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Imhotep, Neumann-Goretti boys put Philly on national stage with tournament wins

12/23/2022, 5:15pm EST
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The Imhotep Charter and Neumann-Goretti boys basketball programs have auras that extend beyond the city limits.

Along with piling up District 12, Philadelphia Public and Catholic League and PIAA titles, both programs are no stranger to national rankings and the attention that comes with it.

Even with all the history, both accomplished rather rare feats this past week. 

The Panthers and Saints had an opportunity to showcase the best of Philly hoops on a national stage — and delivered.

Imhotep won the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, becoming the first team from Pennsylvania to win the prestigious high school basketball tournament. Neumann headed to Hawaii and won the ‘Iolani Prep Classic over a national field of competitors.

“There’s a lot of people in Philly who can really go, so just putting us on the map is really good,” Imhotep senior Rahmir Barno said. “You hear a lot of talk about the other states, who got the best hoopers, best basketball players and stuff like that. Just kind of putting Philly on the map is definitely a good look for the city.”

The Imhotep boys basketball team poses together after winning the City of Palms Championship on Wednesday. (Photo: Courtesy City of Palms)

The City of Palms brings together some of the best teams and players to the Gulf Coast of Florida each winter for an early-season tournament. DeAngelo Russell and Ben Simmons won titles with Montverde Academy in 2012 (Russell) and 2013 (Rusell and Simmons).  The Ball brothers took down the Patrick School (N.J.) in 2015. 

Imhotep knocked off Louisiana’s Isidore Newman(73-49), New York’s Archbishop Stepinac (46-44 ) and Georgia’s Wheeler (61-52) before a 61-44 win over Christopher Columbus (Fla.) in the title game — a gauntlet of a run that once again proved the Panthers among the best high school squads in the country.

“It’s super cool,” Imhotep coach Andre Noble said. “We didn’t act like this wasn’t one of the goals that we had during the year just because we know it’s historic for the city obviously. It was something that we really wanted to pull off. 

“It’s a tough road to get through the City of Palms, but our guys did really execute and every game helped us get better. Especially that second game, that we didn’t play well, but we gutted it out and fought and won that one in a tight one. That just made us better for the next two rounds.”

Barno, a Florida Gulf Coast commit, scored 21 points and added four assists and four steals in the championship game, while playing right by his future college home. He also had a game-winner, going coast-to-coast in the final seconds of the quarterfinal win over Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.).

Senior wing and Kentucky commit Justin Edwards and junior guard Ahmad Nowell were also on the all-tournament team. The three have been AAU teammates for Team Final the past two summers and that chemistry plays into the Imhotep’s success.

“We’re a senior-led group and all the seniors, we’ve played together,” Edwards said. “I’ve played together with Rah and Moddy the past two summers. That just led onto the high school season.” 

Others stepped up as well during the run. Edwards mentioned junior forward Makye Taylor was invaluable against a nationally-ranked Wheeler (Ga.) team that featured USC forward commit Arrinten Page and USC-bound guard Isaiah Collier, who is in the conversation for best player in the country along with Edwards.

Senior guard Yahmir Satterfield always plays tough, senior guard Baasil Saunders (the tournament dunk champion) and Jeremiah White added important minutes too. Freshman guard R.J. Smith had some timely baskets in his action.

Imhotep’s 2018-19 squad, which was led by Donta Scott (Maryland), Dahmir Bishop (Florida Gulf Coast), Jamil Riggins (Quinnipiac),  Elijah Taylor (Quinnipiac) and Chereef Knox, advanced to the City of Palms title game. They finished as the runner-up to McEachern (Ga.), which was led by future Auburn stars Sharife Cooper and Isaac Okoro and finished that season as the No. 1 team in the country.

There aren’t many things that haven’t been accomplished within the Panthers program, so adding another ‘first’ to the list was something special.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” Barno said. “We’ve kind of been talking about it for a while. Being the first team in PA to win the CIty of Palms, especially knowing a couple years ago in 2018 they were in the chip and lost, it’s definitely a big accomplishment.”

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After the Panthers grabbed their title, the Saints felt they needed to take care of business in their championship game a few hours later.

N-G junior guard Rob Wright said he was texting some of the Imhotep players throughout the week as they went on their respective tournament runs.

He poured in a game-high 36 points in a 76-72 double overtime win over Mount St. Joseph (Md.).

“Since Imhotep had one, we wanted to win too, show that we’re good,” Wright said. “It felt good to get that done.”

“It was a great accomplishment with my team,” he added. “It shows that we’re one of the better teams in the country to win at a tournament like that.”

Neumann opened its tournament run with a 68-42 win over Maryknoll (Hawaii) on Saturday, continued Monday with a 75-59 win over Lake Oswego (Ore.) and took dow Milton (Ga.), 56-50, in the semis before Wednesday’s title game win over a Mount St. Joseph, which featured three Division I signees, including Illinois commit Amani Hansberry and topped powerhouse Montverde Academy in the semis.

Junior guard Khaafiq Myers, who was playing on an injured ankle, and senior forward Sultan Adewale were both all-tournament selections along with the tournament MVP Wright. Senior wing Bruce Smith contributed some big minutes before going down with an injury himself and junior wing Amir Williams hit the go-ahead three in the title game, playing all 40 minutes of the contest.

“We just dogs,” Williams said of what the Saints learned from their island trip. “We really just battle through anything because there’s a lot going on right now.”

“They showed a lot of character, a lot of heart,” Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale said. “They really played out there for each other.”

Arrigale has talked about his team’s previous trip to the ‘Iolani Prep Classic for the last 12 years.   The 2009-10 title game against Jack Yates High School (Texas) is still talked about as the best game in the tournament’s history — though this year’s title game certainly has a case for topping it being the first double overtime contest.

N-G dropped that game by one point early in the season before Yates and the Saints finished the season as the respective No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the country.

The Saints’ history in the tournament made Wednesday’s championship win even more meaningful.

“They know what it meant for me and the program and for them to be able to do it, it was really fun,” Arrigale said.

“We think we can still be even better, but it’s good to see we can compete with the best,” Wright said.


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