City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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ROYERSFORD — Jake Dellangelo waited his time to make an impact on the Spring-Ford boys’ basketball team — from childhood up until his senior year with the Rams. Though he might not be the star he envisioned himself being when he watched Noah Baker and company back when he was in middle school, Dellangelo’s determined to make his time on the floor count.

“I’ve been told that my role is ‘3-and-D,’ and I really want to take that to the next level, because I want to prove myself on the court,” he said. “Every time I’m out there, even though it might only be for a couple minutes at a time, I want to go hard every time.”

The 6-foot-tall, 185-pound guard isn’t needed to be a leading scorer, not on a team with senior EJ Campbell and junior Jacob Nguyen, and they’ve got size and athleticism aplenty in the starting lineup.

But he proved his value on Thursday night, hitting the biggest shot of his Spring-Ford career thus far. The senior guard’s dagger 3-pointer in the final two minutes of a Pioneer Athletic Conference crossover game with Phoenixville made sure the Rams emerged with a 72-65 home victory on Thursday night. 

A game between the PAC’s Frontier and Liberty division favorites was well-contested the whole way through, Spring-Ford playing frontrunners almost the entire way but Phoenixville never far behind. It was a 17-15 game after one quarter, 30-25 at halftime and 47-40 after three quarters, the margin still seven points with under 2:30 remaining, the Phantoms in full-court press mode.

Campbell, with the ball in the backcourt, found junior wing Matt Zollers on the left-hand side; with a defender sliding up to double-team Zollers, Dellangelo slid down into the corner. Dellangelo collected the pass and went into his shooting form in one smooth motion, releasing a shot that hit nothing but net. 

“I looked over to the bench and every single guy was standing up, even the coaches, and it did warm my heart a lot because I know those guys have my back,” he said. “I’m going to always remember that shot, because it’s my first really big shot that I hit.”

“He’s a great success story, you love to pull for kids like that,” Spring-Ford coach Joe Dempsey said. “He’s a great teammate, a very good shooter. Just happy for him that he had the spotlight a little bit tonight.”

After playing freshman basketball during the COVID season in 2020-21, Dellangelo moved onto the JV squad as a sophomore and junior. He found himself at the end of the varsity bench last year, playing only at the very end of blowouts. 

It was only this year that he finally got meaningful varsity minutes, one of three reserves Dempsey used in the win over Phoenixville, getting solid runs in both halves, including a third-quarter layup. He said he had a chance at a dagger 3-pointer earlier this year, with a nearly-identical shot from the corner midway through the fourth quarter of a win over Bishop Shanahan, but hit front iron instead.

This one, he said, was never a doubt. 

“I knew right away, it was going to go,” he said. “It just boosts my confidence so much because now I know I can be that person who can hit dagger if needed to [...] I know within myself I can perform.”

Spring-Ford’s win was powered by the duo of Nguyen and Campbell, who each contributed 20 points in their own ways. Nguyen was hot early, scoring eight points in the first quarter and hitting his first six shots through the third, getting all but one of his points in the game’s first 20 minutes. 

Campbell, the 6-0 point guard, took over late. He had 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, including an and-one to put Spring-Ford (5-3) up 12 with 4:40 left before one last Phoenixville (6-2) spurt. He rounded out his game with six assists, five rebounds and four assists, making some great passes late to junior forward Tommy Kelly (10 points) and sophomore forward Oben Monkonchu (8 points) for layups.

“I wasn’t really aggressive in the first half, shots weren’t falling, so I had to get my teammates involved and ultimately that ended up getting me more looks anyways,” he said, noting that the game was a measure of revenge for a 30-point Phoenixville win during the Dock summer league. “Being a point guard, that’s what I’ve been working on, getting my teammates involved, [getting] at least six assists per game.”

Phoenixville got a terrific outing from senior wing Max Lebisky; the 6-4 point forward with a recent offer from West Chester (and multiple D-II/D-III head coaches in to see him Thursday night) poured in a game-high 26 points, with 10 rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block. Sophomore guard Dawson Brown added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. 

Last year’s District 1 6A runner-ups and a PIAA semifinalist, Spring-Ford opened its season with losses to Parkland and Unionville, and took a beating last weekend at the hands of Catholic League powerhouse Neumann-Goretti. They’ve still got Coatesville and Exeter before the year is out, while PAC play dominates January before the regular season wraps Feb. 1 at Perkiomen Valley. 

Though Campbell, Kelly and Nguyen are back from last year, several players are adjusting to new or bigger roles from a year ago; the Rams are far from a polished product, as high as expectations are. This is about the time of year when improvements start to show. 

Dellangelo pointed to the second half of the win over Bishop Shanahan, part of the State College tip-off tournament, as a turning point for the team defensively. 

“When I was watching it, I felt that we were one of the best teams in the area, when we come together, that’s our potential,” he said. “And I think we’re going to be a very tough team to stop when we have that potential.”

By Quarter
Phoenixville:  15  |  10  |  15  |  25  ||  65
Spring-Ford:  17  |  13  |  17  |  25  ||  72

Shooting
Phoenixville: 22-47 FG (4-19 3PT), 17-22 FT
Spring-Ford: 27-57 FG (4-14 3PT), 14-20 FT

Scoring
Phoenixville: Max Lebisky 26, Dawson Brown 12, Aidan McClintock 9, Christian Cervino 7, Bryce Absher 5, Deacon Baratta 4, Brady O’Donnell 2

Spring-Ford: Jacob Nguyen 20, EJ Campbell 20, Tommy Kelly 10, Matt Zollers 8, Oben Mokonchu 8, Jake Dellangelo 5, Blake Turner 1