City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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NORTH PHILADELPHIA — West Philadelphia boys basketball coach Adrian Burke didn’t need to go searching through the record books to find the last time a Speedboys team advanced to the Public League championship game.

”Trust me I was there, I know,” Burke said.

Burke, a Frankford grad, was in attendance back in 1988 when the Pioneers took down West Philadelphia in the title game at McGonigle Hall a season after he graduated. After a 58-52 win over Constitution on Tuesday night at Temple’s Liacouras Center, West Philly will be back in the Public League title game for the first time since on Saturday against Imhotep

“I think it’s our turn,” Burke said. “I think it’s time for a change, I think it’s time to take it back to West Philly.”

Helped by a big first half from senior guard Elijah Hester, who had 13 of his team-high 17 points before the break, West Philadelphia built a 31-25 advantage at halftime and felt in control for most of the last two quarters.

The Speedboys held a four to eight-point lead until Constitution junior Kyree Latimer, who finished with 18 points, tied the 47-47 game with a pair of triples with two and a half minutes to play.

With the game slipping away, West Philadelphia freshman Jayden McKie took over. 

McKie knocked down a pair of free throws, then senior Jabrill Jackson sprinted down the floor for a layup. McKie added two splits at the free throw line to push the lead to 53-47 with 1:35 left. 

“It was all about the team. I heard Coach Peyton. He was talking like, ‘We gotta chip on our shoulders.’ We really do. Social media, they don’t like us. It was really hard going into this jawn, and me as freshman, playing on a high floor. I never did that before.”

The freshman guard finished with 13 points, going 9-of-12  from the free throw line. He scored eight of his team’s final 11 points. After the two splits at the line, he knocked went 4-for-4 from the line in the final 30 seconds to seal the game.

“I used to not be able to make free throws for real,” McKie said. “Now, I’m knocking them jawns down. It’s big for me as a freshman, first year.”

The first-year guard rising to the occasion in crunch time was no surprise to his head coach.

“This guy, he’s unbelievable,” Burke said. “He’s a dog. Once I put him in, I can’t take him out. He’s just got a knack for the ball, real knack for the ball. He’s a real good kid too.”

West Philadelphia started its season at 2-7 but now has the chance to play Imhotep for a league title in its first championship game in two and a half decades.

“I never thought we were just gonna be any team,” Hester said. “I knew we was gonna see the light. I knew was gonna get better and better as a team. As we got better and better as teams, I feel like we one of the best teams. I feel like if we played a lot of teams again, we’d probably beat them.”

“We’ve got a chip on our shoulder because everybody don’t think we’re supposed to be here,” Burke said.

By Quarter

Constitution 15 | 10 | 10 | 17 || 52

West Philly 20 | 9 | 12 | 17 || 58

Scoring

Constitution: Kyree Latimer 18, Talasi Henderson 13, Tymir Brown-Smalls 11, Amir Speights 6, Kervin Similien 2, Aamir Murray 2.

