City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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PHILADELPHIA — The talk has followed them since the summer. It chased them up and down the East Coast. It winded through hotel rooms, and into long bus rides. It followed them throughout tournaments and showcases.

And in cramped dressing rooms in Temple’s Liacouras Center on Saturday afternoon.

Imhotep Charter boys basketball’s seniors had no trouble broaching the subject of going out as four-time Philadelphia Public League champions. They were not about to run from the pressure of being pursued by every team in the area while winning since they arrived at Imhotep’s North Philly campus.

The Panthers made league history by beating Math, Civics & Sciences 49-39, the seniors becoming the first group to win four straight Public League championships, and the first four-time Pub champion since the legendary Gene Banks and West Philly’s five-peat (1974-78).

Imhotep boys basketball celebrates Saturday at Temple's Liacouras Center after beating Math, Civics & Sciences for its fourth straight Philadelphia Public League championship. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Here is the kicker: back in the mid- to late-1970s, Philadelphia Public League teams did not allow freshmen to play. That is how the Panthers achieved history. Banks, for example, went out a three-time Public League champion, when he certainly could have played his freshman year.

For Imhotep seniors Jeremiah White and Albany-bound Makye Taylor, taking the Pub title every year they played in high school carries a singular weight.

“All I have known is winning at Imhotep, my second home, and I remember how hard I played for my seniors going out my freshman and sophomore years,” Taylor said. “We still have two more to go, with the city championship and the state titles. Me and Miah would be four-time Pub champs, city champs, state champs.

“We had and still have no problem talking about it. Winning four straight Pub titles came up all the time, anywhere and everywhere, and anytime. As this comes to an end, I am absolutely appreciating every moment. My coaches tell me all the time to appreciate the ups and downs, the good moments, the bad ones, the tough moments, because our time is coming very soon.”

White, who is getting college attention from Kutztown, among other Division II and Division III schools, said embracing the pressure of winning is derived from the foundational culture created by Imhotep’s legendary coach Andre Noble.

“We win at ’Tep, and this senior class over our last four years deserve this, because we know the work we put in,” White said. “I leave a great culture, great teammates, and I know what is going to happen a few weeks from now when we win the state championship again — at states I’m going to let it go and cry like a baby because I’m going to miss all this.

“This is family here. It will be like saying goodbye to your family.”

Imhotep never trailed MCS, though the game had its tense moments. Each team struggled to score early, with Imhotep getting out to a 6-0 lead before Maki Hill put the Mighty Elephants on the board for the first time with 2:14 left in the first quarter.

Then the Panthers’ defense took over, MCS struggled at times with the pressure and it resulted in the Panthers taking what looked like a commanding 27-10 lead into intermission.

But MCS, much to coach Lonnie Diggs and his team’s credit, kept pecking away and hanging around. The Mighty Elephants drew within 35-33 with 5:03 left to play on a Sair Alsbrooks’ bucket.

That was the closest MCS would get.

UConn-bound Ahmad Nowell canned a clutch 3-pointer with 4:36 to play, and the Panthers began building a cushion.

“The self-inflicted mistakes, the turnovers, fouls at bad times and the second-chance points that they got early on caught up to us,” Diggs said. “We dug ourselves a hole early on, and you can’t do that against a good team like that. I was proud of how my kids fought. It is something we spoke about all week. We wanted to compete, and we wanted it to make it a game.”

MCS (17-9), a Class 3A school, still has plenty of basketball ahead. The Mighty Elephants will play Devin Prep for the District 12 Class 3A city championship on Friday at 6 p.m. at West Philly High.

Imhotep will be playing for the Class 5A city championship in an early season rematch against Archbishop Ryan on March 2 at 1 p.m. at Lincoln High School.

The Panthers have more history to build.

“No one has done what these kids did in the 118-year history of the 118-year history of the league,” Noble said.  “The kids know that. We have been talking about it with them all year.

“A lot of people have tried to throw multiple guys at Ahmad and tried to make it difficult for him, but most teams that have tried to play us that way have lost. They are taking the gamble that our players are not good. That is simply not true. We have guys who have made plays all year. What makes this group special is how many young players we are depending on.”

Including Panthers’ sophomore guard RJ Smith, the game’s MVP. He has grown 3 inches since the summer.

His poise has always stood tall.

“Jeremiah and Makye have been great leaders and they have helped me,” Smith said. “We do not feel any pressure. MCS came out and made a couple of plays in the second half, but me and (Nowell) stayed poised and kept us going.”

Right into the Philadelphia Public League history books.

By Quarter

MCS: 8 | 2 | 11 | 18 || 39

Imhotep Charter: 11 | 16 | 7 | 12 || 49

Scoring

MCS: Kevin Carter 11, Sair Alsbrooks 11, Maki Hill 10, Zion Robinson 3, Azeem Murphy 2, Milak Myatt 2.

Imhotep: RJ Smith 11, Latief Lorenzano-White 9, Ahmad Nowell 7, Zaahir-Muhammad-Gray 6, Jeremiah White 6, Carnell Henderson 4, Zion Green 2, Makye Taylor 2, Kody Colson 2.

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.