City of Basketball Love

By CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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The Philadelphia Catholic League announced its all-league boys selections on Monday and published the lists on Tuesday morning. Here’s a breakdown of who made the all-league teams: 

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First Team

Jalil Bethea, Jr., Archbishop Wood (MVP)

Bethea was Wood’s sixth man for much of last season earning third team all-league honors, but he stepped into a starring role for the Vikings as a junior this season and dazzled throughout the PCL slate. He helped Wood to a fourth place finish in the league, which included scoring 31 points in a win over Neumann-Goretti for the Saints’ lone loss this season. He added 40 points in another signature victory over St. Joe’s Prep late in the season.

Robert Wright III, Jr., Neumann-Goretti
Wright, a Baylor commit, earned first team All-PCL honors for the second consecutive season. The Saints’ junior guard spearheaded his team to the top finish in the league despite injuries and adversity for N-G throughout the season. He had a couple of signature performances himself with game-winners over Cardinal O’Hara and Archbishop Ryan late in the season, also knocking down the winning free throws during a 25-point night against West Catholic earlier in the season.

Thomas Sorber, Jr., Archbishop Ryan
Ryan’s 6-9 big man was among league’s leading rebounder and shot blockers as well as one of the PCL’s top scorers as he earned first team All-PCL honors for the second year in a row. Efforts from Sorber like a 29-point, 17-rebound performance against O’Hara helped the Raiders to a third-place finish in the league. He had eight double-doubles, including four 20-point, 10-rebound outings in PCL play.

Xzayvier Brown, Sr., Roman
Brown, another returner to the first team all-league list, helped Roman to a second-place finish in the PCL. The senior point guard and St. Joe’s commit recently surpassed the 1,000-point mark during a 28-point effort against La Salle. He was a steady presence for the league’s second best team in the regular season.

Jaron McKie, So., St. Joseph’s Prep
The lone sophomore on the list, McKie was a major head-turner this season for St. Joe’s Prep, emerging as one of the top sophomores in the region. The son of Temple head coach Aaron McKie is a sharpshooting 6-4 guard who’s greatly improving his skills off the bounce, and still seems to only be scratching the surface of his potential. 

Izaiah Pasha, Sr., Cardinal O’Hara
The 6-foot-4 guard/wing was one the league’s most versatile players with the ability to play-make or score from the wing position, while bringing some great length to the defensive end. Pasha, an Iona commit, also earned first team honors for the Lions for the second consecutive season.

Adam “Budd” Clark, Sr., West Catholic
Clark, a Coppin State commit, and teammate Zion Stanford (more on him below) joined each other on the first team All-PCL list once again. If the league handed out a defensive player of the year award, Clark would be on the shortlist as the league’s leader in steal for a second season in a row, while also guiding the Burrs on offensive from the point guard spot as both a scorer and distributor.

Zion Stanford, Sr., West Catholic
The Temple commit averaged 15.6 ppg and 6.5 rpg, starring alongside Clark to help West Catholic to tie for fourth in the league. A 6-5 small forward on a team without a true big, Stanford’s impact probably goes beyond his statline more than most. He finished his season strong with 28 points in a big win over Wood in the second-to-last PCL game to eclipse the 1,000-point mark.

Darren Williams, Jr., Archbishop Ryan
A second team all-league selection as a sophomore, Williams took another leap as a junior to put himself in the company of some of the top guards in the league. The 6-2 lefty shooting guard joins Sorber on the first team all-league list. He’s a lethal shooter and can get to the basket, and he was charged with defending opponents’ top perimeter threats as well. 

Sultan Adewale, Sr., Neumann-Goretti
Up there with Sorber in the conversation for the PCL’s top big man, Adewale is another players whose statline may not always tell the story. He’s a terrific interior defender and rebounder, but also can help switch on the perimeter. With the Saints’ explosive backcourt, they don’t need to run the offense through him, but he’ll get his buckets when needed.

Second Team
Dean Coleman-Newsome, Sr., Archbishop Carroll
Khaafiq Myers, Jr., Neumann-Goretti
Carson Howard, Sr., Archbishop Wood
Tristen Guillouette, Jr., Saint Joseph’s Prep
Laquan Byrd, Jr., Father Judge
Jermai Stewart-Herring, Sr., Roman Catholic
Jacen Holloway, Sr., Devon Prep
Jalen Harper, Jr., Saint Joseph’s Prep
Anthony Finkley, Sr., Roman Catholic
Michael Zaire Paris, Sr., Archbishop Ryan

Third Team
Horace Simmons, Sr., La Salle College
Jake West, So., Archbishop Carroll
Shareef Jackson, So., Roman Catholic
Kevin Rucker Jr., Jr., Bonner & Prendie
Shemar Wilbanks-Acqui, Sr., West Catholic

