City of Basketball Love

By 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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During every 6 a.m. workout or early morning run the past two offseasons, the Pottstown basketball team was thinking of one thing.

“Our coach always says, ‘Suffer now, and then we’ll make the other teams suffer later down the road,’” senior Abdul Jackson said. “That’s what we’ve been doing, the same thing this year, and we’re going to continue to get better.”

The Trojans were never a doormat in the Pioneer Athletic Conference — typically a threat in the small-school Frontier division and seemingly always just on the outside of a league or district postseason berth — but rarely were they a team others feared in the past decade. 

That changed last season.

Pottstown knocked off division power Pope John Paul II for the first time since 2019 to announce itself early in conference play before advancing to the PAC Final Six for the first time since 2012. There the Trojans knocked off Norristown and took eventual league champion Spring-Ford to double overtime.

“They work hard, they show up, even in the offseason,” Pottstown third-year coach Ken Ivory said. “They run, they listen and they’re working hard in the classroom.”

That commitment took some time for Ivory to get from his players. 

In Ivory’s first year, Jackson and his brother Sadeeq both missed time due to academic reasons. They committed themselves in the classroom last season and that type of hard work translated to the court as well. The rest of the program has followed the two star players’ leads.

“If you look at it, we did well, went to the playoffs and all that, but academically my guys they did so well,” Ivory said. “The Jackson brothers had academic problems as sophomores and then junior year there were no problems. That’s what you want as they get older and progress and mature. They’ve been working their asses off in the classroom.”

Pottstown went 14-9 last season and posted a 7-3 mark in the PAC Frontier Division that resulted in a three-way tie with Upper Merion and Pope John Paul II for the division lead. The Vikings held a tiebreaker (a season sweep over Pottstown) to give them the division crown and No. 2 seed in the league, while the Trojans made their first league tournament appearance in more than a decade.

The Jackson brothers were a big part of that. Sadeeq (15.7 ppg) was the league’s fourth leading scorer last season and Abdul (13.7 ppg) another one of the league’s top scoring threats, both earning first team All-PAC Frontier honors.

Also back from last season’s team are senior guard DiMark Lyons, who Ivory said can “change the game without scoring a point”, and senior wing Jurell Young, who can do a little bit of everything including knocking down big shots.

“It’s going to be an exciting season again for Pottstown this year,” Sadeeq Jackson said. “We’re a real humble team. We don’t let the hype get to us, our coaches stay on our behinds and we just want to get after everybody. We’re not satisfied at all.”

“The goals are just going to be bigger and bigger. The first goal is to win the PACs. … Get far in districts and even if we don’t win it all, get to states and make a statement.”

The Trojans will miss the long-range abilities of Ty Elliot-Moore (14.6 ppg, 43 threes) and versatility of forward Terryce Phillips, but they have a few players in the mix who weren’t available last season.

Junior 6-3 wing/forward Dillon Mayes, who is the quarterback of the football team, broke his ankle before last season, but the Trojans are really excited about the size and athleticism he brings to the table. The Jacksons’ younger brother Jahmir, is a strong ball handler and another guy who can put the ball in the bucket and get after it on the defensive end.

The team thinks it has the guys in place for another playoff run and potentially compete with the big schools in the league like Perk Valley, Methacton, Spring-Ford and Norristown — like it showed it can last season. 

“Our team is going to look a lot different,” Ivory said. “We’re still going to get up and down. We’ll try to pressure you and give you hell, but at the same time guard up and play. We won’t be big but we’ll be tough. We’re not gonna run from any smoke. I’ll tell you that.”

Defense will be the key to the Trojans’ success as they have plenty of guys capable of filling it up.

“All I’m worrying about is just defense,” Abdul Jackson said. “I really don’t care about nothing else about our team except defense. Getting rebounds, guarding people and jumping on the floor, diving on the floor and less turnovers and I feel like we should win every game.”

“We can score the ball with anybody,” Ivory said. “We can come at you with a flurry, but we want to make sure we’re consistent and regimented and meticulous when we do it.”

Despite breaking a three-year district playoff drought, Pottstown ended its season prematurely in 2022-23 with an upset home loss to league rival Upper Merion as the No. 6 seed in the District 1 tournament. 

The Trojans will have to fend off Upper Merion and Pope John Paul II once again, while Pottsgrove and Phoenixville both return most of last year’s rotations and Upper Perk has been priming to play spoiler for quite some time.

Still they know they have the opportunity to do some big things in the league and beyond this season.

“It’s like a big responsibility, but me, Sadeeq and Jurell, we’re the seniors,” Abdul Jackson said. “We have to make sure the team is in shape, just doing the right stuff. Most of our team, they don’t have experience on the varsity level, but I feel like when we practice, they just got it in them to be ready to work and do what they need to do.”

“I feel like even after this year, we’re gonna set it right for Pottstown for the next and the next years.”