City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)

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PHOENIXVILLE — The Pottstown boys basketball team knew it would find out a lot about itself this week.

With a pair of division games against squads who consistently compete for the Frontier title, the Trojans had an opportunity to prove they are much improved from the squad that won just three division games a season ago.

Mission accomplished.

Two days after breaking a six-game losing streak to four-time defending Frontier champion Pope John Paul II, the Trojans snapped a  five-game losing streak to Phoenixville with a 65-56 win on Thursday night. It was their third division win of the season.

“We got embarrassed a lot last year,” said junior guard Sadeeq Jackson, who had all of his game-high 17 points in the second half. “This year we want to earn our respect. We really want to do something special this year with our team. We just want to play as a team, play hard, fight hard against any team.”

Sadeeq and his twin brother Abdul were in and out of the varsity rotation last season as sophomores during a 6-16 overall and 3-7 division finish. Sadeeq played in the team’s last 13 games and proved himself one of the PAC’s top scoring threats in the short stint.

Last year’s leading scorer Gage Sibley graduated, but with the Jacksons and junior Ty Elliot-Moore back in the mix, the Trojans felt something special was brewing for 2022-23.

Saddeq scored 17, Elliot-Moore 15, Abdul 13 and classmate Jurrell Young added another 13 in Thursday’s win.

“Once school got out, the whole team was in the gym, practice, weight room, conditioning. … I think we’re so good this year, just off of the chemistry,” Abdul said. “We know that Gage, he was our leading scorer last year, so it was a big question of who’s going to do this since Gage left. It’s me, Sadeeq, Ty, sometimes Jullian (Beasley). Jurrell had a good game and now that (Terryce Phillips) and Elijah (Palmore) are back, they help us on the interior defense. It’s the chemistry.”

Sadeeq is typically the go-to scorer of the Jackson twins. He and Moore both came into Thursday’s game averaging more than 15 points per game. Abdul has always been the distributor of the two ever since they started playing together.

The roles were reversed to start Thursday’s game as Sadeeq went scoreless in the first half, sitting for a good chunk of it with foul trouble. Instead, Abdul poured in 10 of his 13 points in the first half to help the Trojans out to a 26-23 halftime lead.

“He likes to get everybody involved and that’s what a point guard should do, get everybody involved,” Sadeeq said. “He gets me and Ty going, he gets Jullian going and that’s when it’s his time to eat. That’s when it’s his time to go.”

Sadeeq started the second half with three consecutive buckets. After the Phantoms closed the gap as low as two, Elliot-Moore hit a pair of threes and Sadeeq capped an eight-point quarter with a buzzer beater to give Pottstown a 46-38 lead heading to the fourth. He added three quick points to start the final period to push the lead to double digits.

The Trojans maintained a double-digit lead until the final two-and-a-half minutes of the game. Phoenixville junior Max Lebisky, who stuffed the statsheet with 14 points, four assists, four steals and two blocks, reeled off seven straight points to pull the Phantoms within three, 59-56, with a little more than a little left.

Sadeeq, who added another nine in the fourth, quickly answered on the other end to push the lead back to five. Junior guard Di’Mark Lyons came up with a clutch defensive stop as the Trojans wrapped up a marquee win without too many more nerves.

“Having my brother and I know what he can do and he knows what I can do, the connection is already there,” said Abdul, who added three steals and three assists to his statline. “It’s already tight. I know he can do this, so when he’s going, I try to keep him going. I try to playmake until it’s my time to score.”

Pottstown and Pope John Paul II are a game ahead of Phoenixville, Pottsgrove and Upper Merion in the Frontier Division standings. The Trojans hold the edge after a double overtime win over the Golden Panthers on Tuesday. Their lone league loss was a 69-68 defeat to Upper Merion on Dec. 26.

It’s been more than a decade since Pottstown advanced to the PAC playoffs. A top two finish in the division would guarantee a spot in the field.

Don’t look now, but the Trojans are also the No. 5 team in the District 1-5A power rankings. They last went to the district playoffs in 2018-19 and their last district win came more than a decade ago.

“We want to gain the respect of the league a little bit,” Pottstown coach Ken Ivory said. “People have looked down on Pottstown basketball for a little bit of time now. … We want to be named with the top programs in the area, really, and that’s where I think we can be with the talent that we have. As long as we focus in the classroom, do the right things, we’ll be fine and get better as we go.”

There isn’t a whole lot of varsity experience on the Trojans. With exception of senior Rashean Bostic, most guys on the team only had a few varsity game/starts under their belts.

That hasn’t mattered much and with each win Pottstown’s confidence grows.

“I think we can beat anybody, honestly,” Abdul said. 

“If we play hard as a team,” Sadeeq tacked on. “We’re playing as a team and we’re winning as a  team.”

By Quarter
Pottstown:  11   | 15  |  20  |  19 ||  65
Phoenixville:  12   | 11  |  15  | 18 ||  56

Scoring
Pottstown: Sadeeq Jackson 17, Ty Elliot-Moore 15, Jurrell Young 13, Abdul Jackson 13, Terryce Phillips 2, Di’Mark Lyons 2, Elijah Palmore 1.

Phoenixville: Max Lebisky 14, A McClintock 11, Deacon Baratta 8, Dawson Brown 8, Christian Cervino 5, Stephen Yurick 3, Anthony Cervino 2, Bryce Absher 2, Wade Carruthers 1.