City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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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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Last year was a magical ride for Spring-Ford. The Pioneer Athletic Conference championship. An unprecedented trip to Temple to play in the District 1 6A championship game. A run to the PIAA Class 6A state semifinals, also for the first time. 

To replicate — if not better — the best year in Spring-Ford boys basketball history, Joe Dempsey wants this year’s squad to do everything they can to forget all about it. Past is in the past, that’s that, move on.

“It’s like comparing your kids,” the Rams’ third-year head coach said. “If you tell your son or daughter, ‘Why couldn’t you be more like’? or ‘Remember your sister or brother did that’ — it’s all in the past and the more you talk about them there will be resentment. It’s all about, ‘You need to do this for this team,’ and [...] we’re trying very hard not to mention it.”

Expectations are certainly the highest they’ve ever been in Royersford — on the boys’ side, at least — and last year’s run certainly plays a factor. It doesn’t hurt that the Rams return three starters, including one of the best prospects in all of District 1, and have some intriguing youngsters stepping up into significant roles, all under the guidance of a coach who’s established himself as one of the best in the area between his time at La Salle and Spring-Ford.

Gone are five seniors who all made an impact last season, including starting guard Caleb Little and wing Zach Zollers, now on the football roster at Pittsburgh; Tyree Banks, Michael McKenna and Alex Lewis round out the quintet.

Outside of Little, playing at NAIA Xavier (La.), the others aren’t furthering their basketball careers; their on-court presence was certainly critical to the team’s success, but perhaps not as important as the way they led the group all season long.

“They were themselves,” senior guard E.J. Campbell said. “They didn’t change, they held us accountable, that’s probably what they did best, they held us accountable, even if they didn’t play, they still wanted us to win and it was a brotherhood. We were always hanging out, outside of school, we just built that camaraderie.”

Optimism with this year’s group starts with the backcourt of Campbell and junior guard Jacob Nguyen, both of whom had standout postseasons and maintained that momentum all summer. 

Campbell, a 6-1 lead guard, will likely be the team’s only starting senior, their most experienced point guard and a capable scorer from all three levels. He proved himself as a big-time scorer with numerous 15-point (and more) performances during the postseason, then showed his point guard abilities enough this summer to garner significant interest from high-level Division II and low-major Division I programs..

“He’s had a great summer, he’s turned into a terrific leader, we’re going to rely on him,” Dempsey said. “The challenge for him and Jacob is to be leaders now.”

Nguyen, a 6-4 guard, is an unflappable shooter, his 20 points in the District 1 6A championship game just one of his big-time performances, showing his ability to stay calm, cool and collected even on the biggest stage of his career. He picked up offers this summer from Bryan, Albany, Drexel, Bucknell and most recently William & Mary, which extended a scholarship last month.

“He took off,” Campbell said. “Me and him are always in the gym every day, so I’m like a big bro to him, even though he’s taller [...] he’s a really good player, on the court and off the court.”

“I challenged him after his freshman year to become more than just a 3-point shooter and he did that,” Dempsey said, “he became terrific defensively and rebounding and dribbling the ball, he could run point for us very easily right now. Now [...] he’s got to come out of his shell because we just need it.”

The third member of the starting lineup who’s back is 6-5 junior wing forward Tommy Kelly, who played the ‘5’ last season but is more naturally a combo forward who doesn’t have one standout talent but produces in a number of ways.

It’s a good trio to start with, no doubt, but after that comes inexperience and youth, even if that youth has plenty of promise of its own.

“Losing five seniors, five playing seniors is a lot, so we’re gelling with all the younger kids right now,” Nguyen said. “Me, EJ, Tommy, we all played a lot last year so we have a lot of experience coming into this year. Us three are going to have to be leaders to lead the younger guys.”

Those younger guys include sophomore point guard Lymir Green, who’s been starting in the fall, as well as sophomore forward Oben Mokonchu, who looks primed to jump into a major role. Mokonchu, who at 6-6 is the tallest member of the varsity squad, gives them some real size inside, though he can also pop out and knock down a jumper; Campbell called him the “biggest piece” to the team’s success this fall. Juniors Luke Pufko and Jordan Marsilio both contributed all summer long and will push to be in the rotation after spending last season on the JV squad.

Campbell said he’s been doing what he can to replicate the leadership duties of the seniors of last year, trying to get the team together to hang out or play golf, lift weights together or just go out and watch some hoops, check out some of their league and district competition or just other good ball around.

“It’s hard,” he said, “because the young kids ain’t got cars.”

The Spring-Ford squad that’s been playing at events this fall isn’t quite the same as the one that’ll take to the court in December. Matt Zollers, Zach’s younger brother, is a 6-4 wing who made an impact during a couple Philly Live weekends in June, though his future is also on the gridiron, where the quarterback has offers from the likes of Pitt and Penn State. A few other football standouts will bring their physicality to the court as well. 

The biggest indication of the potential Dempsey sees in his squad this year is the non-league schedule he put together. The Rams open the season at Parkland, play at Reading and against Neumann-Goretti at the Diane Mosco Classic in December; they’re playing Coatesville, another PIAA 6A quarterfinalist from a year ago, as well as District 1 5A favorites Unionville and 2A favorites Dock Mennonite.

And the Pioneer Athletic Conference won’t be a walk in the park: Methacton, Perkiomen Valley, Phoenixville, Pottstown and more will all have their say in the matter, all aware who’s getting the preseason buzz, all aware of what happened last season, as much as Spring-Ford tries to forget.

“Everybody’s going to be gunning for us,” Dempsey said. “Last year is in the rearview mirror, we’ve got to find our identity, work in a bunch of younger kids and really tell the kids that last year was magical and special and it didn’t happen by accident. And they’re going to have to embrace the idea that people are going to want a piece of us and we have to be totally committed to be the best team we can be.”