Philly Basketball 24 • 7 • 365

City of Basketball Love

Current Section

Home

PIAA 4A: Overbrook's turnaround season ends against Eastern York

03/15/2023, 1:00am EDT

By Joseph Santoliquito

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
__

COATESVILLE — There were no tears. No angst. No guttural yells of pain. The Overbrook basketball team left its dressing room Tuesday night at Coatesville with a feeling that better things are ahead.

The Panthers’ season ended on a sour 75-54 note from Eastern York in the second round of the PIAA Class 4A state playoffs. Overbrook wrapped up a 14-14 season, and though it may not look impressive, considering where the program was a year ago, it was a great step in a good direction under first-year head coach Bo Kimble.

Last year at this time, the program was in a shambles, possibly the worst team in the Philadelphia Public League after a 1-16 finish.

“I’m very proud of the guys, and we have a good amount of returning guys for a team that was learning a new system,” said Kimble, the local legend who made a 13-game difference in a year. “We reached the District 12 Class 4A championship, and we won an opening-round state playoff game, so there is a lot to be excited about.

Bo Kimble's first season at Overbrook ended in the second round of the PIAA 4A state tournament. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

“These kids have a lot to be proud of. I’m very proud of these guys and it’s something I told them after the game. These guys recognized that they had a successful year. We have a lot coming back. I can’t thank our school principal, Dr. (Kahlila) Johnson and our athletic director, Bob Miller, enough for allowing me to fulfill my dream as a coach.”

Kimble said he plans on returning to Overbrook next season, but he also said his ultimate goal is to be a Division I basketball coach. He said he would apply for the openings at Temple and Georgetown, but he stressed he will most likely return to Overbrook.

“I plan to be here, and we have a lot to look forward to,” Kimble said. “Most of this team that never got significant minutes where they previously were. It is why I am so proud of this group. They worked so hard to make themselves better at basketball — while learning a new system on top of that. They ran more this year than they ever have before in this run-and-gun system.”

One player that certainly benefited Tuesday night was Overbrook 6-foot-4 junior wing Jayden Robinson, who shared the Panthers’ high-scoring honors with Omar Davis. Each scored 15 points.

“Last year, we only won one game and this year we reached the District 12 championship and we gained a love for the game,” Robinson said. “I want Coach Kimble back. I thought I was in shape, but not in the kind of shape for coach Kimble’s system. I found out what being in shape is.

“This was a nice step for us. I feel bad for our senior, Mike James, but we have a lot back. I came into Overbrook to prove to the city that we could be one of the top dogs. We’ll come back next year with that same attitude.”

For a quarter, Overbrook stayed with the larger Eastern York team, before the Golden Knights’ bigs, 6-foot-6 sophomore Carter Wamsley and 6-4 senior Austin Bausman, took over. The two combined to score 50 of Eastern York’s 75 points. They cut to the basket. They were able to step back and hit threes. They were a nightmare.

Golden Knights’ Justin Seitz has done a nice job in five years at Eastern York. It’s the first time the Golden Knights have reached the PIAA Elite Eight since 2010.

“We felt if we were able to handle Overbrook’s pressure, we were going to be successful,” Seitz said. “I like a lot of things we’re doing right now. We had only three turnovers in the first quarter and one in the second. We’re executing and fighting and doing things that we couldn’t do earlier in the year.”

Since 1990, this is the fifth time Eastern York reached the Sweet 16. The Golden Knights got their first state playoff victory in Seitz’s tenure in their 56-52 victory over Danville in the opening round.

Eastern York will now face Allentown Central Catholic, 49-46 winners over Cardinal O’Hara, on Friday in the Class 4A Elite Eight at a site and time to be determined.

By Quarter

Eastern York (20-8): 17 | 19 | 16 | 23 || 75

Overbrook (14-14): 19 | 8 | 16 | 11 || 54

Scoring

Eastern York: Carter Wamsley 29, Austin Bausman 21, Brady Seitz 8, Carter Foote-Renwick 6, Jack Weaver 6, Matt Zerbe 3, Simon Lipsius 2.

Overbrook: Omar Davis 15, Jayden Robinson 15, Michael James 10, Charlie Belcher 9, Kalief Armstrong 3, Greg Kimble 2.

~~~

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.

~~~

Girls 6A
(3-1) Cedar Cliff 39, (1-6) Upper Dublin 26
(7-2) Upper St. Clair 42, (1-4) Pennsbury 31
(1-9) Abington 40, (1-8) Springfield-Delco 35
(12-1) Cardinal O’Hara 42, (1-3) Spring-Ford 39
(12-3) Archbishop Carroll 41, (1-1) Perkiomen Valley 38 (OT)