City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2023-24 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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The bounce of balls and the sound of so many sneakers in the gym at Episcopal Academy this past fall were a welcome change.

There’s a buy-in this season Churchmen head coach Taylor Wright hasn’t witnessed since returning to his alma mater.

Numbers at fall workouts and participation in multiple summer and fall leagues sent a message to Wright from his players: They are ready to win this season.

“The level of commitment to basketball has been more than it has been in a few years,” Wright said. “I think the kids feel it. They’re excited about it and when you’re going into a year with excitement, guys can’t wait to get into the gym, getting all these guys here, getting together this early in the season is something that we haven’t been able to do. I’m really excited for them, and I hope that they see some of that success in the regular season.”

The Churchmen are far removed from the shared Inter-Ac title they claimed alongside Germantown Academy in 2017. Last season, EA went 10-15 overall and 1-9 in the Inter-Ac. The program hasn’t won more than three league games in Wright’s three years with the program — originally as a JV coach and varsity assistant.

Wright was named EA’s interim head coach last June when Brian Shanahan stepped down. The school removed his interim tag this spring, officially turning the keys of the program over to the 2011 grad, who played football, basketball and baseball for the Churchmen before a standout baseball carer at Brown.

“It’s kind of nice that he’s the head coach and we got all our guys together,” EA senior guard Kevin McCarthy said. “We can work through the offseason now, all fall and spring to make sure we're on the same page, running the same stuff, especially defensively we’re doing our rotations correctly.”

McCarthy is a two-time first team All-Inter-Ac selection. The 6-foot-3 sharpshooter averaged 18.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game last season, going off for 20-or-more points 11 times and knocking down 64 3-point shots.

He has one last season to put together a winning campaign in an EA uniform.

“He’s one of those guys that the other guys respect because of how hard he works,” Wright said. “He’s a great lead by example kind of guy to show our guys what it takes to be as good as he is, and we’re looking forward to guys taking his lead and putting in the work like Kevin does.”

McCarthy is one of three starters back along with senior guard Tyler Beaulieu and sophomore wing Timmy Dennis, who stands at 6-foot-7 and can stretch the floor with his shooting. Senior 6-5 forward Calvin Szoradi, a standout football player, and senior guard Murilo Pereira are two others with significant experience returning.

EA only graduated two seniors and also adds Matt McCarthy, a 6-foot-2 junior guard from Archmere who is reclassifying into the Class of 2025, and Langston Foster, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard from Lower Merion who is reclassifying into the Class of 2026, to fortify the roster.

“We had a bunch of younger guys last year, so kind of just that experience piece,” Kevin McCarthy said about what’s different this season. “We’ve got some more experienced guys who can hopefully turn it around a little bit.”

Wright’s squad adds some talented youth to the program. Freshman point guard Keron Booth played as an eighth grader at the Haverford School last season and freshman guard Gage Cunningham is already tossing down dunks in-game. 

That senior core, which has spent a lot of time on the court together during their careers, is what will be the driving force, however.

“They do seem to enjoy playing together,” Wright said. “I think that’s hopefully going to show up when we get to the season. We have a lot of older guys who have been playing together for a long time, and they seem to really like each other. I’m excited for them, and for what that’s going to mean when we get into the season.”

“Hopefully we’ll take that leap forward.”

Malvern Prep and Penn Charter have split the last two Inter-Ac titles and look to be the league favorites once again as the Friars’ return first team all-league player Ryan Williams (Northeastern) and PC adds high-major big man Matt Gilhool and D1-level guard Jake West to a group that already included Kai Shinholster. 

Haverford has a young core that gets a year older this season; Germantown Academy returns one of the league’s top players in Bryce Rollerson; and Springside Chestnut Hill always plays tough.

EA dropped its last six conference games last season and ended the regular-season on a five-game skid in 2022-23. It won’t be easy to try and make an ascension up the league hierarchy but the Churchmen bring in some momentum, winning two postseason games over Abington Friends and league rival Germantown Academy to claim the Commonwealth Cup to cap last season’s campaign.

“We had a tough year last year, but we fought through it and kept playing,” Kevin McCathy said.

“(It’s going to be about) playing together, trusting each other and defense,” he added.