City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
––

BENSALEM — Ahmad Nowell has that special gift that great players have, the ability to find that extra gear when needed, even at the end of a game. It’s the capacity to step into the spotlight and handle it with aplomb, to keep a level head and do whatever needs to be done to get the win. 

What does he call the part of him that comes out in the big moments? 

“That’s just the West Philly dog,” he said. “I feel like I always had my mark, I always had my Philly in me wherever I was at. I brought my dog, that’s what I’m known for, just being a dog. 

“I always brought that Philly energy with me. I thought I always had my mark in the city. Now I’m finally getting the chance to showcase it every day.”

With the outcome of a marquee non-league game between Imhotep and Archbishop Wood hanging in the balance, Nowell rose to the occasion — and brought the rest of ‘Tep with him. 

The UConn-bound point guard put together one of the signature outings of his high school career, helping the Panthers overcome a second-half Vikings surge to close strong for a 72-65 win at Bensalem High School on Friday night.

Nowell finished with 34 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals, a dominant two-way performance that came even while he played in foul trouble almost the entire way. He out-shined Wood’s star senior, Miami-bound Jalil Bethea, who had 19 points and seven rebounds but was constantly harassed by the Panthers’ swarming defense, managing to get off only 10 shots (6-10 FG, 3-6 3PT).

Their matchup was a major reason the gym at Bensalem was packed to the gills for both games on Friday night’s doubleheader, Bensalem beating Sankofa Freedom 61-40 in the first game. The two elite guards, teammates together with Team Final, are good friends off the court, but put that aside as their competitiveness took over.

“His birthday just passed [two days ago],” Nowell said. “I told him ‘Happy birthday, and I can’t talk to you until after the game.’”

Down the stretch of a game which saw Imhotep jump out to a big early lead and Wood come back late, Nowell made one big play after another. None were bigger than the pass he made to Latief Lorenzano-White for a corner 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining, the sophomore wing burying the shot to put Imhotep up 66-60.
 

“Tief’s been working to make those plays,” Imhotep head coach Andre Noble said, “but I just told them, we talked about that play, I said ‘Ahmad, the trust you have in your teammates, if you don’t make that read, then we don’t get that shot.’”

Wood responded with a Deuce Maxey (12 points) bucket, but responding buckets by Nowell and Carnell Henderson (6 points) put Imhotep up eight with 30 seconds left and sent the fans streaming for the exits.

Imhotep (6-0) set the tone early, opening up 9-0 and then 16-2 before a Bethea triple finally got the Vikings going. It was 26-12 Panthers after one quarter, but John Mosco’s Vikings (2-3) are too good to just roll over. They chipped away slowly at the lead over the course of the second and third quarters, getting it down to nine points at halftime and three entering the fourth. 

A runner by Drexel commit Josh Reed (18 points, 9 rebounds) gave the game its first tie at 49-49 with 6:40 left, junior guard Mike Green hitting a 3-pointer on the next possession to give Wood its only lead. 

The response came from — who else? — Nowell, whose 3-pointer tied it as he scored nine straight for ‘Tep, then came up with an assist to Zaahir Muhammad-Gray (8 points, 5 rebounds) for a 3-pointer to make it a 61-56 game. 

“Just knew we’re going to have to turn this up a gear [...] knew that we needed something else,” he said. “Something had to turn over so we could turn it back up.

“I just made it happen.”

Nowell scored 17 points in the fourth quarter alone, 25 after halftime. He was 11-of-23 from the floor (5-8 3PT, 7-10 FT) as he hit some deep treys and tough layups, his mid-range game the only thing that wasn’t totally clicking on Friday night, not that it mattered.

“In my opinion, I’ve been saying it, no matter what happened this game, I think he’s the best player in the state,” Noble said. “It’s not even what he does on the court — how he leads, how he works, how he believes in his teammates, how he inspires. He’s just a special talent.”

The game was the first matchup between Noble and Mosco, two close friends who run the Philly Live events together each June, and who had resisted scheduling each other until this year. The two were in good spirits before the game, smiling and chatting together on the sidelines, but don’t expect it to happen annually — at least, not until they both have two of the top guards in the country suiting up once again.

“We’re not doing this (any) more,” Noble said with a laugh. “It was great, it was great for the city. I always like doing stuff that’s really good for basketball, and this was great for basketball.”

By Quarter
Imhotep Charter:    26  |  10  |  11  |  25  ||  72
Archbishop Wood:  12  |  15  |  17  |  21  ||  65

Shooting
Imhotep Charter: 23-58 FG (9-21 3PT), 17-24 FT
Archbishop Wood: 23-50 FG (7-20 3PT), 12-15 FT

Scoring
Imhotep Charter: Ahmad Nowell 34, RJ Smith 9, Zaahir Muhammad-Gray 8, Jeremiah White 6, Carnell Henderson 6, Latief Lorenzano-White 5, Kody Colson 2, Zion Green 2

Archbishop Wood: Jalil Bethea 19, Josh Reed 18, Deuce Maxey 12, Milan Dean Jr. 11, Mike Green 3, Tahir Howell 2

~~~

Game One: Bensalem 61, Sankofa Freedom 40

The host Owls kept their strong start to the season going, getting three players in double figures in a convincing win over the Warriors. 

Junior wing forward Jaidyn Moffitt led all scorers with 18 points as the stocky 6-foot-2 wing forward with great footwork wowed the crowd with a few spin moves to the bucket, knocking down a fourth-quarter 3-pointer as Bensalem put its foot down. 

Ron Morris’ squad, now 7-1 on the season, got off to a 19-8 lead after one quarter as senior guard Noah Morris — the younger of the coaches’ two sons on the team — was 4-of-5 from deep in the opening quarter, adding one more triple in the second to finish with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting. His older brother, Antonio Morris, turned it on with all 11 of his points in the second half, adding six rebounds and three assists. 

By Quarter
Bensalem: 19  |  12  |  17  |  14  ||  61
Sankofa:     8   |  16  |   9   |   7   ||  40

Shooting
Bensalem: 26-49 FG (7-15 3PT), 3-5 FT
Sankofa: 16-47 FG (3-14 3PT), 4-10 FT

Scoring
Bensalem: Jaidyn Moffitt 18, Noah Morris 15, Antonio Morris 11, Amir Drummond 6, Nate Cooper 4

Sankofa: Nasir Williams 11, Nafis DuBose 10, Jasir Henderson 9, Jameel Brown 4, Asim Hardy 3, Nasir Brown 2