City of Basketball Love

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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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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They don’t mind the label. They actually embrace it. It’s them. It is what the Marple Newtown boys’ basketball team will be about this year — a bunch of scrappy dogs looking to make up for the growing pains that arrived in the form of a 12-13 overall record and 7-9 Central League finish in 2022-23.

The Tigers lost to eventual District 1 Class 5A champion Radnor, 55-29, in the first round of the District 1 5A playoffs, and lost to West Chester Rustin in the playback round ending their year.

That rocky journey will hopefully pave the way for a better season this year.

Coach Sean Spratt enters his seventh year as head coach of the Tigers, who return 6-foot junior guard Matt Gardler, 5-10 senior guard P.J. Esposito, who was plagued by injuries his junior year, 6-2 senior guard Dave Bertoline, 5-11 senior guard Steven Tansey, 6-4 junior forward Ryan Keating, 5-11 senior guard James Kirby and 6-1 senior forward Andrew Cappello. Spratt is hoping newcomer 6-2 senior forward Iraklis (pronounced Hercules) Kaltsidis can help the tiny Tigers on the boards.

That will be the primary concern every night for tiny Marple Newtown, probably the shortest team in the coaching-rich Central League. This Tigers’ team returns tested. It returns hungry with experienced guards.

“That’s what we will rely on to guide us through the year,” Spratt said. “We have some guards with some experience. We have some other guards with multiple years of experience. We’ll rely on them for guidance and rely on them to bring everyone else up to speed. We have three kids who were on our state championship lacrosse team. We have very good athletes on this team. We’re not only probably the shortest team in the Central League, but we are also the smallest in terms of male population. So, in order to compete, we rely on multi-sport athletes. We have guys who have won at a high level.”

Keating, Bertoline and Kirby were on the Tigers’ Class 2A state championship lacrosse team. Spratt is counting on their winning leadership, along with Gardler and Tansey, to guide Marple Newtown. Another advantage is the core group has been playing basketball and been life-long friends since grade school. The Tigers’ group of two years ago that won a program-first two PIAA Class 5A state playoff games had the same makeup. This current team, Spratt stressed, likes being around each other. He is leaning on that camaraderie and making sure it will translate to the court.

“The biggest similarity between this group and the one two years ago is they both like to mess around and have fun, but they also know when to flip the switch, get serious and compete,” Spratt said. “I would like to say that we are going to have a better record than last year, but the Central League is far tougher than people realize. I know a lot of the attention goes to the Catholic League, but there are some good teams in the Central League and some very, very good coaches in the Central League that make 16 of our 22 games very tough.”

Spratt feels the Tigers’ defense will be a team strength. Though undersized, the Tigers will deny with tenacity, their guards will engage and force opposing teams to work the length of the court. Gardler and Tansey will be at the eye of that attack.

It will need to offset the team’s palpable weakness — rebounding due to their lack of height.

“We have a group of guys that can win,” said Keating, who is being recruited by Vermont, Towson and Robert Morris for lacrosse. “Knowing everyone so well, we know where everyone else is on the court. It develops if you play long enough with guys. I was a freshman when we made that run in the states two years ago. I was on the lacrosse team this past spring. It’s important to have a winning mindset. It’s something I think can translate from one sport to another.”

Tansey, a two-year starter, was also on the Tigers’ state playoff team. He endured last year’s struggles.

“A few practices in, we already feel we are a family, because last year, I don’t think we had the best chemistry,” Tansey said. “The main idea is it doesn’t matter who is shining. It’s about a winning season and making the state playoffs. For us to be successful, we are going to have to control the tempo and play our game, use our experience and keep the ball.”

A two-year starter, Matt Gardler, the grandson of legendary Cardinal O’Hara coach Bud Gardler and son of former St. Joe’s point guard Chris Gardler, has high expectations and feels this team might sneak up on a few people.

“I feel that way because everyone on this team is looking to make everyone else better,” Matt said. “We know each other’s moves, and we know what we can do as a group. The key is everyone will need to know their role. We know each night we will be facing a disadvantage. We can make up for that with scrappy play, with our guards forcing full-court pressure, diving for loose balls, boxing out. It will come down to that. I personally think we can compete for the Central League title.”     

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, 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.