William Speedy Morris Co-Coaches of the Year

Carl Arrigale, Neumann-Goretti and Jason Harrigan, St. Joseph’s Prep

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PCL Playoff First-Round Preview (Wed., Feb. 15)

7) Cardinal O’Hara vs. 10) Bonner-Prendergast

This battle of Delco is the same 7/10 game as last year’s, when O’Hara beat Bonner 49-47 to advance to play Roman Catholic, which won their quarterfinal game by 27. If the Lions beat the Friars again this season, they’ll once again be set up to face the Cahillites — but if the Friars pull the upset, they’ll face top-seeded Neumann-Goretti in the next round. O’Hara won the regular-season game between the two, 79-60 at Bonner on Jan. 23, part of six wins in eight games to close out the season.

O’Hara (15-6, 8-5) is led by Iona-bound senior Izaiah Pasha, a 6-4 slasher who plays both on and off the ball for the Lions, a three-level scorer who can get his own shot but also works well as a catch-and-shoot wing. His classmate Josh Coulanges has had a strong senior year, while juniors Aasim ‘Flash’ Burton and Pearse McGuinn are both Division I prospects with offers, Burton a 6-2 point guard and McGuinn a 6-7 stretch forward. The return of senior point guard Christian Cervellero from a broken arm is a nice boost as well as they enter the postseason, and they’ve gotten quality reserve minutes from juniors Miles Johnson and Anthony Hobbs.

Bonner (12-9, 4-9) finds itself in the postseason in Billy Cassidy’s first season, earning the final spot in the PCL playoffs thanks to a win over Devon Prep last weekend, and though the Friars have only four league wins, they’re still plenty dangerous thanks to a number of D-I prospects in the starting lineup. Up front, 6-7 wings Nelson Lamizana and Deuce Ketner, both juniors, give them a pair of long, versatile forwards who play facing the basket but can also post up and defend the rim if needed. On the perimeter, point guard Reggie Selden Jr., shooting guard Kevin Rucker Jr. and wing Brady Eagan are the featured pieces, while Randy Cooper-Mukuro and Jamal Hicks give them more depth and outside shooting. 

The Friars have the pieces to pull the upset, but O’Hara’s hung with the top dogs in the league this season, and it would be surprising for them to suddenly lose all the momentum they’ve built up at this point in the year.

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8) Archbishop Carroll vs. 9) Father Judge
Carroll might be the home team and have finished a game higher in the standings than Judge, but it was Judge who won the regular-season matchup, the Crusaders holding off the Patriots 78-72 just a week ago (Feb. 7), making this one just about a coin flip for the right to face Neumann-Goretti (barring a Bonner upset, in which case the winner of this game gets Roman Catholic in the quarterfinals). A win here would be the most significant yet for Chris Roantree as a head coach, the former Wood assistant taking over last year, while Francis Bowe is aiming to get back to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2020 after falling in the first round a year ago.

The Crusaders (11-11, 6-7) play a deep rotation, led by senior guards Kyle Jones and Ernest Shelton, junior wing LaQuan Byrd, sophomore point guard Kevair Kennedy, junior post Anthony Lilly and freshman guard Derrick Morton-Rivera. Jones, a 6-2 combo guard, has the ability to really fill it up, and the muscular 6-3 Byrd has emerged this season as a strong outside shooter to complement his physicality; Kennedy and Rivera have gotten better as the year’s gone on. When Judge is clicking, they can look really good, like in a win over Central York back in December, but they haven’t put together one of those games against the top half of the PCL yet.

Carroll (14-8, 7-6), on the other hand, has shown it can hang with the better teams in the league, beating St. Joe’s Prep and Archbishop Wood (at Wood!) in January, though losses to O’Hara and Judge cost them from making a run at a top-four seed; they’ve only lost two games by more than 11 points, at Ryan and Roman. Bowe has an interesting group that’s a mix of experience and youth; senior guard Dean Coleman-Newsome and senior wing Blake Deegan both have a lot of experience, but it’s sophomore Jake West and freshmen Ian Williams and Nasir Ralls that bring a lot of excitement about the Patriots’ future. Like Judge, Carroll will go 8-9 deep, including senior sharpshooter Seamus Rogers and junior wing Su’Meer Alleyne. 

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PCL Quarterfinals (Fri., Feb. 17)
1) Neumann-Goretti vs. TBD
2) Roman Catholic vs. TBD
3) Archbishop Ryan vs. 6) West Catholic
4) Archbishop Wood vs. 5) St. Joe’s Prep

PCL Semifinals (Wed., Feb. 22 at the Palestra)
Quarterfinal Winners

PCL Championship (Mon., Feb. 27 at the Palestra)
Semifinal Winners