City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
__
NORTH PHILADELPHIA — Archbishop Wood comes into every game with a pair of uber athletic Division I-bound senior guards in its backcourt.

With Miami (Fla.) recruit Jalil Bethea and Drexel-bound Josh Reed leading the way, the Vikings like their chances against anyone. When one gets going, Wood is tough to beat. If both get hot like Wednesday night? Forget about it.

Bethea, who was recently announced as a McDonald’s All-American game selection, poured in 30 points and Reed scored another 25 in Wednesday’s 81-74 road win over St. Joe’s Prep. The senior duo combined for 37 in the second half to deliver the Hawks’ their first loss in Philadelphia Catholic League play. Junior Jaron McKie led St. Joe's Prep with 23 points.

“For me and Jalil as leaders and captains of this team, we have to take over when it comes to late in games, tight games, big games like this,” Reed said. “We’ve been through it all three years, so we’re used to it now.”

Archbishop Wood (9-7, 5-2 Catholic League) entered Wednesday night’s game sixth in the Philadelphia Catholic League, having played all five teams ahead of them besides St. Joe’s Prep. The Hawks (12-3, 6-1) entered the night one of two teams in the PCL without a loss in league play along with Neumann-Goretti. 

It was a big one.

Reed’s future coach Zach Spiker was there with assistant Will Chavis. La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy and Penn head coach Steve Donahue sat next to each other in the bleachers with assistants from both their staffs in attendance as well. St. Joe’s Prep alum and Philadelphia Eagles running back D'Andre Swift also popped into his old high school gym to take in the action.

“That’s cool,” Reed said. “ It’s obviously cool to play in front of an NFL player, Eagles player. Who doesn’t love the Eagles? That’s always awesome.”

St. Joe’s Prep jumped out to a 26-10 lead after a quarter of play. Helped by junior Mike Green (11 points) and sophomore Brady MacAdams (eight points) Wood closed the gap to 36-31 at half. The Vikings jumped ahead midway through the third on a jumper by senior Tahir Howell, who scored five points and added 11 rebounds.

Howell, a seldom used reserve a season ago, worked his way into the starting lineup over the summer and is showing his value and reaping the rewards with games like Wednesday night.

“Unexplainable man," Howell said of his senior season. "It’s fun. I’m in the best league in the city. To have the opportunity to play here, it’s a blessing. I’m just so grateful for anything. And most of all, I’m having fun.”

Bethea scored 40 in an overtime win at St. Joe’s Prep late last season. While he didn’t quite get there Wednesday, the same type of explosive scoring ability was on display in the third quarter.

After St. Joe’s Prep used a 10-0 run to go back up eight with a little more than three minutes left in the third, Bethea responded with 11 straight points of his own. He had 16 in the period as the Vikings held a 58-56 edge heading to the fourth.

“I’m lucky enough to even see that (I shared the court with him),” Howell said. “Miami commit, No. 6 ranked player for a reason. I’m just so proud of him and everything that’s he’s done. We’re all gonna lean on him so he can lead us to a (Catholic League) championship and state.”

Bethea added seven more points in the fourth and Reed asserted himself with nine points. The duo also combined for 27 rebounds in the contest.

Another big three by Green helped Wood get up by seven and play from ahead throughout the fourth. A triple by St. Joe’s Prep junior Jordan Ellerbee with 30 seconds to play pulled the Hawks within three, but Wood quickly outletted to Green for a bucket to answer.

The Vikings did enough defensively down the stretch to avoid a potential game tying shot from St. Joe’s Prep. Ellerbee scored 15, and junior Olin Chamberlin and senior Jalen Harper both scored 14.

Wood started out 2-2 in the Catholic League with lopsided losses to league leader Neumann-Goretti and one-loss Roman. The Vikings are back within a game of second place after three straight league wins, trying to set themselves up with one of the top seeds for a run to the Palestra.

“We had a talk,” Reed said. “We needed to start playing like we’re the best team in the PCL,” Reed said. “We weren’t playing like that at the beginning of the season. We were lacking confidence, but we’re coming into games knowing we’re the best team and we have better players, so that’s what we do every game.”

By Quarter
Wood:    10  |  21  |  27  |  23  ||  81

SJP:  26  |  10  |   20   |  18  ||  74

Scoring

Wood: Jalil Bethea 30, Josh Reed 25, Mike Green 11, Brady McAdams 8, Tahir Howell 5. Milan Dean 2.

SJP: Jaron McKie 23, Jordan Ellerbee 15, Olin Chamberlain 14, Jalen Harper 14, Matt Gorman 7, Will Lesovitz 1.