West Philadelphia: Elijah Hester 17, Jayden McKie 13, Jabrill Jackson 7, Khabir Washington 6, John Fields 6, Makel Butts 4, Simere Blagman 2, Jaden Williams 2

~~~

The Imhotep boys basketball celebrates around senior Rahmir Barno (1) after Barno scored his 1,000th career point with a free throw on Tuesday. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Barno latest to hit 1K as Imhotep stymies Dobbins

After classmate Justin Edwards joined the club in December and junior Ahmad Nowell became a member last Thursday, Imhotep senior guard Rahmir Barno added his name to the list of Panthers’ 1,000-point scorers in a 69-51win over Dobbins Tech to join West Philly in Saturday’s championship at 3 p.m.

Edwards led Imhotep with 18 in the win while, Barno finished with 16, accomplishing the milestone on a free throw in the second half

“Just seeing us three, the Big 3 the leaders of the team do it, it was definitely a good feeling,” Barno said.

To have three 1,000-point scorers one one team is an impressive program accomplishment Imhotep coach Andre Noble credits to the unselfishness of those three, who play with each other year round.

“It’s tough to get 1,000 points here because we ask them to share,” Noble said. “And then compounded with they lost 20 games of COVID games in their sophomore season, that they got to 1,000 both him and Justin and obviously celebrating Ahmad’s it’s a cool feat for them.”

Edwards, a Kentucky commit, had a big first half in Imhotep’s semifinal win against Samuel Fels and did so again Tuesday. He had 18 points and 10 boards, hammering home a fastbreak dunk before the break to give his team a 50-21 lead.

“I feel like when I attacked the rim first it opened up the whole game for me and my teammates, which it did, extra passes and all that kind of stuff,” Edwards said.

Imhotep hasn’t been tested in the Public League playoffs yet with runaway victories of Martin Luther King (83-4), Central (74-32), Fels (79-17) and now an 18-point win over Dobbins. 

The Panther took down West Philadelphia, 68-50, on Jan. 12 and hope to keep things rolling against the Speedboys on Saturday.

“We’re on the cusp of one of our goals,” Noble said. “Our goal is to be one of the best teams in the country, we can’t control that always, but the next one is winning the Pub, city and state titles, so we’re on the cusp of the first goal that we set for ourselves this season. We shouldn’t need motivation other than that this is one of the goals that we have and these guys know the importance of putting banners up in our gym.”

Another championship would give Barno, Edwards and their fellow seniors a three-peat to become the third Imhotep team (2009-2011 and 2017-2019) to accomplish that, rivaling the dominance of Overbrook in the late 40s and 50s, which accomplished the feat three times in a 12-year span from 1948-1959.

“That’s the goal, trying to three-peat,” Barno said.

By Quarter

Dobbins Tech 11 | 10 | 11 | 17 || 51

Imhotep 25 | 25 | 11 | 8 || 69

Scoring

Dobbins Tech: Kareem Diaz 15, Zach Campbell 8, Haneef Davis 6, Sam Thomas 4, Jarrell Wright 4, Kaseem Jacobs 4, Saleem Hudson 4, Faheem Robinson 2, Gabriel Galloway 2.

Imhotep: Justin Edwards 18, Rahmir Barno 16, Ahmad Nowell 11, Baasil Saunders 6, Jeremiah White 4, Malcolm Muhammad 3, RJ Smith 3, Zaahir Muhammad Gray 2, Yahmir Satterfield 2, C Carnell Henderson 2, Amaury Hunter 2

2023 Philadelphia Public League Boys Basketball Bracket

Play-in Round (Tues., Feb. 7)
Martin Luther King 59, Simon Gratz 44
Parkway CC 65, Franklin Learning Center 59
Mastery North 55, GAMP 35
Strawberry Mansion 54, Franklin Towne 51
George Washington 75, KIPP 45
Mat II 53, Belmont Charter 52

First Round (Thurs., Feb. 9)
Imhotep Charter 83, Martin Luther King 34
Central 48, Vaux 44
Olney 87, Benjamin Franklin 36
Samuel Fels 74, John Bartram 50
Math, Civics & Sciences 77, Parkway CC 23
SLA Beeber 47, Northeast 45
Overbrook 81, Roxborough 45
Dobbins Tech 67, Mastery North 63
West Philadelphia 80, Strawberry Mansion 39
Abraham Lincoln 72, Engineering & Sciences 57
Boys’ Latin 54, String Theory 48
Sankofa Freedom 72, George Washington 31
Constitution 76, Mast II 43
Audenried 80, Palumbo 60
Maritime 78, Paul Robeson 69
Frankford 69, Kensington 46

Second Round (Tues., Feb. 14)
Imhotep 74, Central 32
Samuel Fels 65, Olney 54
Math, Civics & Sciences 62, SLA Beeber 58
Dobbins Tech 71, Overbrook 57
West Philadelphia 54, Abraham Lincoln 41
Boys' Latin 52, Sankofa Freedom 49
Constitution 63, Audenried 52
Frankford 65,  Maritime 63

Quarterfinals (Thurs., Feb. 16)
Imhotep 79, Samuel Fels 17
Dobbins Tech 56, Math, Civics & Sciences 50
West Philadelphia 74, Boys' Latin 65
Constitution 43, Frankford 41

Semifinals (Tues., Feb. 21 at Temple University)
West Philadelphia 56, Constitution 52
Imhotep Charter 69, Dobbins Tech 51

Championship (Sat., Feb. 25 at Temple University)
Imhotep Charter vs. West Philadelphia, 3 PM