City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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NEWTOWN SQUARE — It was 20 years ago that Penn Charter last stood atop the Inter-Ac. That was the last time the Quakers had as much talent as they do now, Sean Singletary (Virginia) and Rob Kurz (Notre Dame) leading the way through an unbeaten conference slate. 

This year’s Quakers, thanks to an influx of talent brought in by first-year head coach Brandon Williams, thought they would have a similar type of year in the six-team league. A couple early losses showed them otherwise. Williams pulled his stars out of a weight room session the next day and told them they needed to realize it wasn’t going to be so easy, and work together to figure it out.

“I put them in a room and was like ‘listen, we don’t have basketball problems,’” he said. “‘At the end of the day I know what a bad basketball team looks like, that’s not us. We have some chemistry issues, and they’re only going to get fixed within.’”

It took another week or so, but Williams’ group figured it out. And thus it was that for the first time in two decades, the Inter-Ac is once again Penn Charter’s, and Penn Charter’s alone. The Quakers won their final five games of the league slate, including a 68-62 win over Episcopal Academy on Wednesday afternoon to claim the solo title in the most competitive year the league’s seen in at least a half-century.

With a 7-3 league record, Penn Charter is the first team to win the league with that many losses since a three-way tie in 1968-69, the first solo winner at 7-3 since 1956, which was another Penn Charter squad. They had shared it each of the last two years, with Malvern Prep, both squads finishing 8-2 each time.

This time around, the Quakers finished just a game ahead of Haverford School (6-4), three teams — Episcopal, Malvern Prep and SCH Academy — all at 5-5. Had EA beaten Penn Charter in the season finale, it would have been a three-way split for first between PC, EA and Haverford all at 6-4.

“I want to make sure that the Inter-Ac as a league gets the respect it deserves,” Williams said. “From a quality standpoint, top-to-bottom, this league was a league with really, really good teams.For us to win this outright with three losses means there’s a lot of quality teams in this league.”

Nobody had the quality that Penn Charter had in the junior group of Kai Shinholster, Jake West and Matt Gilhool, all of whom have numerous Division I offers at the mid-to-high-major levels. West, a 6-foot-2 point guard, led the way with 22 points in the win, adding five rebounds. Gilhool, a 6-10 center, added nine points, 12 rebounds and two blocks; the 6-5 Shinholster played more of a complimentary role in this one with six points, three rebounds and two blocks.

“It feels really good, especially because Penn Charter hasn’t won it in over 20 years,” said West, who came over after two years at Archbishop Carroll. “My first year in the Inter-Ac, just a really good experience, coming in and winning an outright championship.”

While that trio gets a lot of the buzz, it’s really become more of a quartet with the play of Jamal Hicks. The Bonner transfer might not have any D-I offers but he’s been plenty productive this year; the 6-3 guard was aggressive all game long Wednesday afternoon, finishing with 21 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists. 

“This is the first time I’ve ever really been a champion before,” he said. “I just want to cherish the moment, cherish all the feelings and stuff like that and just get ready for PAISAAs.”

“I’m so proud of that kid, man,” Williams said. “He had to endure so many ups and downs […] he never complained, he never pouted, he never put his head down, he always knew what he had. Not only is he an offensive stud but he’s one of our best defenders. He was huge tonight.”

Episcopal Academy started off hot, West Point commit Kevin McCarthy hitting four first-quarter 3-pointers as the Churchmen led 18-12 after one quarter. The second quarter was all Penn Charter, which won those eight minutes 23-7; West had a couple and-ones and Gilhool added seven points in the frame, his most productive stretch, as Penn Charter took a 10-point halftime lead it never relinquished.

“I think it was just defense, just taking pride in defense,” West said. “McCarthy’s a really good shooter [...] so just switching it up, putting a hand in his face, trying to put it on the floor for him, because he’s a really good shooter and we have to have a hand in his face at all times.”

It’s that type of defensive effort which has developed after that meeting, which came after a loss to Malvern Prep on Jan. 17 dropped the Quakers to 1-2 in Inter-Ac play. A loss at Haverford School nine days later left them at 2-3. 

With the margin for error at zero, they rallied.

“[They] thought they were going to run the table and do what they wanted to do,” Williams said. “Usually when you get hit in the mouth you start stumbling back and start going for your own. We had a little bit of that but I’m so proud of these dudes for locking in, continuing to play together and build.”

EA’s Matt McCarthy did his best to keep the Churchmen in it until the last couple minutes, scoring 24 of his game-high 28 points in the second half. Episcopal had the edge at four points going into the fourth, but nine straight from West to begin the fourth re-established Penn Charter back in front.

It wasn’t until junior TJ Bryson scored to put Penn Charter up seven with 30 seconds to play, on a possession where the Quakers grabbed two offensive rebounds, that the final outcome was finally secured.

Inter-Ac title secured, Penn Charter will now look ahead to the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association (PAISAA) championship tournament. Seeded third, the Quakers will host No. 14 Friends’ Select in the first round on Friday, with either Westtown or SCH Academy coming to School House Lane in the second round should they advance.

“I’m definitely looking forward to it,” West said. “Should be two tough games [...] we’re just excited to play against top-level competition, especially two at home, so it should be fun.”

By Quarter
PC: 12  |  23  |  12  |  21  ||  68
EA: 18  |   7   |  18  |  19  ||  62

Shooting:
PC: 25-53 FG (2-10 3PT), 16-16 FT
EA: 23-56 FG (10-32 3PT), 6-6 FT

Scoring
PC: Jake West 22, Jamal Hicks 21, Matt Gilhool 9, Kai Shinholster 6, Carson Smith 6, TJ Bryson 4

EA: Matt McCarthy 28, Kevin MCCarthy 18, Tyler Beaulieu 11, Calvin Szoradi 3, Langston Foster 2