City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The best high school basketball show in town hasn’t been in town too much this season.

Imhotep’s boys basketball started its season with a pair of local games, but matchups against nationally ranked competition kept the Panthers on the road for much of December, traveling to events like the City of Palms in Fort Myers, Fla.

After a trip to The Bronx last week, the Panthers finally began what’s been a rare stretch of local competition. They won a home game at Simon Gratz on New Year’s Eve and were back in the city on Tuesday for a Public League game against Constitution at Benjamin Franklin High School.

Behind a 26-point effort from Kentucky-bound senior wing Justin Edwards and 20-point night from junior guard Ahmad Nowell, Imhotep rolled to another Pub romp, 71-46.

“We didn’t have as big of a crowd as we could have because I know there was a lot going on, a lot of other games going on, but it was definitely pretty good to show out for our fans back at home,” Nowell said.

There’s a reason the Panthers have been out on the road. They are ranked No. 8 in the country by MaxPreps and coach Andre Noble and company want to test themselves against the best. They have wins over No. 11 Columbus (Fla.), No. 14 Wheeler (Ga.), No. 35 Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) and their lone loss came to No. 7 Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.). 

They’ve also made stops near the future college homes of Edwards and senior guard Rahmir Barno (Florida Gulf Coast), who had eight in Tuesday’s win, during their travels.

But a respite back in Philly was needed and welcomed.

“It’s good to be back and get some practices in,” Noble said. “We didn’t get a chance to practice for like two weeks and you only get like an hour of court time when you’re away. I’m glad to get back in the gym, in the lab and get back to work.”

Imhotep knows when it does return to Public League action, the matchup is likely a circled event on  its opponents’ calendars. The reigning Public League champions have been the team to beat in the city for a while now. 

Constitution is one the programs in the tier below the Panthers, and certainly came into Tuesday’s matchup looking to make a statement. Imhotep never let them.

A Barno oop to Edwards off the glass forced an early timeout for the Generals, trailing 10-2 just a few minutes into the game. The lead was 24-8 after a quarter of play and grew to 41-20 by halftime as Nowell scored 18 first-half points, including buzzer beaters to end both quarters.

“The teams in our league are prideful,” Noble said. “Even though we have the talent that we have, they’re not going to come lay down and they’re going to compete with us. I thought our guys had great energy at the beginning of the game, and they didn’t take Constitution for granted.”

Amir Speights finished with 13 and Kyree Latimer and Tymir Brown-Smalls both scored nine apiece for the Generals, but the Panthers were able to avoid any stressful moments on Tuesday, getting up by 30 and starting the running clock before the end of the third quarter.

“It’s definitely good to have teams who are going to go all out when they play against us, but it’s also good with our national schedule just being able to work on things against them, so we can be prepared for those games,” Nowell said.

Noble said his team’s defense in the second half let up, but the Panthers were suffocating in the first half, forcing several five-counts. 

They gave those in attendance some fun entertainment in the third quarter with seven dunks — three by Edwards, and one apiece from Barno, Nowell, Baasil Saunders and Jeremiah White — but the defensive clamps are what makes this group and program special unlike some other talented groups which put on an offensive showcase.

”Imhotep is cultured by defense,” Nowell said. “That’s how we get things done. We were never really an offensive team. We have a lot of talent, but we are definitely cultured by defense, so that’s the first priority.”

Imhotep already has quite the resume and could pump that up even more before returning to Public League action for most of January.

The Panthers will be packing up for Illinois later this week to play in the Highland Shoot against undefeated No. 9 Simeon (Ill.), the storied Chicago public school program, which has six Division I commits on its roster.

A week later they will head up to Springfield, Mass. to face Cardinal Hayes (N.Y.) and 2024 five-star guard Ian Jackson at the Hoophall Classic on ESPN.

“Their brotherhood is special,” Noble said. “They support each other’s successes. The culture, the environment of this team is awesome.”

By Quarter

Imhotep: 24  |   17  |  21  |  7  ||  71

Constitution:  8  |  12  |  14  |   12  ||  46

Scoring

Imhotep: Justin Edwards 26, Ahmad Nowell 20, Rahmir Barno 8, Baasil Saunders 4, Jeremiah White 2, RJ Smith 2, Malcolm Muhammad 2, Z Muhammad 2, Amaury Hunter 2, Milak Myatt 1.

Constitution: Amir Speights 13, Tymir Brown-Smalls 9, Kyree Latimer 9, Talasi Henderson 5, Daylah Holman 3, Kory Jones 2, Amir Murray 2, Naamir Flowers 2.