Olney senior Sanot Young’s prospects of playing hoops after high school seemed dim.

He had just one season of varsity hoops under his belt and not much to show from it. 

After an offseason of training and improving, the 6-7 forward has small college coaches making stops on Duncannon Ave and calls to his phone. 

“I’m like ‘This is never gonna happen,’” Young recalled. “I never thought coaches would be texting my phone saying, ‘Oh you played good today. I watched you there. I saw you play here.’ It’s different.  I’m enjoying it though. It’s fun.”

When asked about the improvements from his forward, a big grin came over Olney second-year coach Shakir Johnson’s face. His mind goes back to the tall clumsy big man he saw on the floor last season.

The same one who tossed in multiple dunks, ran the floor, played out on the perimeter and much, much more in a 79-69 win over SLA-Beeber on Tuesday in a matchup of two previously undefeated Public League ‘C’ Division teams.

“Last year, he couldn’t catch the ball and he’s probably been our leading scorer this season,” Johnson said. “But there’s games where he’s not as strong scoring wise and he’s still bringing it defensively, rebounding the ball well. He doesn’t worry about scoring, which is a big thing for us.”

Young, who hails from Uptown, has some basketball talent in his family. His uncle Andrew played hoops at Cheltenham before heading to Harcum College and California (Pa.). Young spent his first two years of high school at Mercy Career & Technical. He played mostly JV as a freshman and didn't have a season as a sophomore, so he came to Olney last season with very little experience.

There were certainly some growing pains last season for Young and the Trojans (6-0), particularly during the Public League ‘A’ part of their schedule where they tallied just one win. He said ‘everything was slippery’ last season.

The fix to the catching issue was just getting his hands up. Through playing grassroots hoops with BW Elite and other leagues with his Olney teammates this summer as well as working out on his own, the other aspects of his game began to mature too — to the point where when he got to play in front of college coaches this preseason he made an impression.

“I came in as a new transfer. A lot of stuff happened,” Young said.

“There were only one or two returning players. We didn’t have chemistry. I had a big role and I wasn’t experienced going into that role. Now, I worked my butt off the whole summer. Working with my teammates, AAU, BW Elite, did good there. It’s good pressure. I wanted the pressure, and now I’m doing good with it.”

Johnson coached Young during cross country before basketball season and could tell he was physically different as well after putting time into the weight room and his fitness level.

“He wanted to come back this year as one of the best players, and it’s showing,” Johnson said. “Coaches are calling me for him. He’s bringing it on full throttle.”

In his second year as head coach after six as an assistant, Johnson has a core group back. Senior guards Stewart Clark (19 points), Samir Boyer (13 points) and Matthew Roman (nine points) and junior guard Shyheed Taylor (15 points) all returned improved. Last season’s leading scorer, senior guard Tiyon Thomas, is now coming off the bench, highlighting the depth Johnson has in his back court.

There’s no doubt that Young, who finished with 15 points Tuesday in limited minutes and put together another dominant outing on the boards, is the difference maker, however. 

There are very few teams who can match up with the 6-7 big man, who describes himself as an all-around player and is very proud of his 3.5 GPA too.

“Most games we go into, no matter who we’re playing, we are the biggest team,” Johnson said. “I’ve been using that to our advantage. We’re going to try to dominate the rebounds, get out and run.”

Young struggled with foul trouble on Tuesday and had to leave the game briefly when he was poked in the eye, but he displayed his impact when he was on the floor.

The Trojans went on a 13-0 run when he was inserted back into the game with two fouls in the second quarter, helping turn a one-point lead into a 43-27 advantage at halftime. He scored eight points in the period, including a pair of two-handed dunks.

With Young back on the bench with four fouls, Beeber trimmed a deficit that got over 20 points down to single digits late in the fourth quarter. Senior guard Amadou Dia had 12 of his 19 points in the fourth. Senior guard Maki Pettigrew had a team-high 20 points and senior guard Michael Brady added 12.

Young came back in late in the fourth — soon after Beeber’s run appeared to be a real threat — and swatted a shot, deflating SLA’s run. 

“I already knew my role would be big in this game because they didn’t really have any bigs,” Young said. “I knew I was going to have my way. … I gotta keep going. I know that every team we go against, I’m on the scouting report. ‘Oh they got the 6-7 kid. Watch out for him.’“

Young was slated to be one half of an imposing front court duo heading into the season. His importance was magnified when fellow senior forward Sabree Glover (6-6) injured his hand in the team’s first game.

“Sabree’s more of our defensive anchor,” Johnson said. “He blocks shots, takes charges, protects the rim. Salot had to do all that now that Sabree is out. Playing both sides of the ball and keeping him out of foul trouble. He’s doing a great job so far.”

Young admits Glover certainly would have had an upperhand in a matchup between the two big men last season. That gap’s certainly closed, and Glover has noticed while watching from the bench with a cast on his hand.

“He used to not handle the ball on the 3-point line a lot, but ever since this season he gets the ball at the 3-point line, makes a quick move, gets to the rack, makes a bucket,” said Glover, who could return by January.

“He’s way more aggressive, a lot more energy, more positive, everything. It helps the whole team, brings the whole demeanor up.”

With a stable of guards proving capable of carrying the team on any given night and the idea that he could soon have one of the biggest front court pairings in The Pub, Johnson is excited about his team’s prospects this season.

He has nine seniors on the roster all making their impact in some way shape or form. Senior 6-3 forward Kiyeal Corprew-Furtick is a great example as a first-year player who has provided effort and energy, helping ease the early-season loss of Glover as well.

Johnson expects his team to be tough to beat in the ‘C’ division, and that’s been the case thus far, cruising in their league games and also adding victories over ‘A’ division foe Bartram and independent school Abington Friends.

The first goal is a division title and then a run in the Public League playoffs. After that, they hope to have a chance to outrank the other city 6A schools — Central, Kensington, Lincoln, Northeast and George Washington — for a trip to states, which is something Johnson hasn’t seen the program accomplish in his time with the school.

“We’ll just worry about the Pub,” Young said. “I’m trying to make it to the Final Four of a Pub chip. That’s the main thing.  I think there’s a lot of ‘A’ teams who will not mess with us truthfully, and I think we can compete. If we can come in and do our thing, get our record higher we’re going to come into the playoffs and hopefully shock a lot of people. And after that states.”

By Quarter
SLA-Beeber: 14  |  13  |  20  |  22  ||  69
Olney:  20  |  23  |  21  |  15  ||  79

Scoring
SLA-Beeber: Maki Pettigrew 20, Amadou Dia 19, Michael Brady 12, Sa'd Jamaladdin 9, Jahad Marable 6, Noah Briggs 3.

Olney: Stewart Clark 19, Sanot Young 15, Shyheed Taylor 15, Samir Boyer 13, Matthew Roman 9,  Bahsir Barrow 3, Tiyon Thomas 2, Kiyeal Corprew-Furtick 2