City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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CoBL’s four-game Winter Showcase at Harriton took place on Saturday at Harriton High School, with four games featuring eight area teams playing non-league games.

Results
Abington 54, Pennsbury 45
West Chester Henderson 83, Cardinal O’Hara 63
Harriton 65, Great Valley 41
Unionville 55, Haverford School 49 (OT)

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Here’s who stood out to our staff at the event:

Aasim ‘Flash’ Burton (2024 | Cardinal O’Hara)
The Rider-bound point guard makes things look easy on the offensive end of the floor, as he went for 20 points and eight assists plus seven rebounds and a couple steals as O’Hara lost to Henderson. Burton knocked down three 3-pointers and got a couple of his typical off-balance buckets in the lane, getting a few shots over a defenders’ arm and off the glass into the hoop at some crazy angles. It wasn’t his most efficient night, but there’s no denying his talent with the ball in his hands. 

Connor Fleet (2024 | West Chester Henderson)
One of Henderson’s leading scorers a year ago, Fleet has embraced playing more of a traditional point guard role, which he did by dropping nine dimes in a win over O’Hara. The 6-foot-tall guard still has his scoring touch, which he showed with 11 points (all in the second half), including a pair of 3s and a driving hoop which he finished with a back-hand roll past a defender, but it was his passing and playmaking that really shined, as he was finding Henderson’s shooters all over the floor — and the Warriors connected for 15 triples in the win. 

Silas Graham (2027 | Haverford School)
The 6-3 point guard is in his second year of varsity ball for the Fords, which is part of the reason why he’s so composed on the court — being the son of a Division I coach (Penn men’s assistant Nat Graham) doesn’t hurt either. Graham doesn’t need to score to have a major impact, which he showed by grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists for Haverford School in its overtime loss to Unionville; he did show he can get a bucket when he needs to, knocking down a 3-pointer, getting to the rim for a finish and throwing in a floater, though he only took six shots and focused more on setting up his teammates.

Marquis Kubish (2024 | Harriton)
Kubish is great at recognizing opportunities and then going to exploit them. Defense sags off? Sure, he’ll step into an open 3-pointer. Put a smaller body on him? The 6-2 guard doesn’t mind in the slightest banging in the post, with a few buckets that could have been called and-ones. It was an efficient 25 points for Kubish in Harriton’s win, as he was 8-of-12 from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the foul line, with four rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. 

Nelson Lamizana (2024 | West Chester Henderson)
Lamizana scored it in all sorts of ways en route to a 20-point outing in Henderson’s win over O’Hara — he knocked down a couple 3-pointers on a smooth outside shot, but also used his 6-7 frame to score around the rim, grabbing five offensive rebounds as he got a few second-chance buckets as well. Lamizana completed his double-double with 12 rebounds overall, controlling the glass on both ends.

Mike Roccograndi (2024 | Pennsbury)
Roccograndi played all game in attack mode. The 5-11 point guard was consistently getting to the hoop on dribble drives, breaking down the Abington defense and then making things happen at the bucket. A skilled finisher with both hands, he didn’t mind working around contact or using odd angles to get the ball up to the hoop. Roccograndi finished with a team-high 15 points to win team MVP honors for the Falcons, showing why he’s garnering interest from a number of Division III programs.

Nyle Ralph-Beyer (2024 | West Chester Henderson)
Ralph-Beyer missed the first six shots he took for Henderson, but the Sacred Heart commit heated up quickly when the game hit the second quarter. The 6-4 wing guard hit his first four triples of the period and didn’t cool off, scoring 25 of his game-high 29 points in the second, third and fourth quarters. Ralph-Beyer is a catch-and-shoot master who also hit some tough buckets on one-dribble pull-ups, splashing jumpers from all over the court.

Jon Roberts (2024 | Abington)
Roberts has emerged from deep in the Abington rotation over the first few games to be the Ghosts’ first player off the bench, and he impressed in a 12-point, seven-rebound outing. The 6-5 forward knocked in a 3-pointer and threw home the day’s most emphatic dunk, getting a feed in transition and slamming it home after one step, helping Abington overcome Pennsbury in a Suburban One showdown. Roberts’ numbers might not have been as big as some others on this list but it seemed like he kept making one impactful play after another.

Honorable Mention
James ‘JT’ Anderson (2024 | Unionville), Jacob Becker (2025 | Haverford School), KJ Carson (2025 | Haverford School), Simon Dlugi (2024 | Pennsbury), Sean Gallagher (2025 | Harriton), Jadyn Gaskins (2024 | Harriton), Jeremiah Lee (2024 | Abington), Jesse Smith (2024 | West Chester Henderson), Cameron Sullivan (2024 | Harriton), Jack Woodard (2024 | Great Valley)