City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
––

The Imhotep Charter boys basketball team had its options last season.

Justin Edwards, Rahmir Barno and Ahmad Nowell were all capable closers. They were all guys who could take over when the Panthers needed.

Edwards is at Kentucky, Barno at Florida Gulf Coast. There’s no question who Imhotep will turn to late in games this season, and Nowell, a junior guard, made known he’s ready for the job on Tuesday night.

The UConn commit scored 19 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter of Imhotep’s 77-70 comeback victory. The win marked the program’s 80th straight on its home court.

“It feels amazing knowing that my work paid off that I’m one of those players that they're going to call to make the last shot,” Nowell said. “It’s an amazing feeling, and I’m just going to be confident every time I get the opportunity to take them.”

When senior forward Makye Taylor, an Albany commit, went down with an injury before the season, that left Nowell as the only starter back from last season’s dominant state championship squad. Sophomores R.J. Smith and Zaahir Muhammad-Gray and senior forward Jeremiah White were key reserves last season. But for the rest of the young Panthers’ group, Tuesday marked their first time protecting their home floor.

They looked in danger of relenting their win streak early. St. Joe’s Prep junior Jaron McKie buried a 3-pointer before the halftime buzzer to put the Hawks ahead 39-27. The lead grew to 15 a minute into the second half on SJP junior guard Olin Chamberlain’s third triple of the game. With assistant coaches from La Salle, Temple and St. Joe’s in the gym, Chamberlain led his team with 21 points (five 3s), McKie added 17 and classmate Jordan Ellerbee added another 13.

“It was amazing just something like that put at risk a 79-game win streak and us being down at halftime, but us being able to turn that lead over and come out with a win at the end,” Nowell said. “It was an amazing feeling back in the locker room after the game.”

Smith’s drive to the basket made it 57-48 at the end of the third quarter and gave SJP some momentum heading into the fourth. A triple from junior guard Carnell Henderson cut the deficit to three early in the fourth. Nowell tied it a few moments later, and Smith capped a 15-1 Imhotep run with a spinning layup to give the Panthers their first lead of the second half, 59-57 with five-and-a-half minutes to play.

Henderson followed Nowell with 15 points (three 3s), and Smith sparked the team off the bench, scoring all 10 of his points in the second half.

“I just told them the poise and maturity they showed today that was special,” Imhotep head coach Andre Noble said. “Those guys grew up today. We needed this type of tough game. We brought guys to war, and you know our environment is crazy for a home game. For this to be their first home game like that, for them to war and pull this game out, that’s going to pay dividends for us.”

Back-and-forth the game went for the next several minutes. McKie hit a 3 around the four-minute mark to put SJP back ahead. Nowell answered. Chamberlain hit a triple. Nowell pulled up for one his own to give Imhotep a 68-67 lead with 2:40 to play. 

Another Nowell drive pushed the lead to three with a minute-and-a-half left. After the Panthers got a stop and Nowell, who also had 10 rebounds, grabbed a board on the other end, the senior decided to put the game away instead of playing the free-throw game. His and-one with 29.5 seconds left sent the home crowd into an uproar and sealed a win for his team.

“It’s just taking advantage of the transition game knowing that it wasn’t put away,” said Nowell, who scored his team’s last 14 points. “If they took us to the foul line anything could have happened. It was just putting my head down and doing what I do best.”

Noble praised the play of the youngsters like Smith, Muhammad-Gray, sophomore forward Latief Lorenzano-White, sophomore Kody Colson (six points) and freshman Zion Green.

Their maturation will be important as Imhotep chases three-peats in the Public League, District 12 and PIAA.

The veteran head coach also knows Nowell will have to lead the way.

“We’re gonna win or lose by number 0,” Noble said. “That’s just the reality, and he was special today.”

By Quarter

St. Joe’s Prep 14 | 25 | 18 | 13 || 70

Imhotep 13 | 14 | 21 | 29 || 77

Scoring

St. Joe’s Prep: Olin Chamberlain 21, Jaron McKie 17, Jordan Ellerbee 13, Matt Gorman 9, Jalen Harper 7, Jackson Maguire 3.

Imhotep: Ahmad Nowell 34, Carnell Henderson 15, R.J. Smith 10, Zaahir Muhammad-Gray 7, Kody Colson 6, Jeremiah White 4, Latief Lorenzano-White 1.