City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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Saaid Lee is looking for a little stability at West Catholic.

This is the explosive 6-foot-1 junior point guard’s third school in three years, starting at Bonner-Prendie his freshman year, then MCS last season, and now with the defending PIAA Class 3A state champion Burrs.

It's been a bit of a culture adjustment for Lee. A new school, new faces to get used to and a new role as someone on the quiet side expected to be a vocal leader on a team that is still searching for an identity.

Tuesday night in West Catholic’s bandbox, Fenway Park of a high school basketball gym, Lee and his teammates took a nice first step together, opening the Philadelphia Catholic League season with a 66-55 victory over Cardinal O’Hara (5-5, 0-1).

Lee dropped in a career-best 17 points, six coming in the fourth quarter when the game was yet to be determined. The Burrs (3-6, 1-0) got a balanced attack, getting 10 points each from Jaasin Sabb and Micah Waters and nine from athletic sophomore Kingston Wheatley.

The Lions were led by Aasim “Flash” Burton’s 17 and Pearse McGuinn’s 15, though sophomore guard Tygee Clark and Jack Quinn’s play did not go unnoticed, keeping O’Hara in the game during times when it looked like the Burrs would run away.

Through Lee and Wheatley, the Burrs showed glimpses of what they could be this season. The first month of the season has been a patient one for Burrs’ head coach Miguel Bocachica, who lost every starter from a team that finished 20-10 last season.

“So far, this is the best we’ve looked this season,” Lee said. “We had some problems early this season. We let teams go on runs, and we begin putting our heads down. I think we fixed that tonight. I feel comfortable here at West. They let me play my game, which is controlling the pace and getting downhill and finishing.

“My attitude coming into this year was to show I’m one of the best point guards in the city. I feel I have the game. I just have to get used to the leadership role. I think that’s coming along. We finished tonight, which is something we weren’t doing.”

Wheatley was an intimidating force, showing a great burst to the basket in his most consistent game he has had this young season.

“I liked our energy, we had more than we usually do,” Wheatley said. “I’ve been assertive, the difference was being more aggressive in going to the basket. I just have to be more consistent. We won’t let this win get to our heads.”

Beating O’Hara was a nice confidence boost for Bocachica. He is still piecing together a rotation. He wants to see a more stable defensive effort. He has been patient. He knows this will be a team that develops and gets stronger as the year progresses.

Having someone like Lee will be instrumental in how this team develops.

“This is a brand new group being led by a brand new voice in Saaid, and Kingston is just finding himself and this is team that is trying to find itself,” Bocachica said. “I have a ton of respect for (O’Hara) coach (Fran) O’Hanlon and they have a nice player in Burton, so this was a good way to open the season.”

O’Hara led twice, 2-0 and 4-2, with the Burrs fumbling in the beginning, turning the ball over the first two times they had it. It took West Catholic a quarter to heat up, but when it did, the Burrs erupted for a 17-4 run, making seven of their first 10 shots in the quarter to bolt to a 33-18 lead.

This is where Bocachica’s concerns lay. Within a blink, it seemed, O’Hara was within 38-36 midway through the third quarter and down 42-40 later in the third on a McGuinn putback.

“We cut it to two, and then we did the same things that got us down, but Ty Clark and Jack Quinn did a nice job in bringing us back,” O’Hanlon said. “We’re still trying to find an identity and figure this out. It was good to see the sophomore guards do well, and this is a tough environment against a team used to winning. We just have to get better.”

West entered the fourth quarter up 49-45, but Lee got the Burrs moving again, scoring four of West’s first six points to begin the quarter. And, to Bocachica’s delight, West played some defense, preventing Burton from penetrating.

With 1:17 left to play, West was back up by 15 again, 65-50, taking a step towards finding a team personality and a 1-0 start in the rugged Philadelphia Catholic League.

By Quarter

Cardinal O’Hara: 14 | 17 | 14 | 10 || 55

West Catholic: 16 | 22 | 11 | 17 || 66

Scoring

Cardinal O’Hara: Aasim Burton 17, Pearse McGuinn 15, Tygee Clark 8, Noah McIntosh 4, Miles Johnson 3, Ethan Schulcz 3, Anthony Hobbs 3, Abdulai Bayraytay 2.

West Catholic: Saaid Lee 17, Jaasin Sabb 10, Micah Waters 10, Kingston Wheatley 9, Isaiah Muhammad 8, Jaden Banner 6, Jayvon Byrd 3, Jasir Tyler 3.

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.