City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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NORTH PHILADELPHIA — John Brown looked out on the court two summers ago at the Lucien Blackwell Community Center and knew there was something brewing in his Carver Engineering and Science boys basketball program.

“We called our frontcourt onto the floor and every coach literally melted when we saw how long and tall we were,” the Engineers’ head coach said. “We knew right then and there that coming up to this season and last season that this team was going to be special.”

That was even before a talented group of guards entered the program as freshmen last fall. 

With some young talented guards and length and experience up front, everything is finally starting to come together in Brown’s seventh year at Engineering & Science. 

In front of a large home crowd Monday afternoon, the Engineers made history with a 71-56 win over Northeast to clinch the program’s first Public League Liberty (B) Division title since 2012.

“For me, it feels great,” senior Tali Simpkins said. “We’ve been here four years, and we’ve never had this type of success. I said before the season I just want to get past mediocrity. The last few years we’ve been 11-11, 12-13, but I wanted to enjoy success, and I wanted to do it here. I wanted to be that team that everyone remembers. It’s a great feeling. It’s amazing, but we’re not done yet.”

From left, Engineering & Science senior Tali Simpkins, sophomore Matt McField and sophomore Fareed Brown pose after Monday's win over Northeast. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

The years 1997, 1999 and 2002 are listed on the banner on the gym at Engineering & Science for boys basketball division champions. Ted Silary has the Engineers finishing second in the ‘C’ division at 11-2 in 2002 behind a 13-0 Strawberry Mansion squad. His records have them first in 2012 at 11-2 (21-2 overall) behind ‘B’ Division MVP Tahjere McCall. So if it’s an error, this year's squad gave the school a reason to fix it.

This year’s Engineering & Science squad (16-2, 10-0 Liberty Division) is led by someone who Simpkins thinks is also deserving of the league’s MVP award in sophomore guard Fareed Brown. Brown, who is averaging 15.7 ppg, poured in a team-high 24 points in Monday’s division clincher against a Northeast group (16-3, 10-1) that also sported an unblemished division record before the game.

Brown’s classmate Matt McField had 14 of his 22 points in the first half, including nine in the second quarter, to help the Engineers build their advantage to 33-20 at halftime. Simpkins, who finished with nine points and eight rebounds, had some big buckets in the third quarter to extend the lead to 51-35.

Northeast scored the first seven of the points of the fourth to cut the lead down to double digits. The Engineers were back up by 20 with a littles less than four minutes to play. Brown scored 12 in the final period to steady the team.

Even as Northeast senior Darius Gaeta scored 17 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth the Engineers were able to keep a healthy distance the rest of the way.

“We kept our composure,” Fareed Brown said. “We all decided to settle down after that. We knew something wasn’t going out way and we had to make an adjustment. When we made the adjustment, it led to Tali getting free, it led to Matt getting a couple buckets, and it was my turn I just attacked and got a bucket.”

The Engineers went 12-13 last season and finished third in the ‘B’ Division with an 8-3 mark before being knocked out of the Public League playoffs in their opener by Lincoln. They beat Martin Luther King in a play-in game for District 12’s fifth and final spot in the PIAA Class 4A tournament, which marked the program’s third ever state playoff appearance (2005 and 2006), before ending their season with a 78-46 loss to Allentown Central Catholic in the first round of states.

E&S graduated leading scorer and rebounder Nile Mosby (11.4 ppg, 8.4 rpg) last season, but everyone else was back, including the young backcourt of Brown, McField and sophomore Samir Roberts-Mouzon and senior forwards/wings Simpkins (6-4), Anthony Brown (6-4) and Lut Young (6-3).

John Brown said two weeks after the state playoff loss they were back to work and for the next six months they didn’t stop — lifts and workouts, practices at the rec center, games and leagues in the spring, summer and fall.

“They’d beg us to get into the gym, so we committed to them,” John Brown said.

“We went through six months of preparation with these guys, and they just did nothing but get better and better. We never had any backward movement.”

There were honest conversations between the staff and players and even parents about individual and team goals and how they could be reached. 

“Last year, we were just getting introduced,” McField said. “This year we wanted to leave our mark.”

The boys basketball Public League Division Champions banner at Northeast has the years 1997, 1999 and 2002 on it. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

After opening their season with wins against Mastery South and Frankford, E&S lost 61-27 to a young, but talented Archbishop Carroll team.

Instead of being a confidence shaker to a squad that came in with high ambitions, the Engineers’ head coach said it had the opposite effect. 

“As we were preparing them and watching them play, we kept putting in their head, you all are really good,” John Brown said. “The frustrating part is that we had to keep saying it. I said, ‘What is it going to take for y’all to realize what we’re saying is true?’ After that Carroll game, I think that was the catalyst for them. They knew they were better.”

A string of seven straight victories followed the loss to Carroll, including a revenge win over Lincoln that Simpkins said was a big confidence booster. E&S lost to Pennington School 71-40 on Dec. 30 before going toe-to-toe with current Inter-Ac leader Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in a 90-85 loss to begin the new year — another moment that let the Engineers see their potential.

They haven’t lost in the three weeks since, rattling off eight straight victories of eight-or-more points to reach their highest win total since that special 2012 season.

“I’ll just say it’s kind of simple,” Fareed Brown said. “We all made that one goal to clinch the division, and we all stuck to it. When we all commit to one thing, we can do anything we want.”

Fareed Brown is the top scorer, but Simpkins is averaging 8.6 ppg and McField is averaging 8.4 ppg. Sophomore Sahin Rodriguez, who had six steals on Monday, Anthony Brown and Roberts-Mouzon are all averaging more than six points per game as well. 

The Engineers had 11 assists on Monday, including four from Rodriguez and three from their floor general McField.

“I feel like we’re playing more as a team,” Simpkins said. “Everybody’s touching it. Everybody’s playing basketball. We got like 5,6 guys who can go get 10-plus points. We got three, four guys who can go get 20. It’s hard to game plan for a team like that. … Every game is different and that’s how, we read and react in real time and that’s just how we play. We really play as a team. We’re real patient and we all just trust each other. I feel like that is the difference between this year and last year.”

E&S wraps its regular season schedule against String Theory on Tuesday afternoon and then it will be time for the Public League Playoffs. 

The 2012 team had its run spoiled in the second round of the Public League playoffs, ending its season there. The Engineers last reached the Public League quarterfinals in 2006, and went on to win the only state playoff game in school history that season. 

E&S reached the Public League semifinals at St. Joe’s the season before in 2005, falling to a Prep Charter team that included the Morris twins and eventual Big 5 Hall of Famer Rodney Green (La Salle).

“A goal from the rip was to get to the Liacouras Center, get to the Final Four,” Simpkins said. “We want to win multiple state playoff games. We just want to keep making history for the school. We want to be that different team. We can do it. We can compete with anybody. Hopefully, we get a high seed so we can play at home. I feel like nobody can beat us at home.”

Engineering & Sciences 71, Northeast 56

By Quarter

Northeast  11 | 9 | 15 | 21 || 56

E&S   15 | 18 | 18 | 20 || 71

Scoring
Northeast: Darrius Gaeta 29, Jonathan Miller 8, Mikey Freeman 8, Jalen Lee-Womack 6, Bobby Perry 3, Sharif Wallace 2.

E&S: Fareed Brown 24, Matthew McField 22, Tali Simpkins 9, Sanin Rodriguez 4, Lut Young 4, Anthony Brown 4, Aaron Williams 4.