City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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ROSEMONT — Dom Demito was a freshman in 2021, sitting behind the Pope John Paul II bench in an empty Harriton High School gym when the Golden Panthers last won the District 1 4A championship. 

He waited three years to get back and experience it for himself — but in a much better atmosphere, a more-than-solid crowd in attendance Saturday at Harriton as PJP took on Bishop Shanahan for the 2024 crown. 

And unlike three years ago, Demito got to celebrate with not just the PJP program but all the friends in family and attendance after the Golden Panthers took down the Eagles, 51-35, to reclaim the district crown.

“It feels great,” the Misericordia-bound senior guard said. “We worked hard every day the past two years, got a new coach this year, battled through adversity. I’m proud of the guys, coaches, everyone that stuck together through ups and downs, it feels good to get this win.”

“I didn’t want to go through my three years playing varsity and not winning anything,” he added. “It feels good to bring (a trophy), not to myself or the team, but the whole school.”

Pope John Paul II celebrates after beating Bishop Shanahan on Saturday at Harriton High School for the District 1 Class 4A championship. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

It’s the third district title in five years for PJP II’s boys, which earned the district’s only 4A state tournament berth with the win. But it was the first for new head coach Earl Wise, who came over from Class 1A Alliance Christian, a Berks County program, this offseason.

The season started off rocky for Wise’s first group, which was coming off a 10-win season the year prior. PJP began this year with losses in seven of its first nine games, though five of those were by single digits. Starting with a win over Upper Merion on Jan. 12, the Golden Panthers closed the regular season with wins in seven of their final 10 games, then beat Collegium Charter by 26 in the district semifinal, a full 17 days after their regular-season finale. 

“I’m just happy we’re still playing,” Wise said. “From where we started at the beginning of the year, to be 2-7, [is] just a testament to the guys’ work.” 

Wise inherited a solid group of seniors from former head coach Brendan Stanton, now an assistant at Arcadia University. Dimito, fellow guard Chase Mondillo and 6-6 forward Caleb Zavertnik gave Wise a good trio of returners with experience, plus some size to boot. He brought with him his son, sophomore guard Ayden Wise, one of the top scorers in Berks County a year ago.

That addition took a little getting used to on both sides; Wise wasn’t used to playing against the likes of Phoenixville, Spring-Ford and the other big-school programs in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, coming from Alliance Christian, a partnership between West-Mont Christian and Berks Christian to form athletics teams. Suddenly he was going head-to-head with Division I prospects and more size than he was used to seeing as a freshman, while also trying to get to know his new teammates.

“The biggest adjustment was just probably just getting to know them better, [developing] chemistry,” Ayden Wise said. “Coming as a new guy, there wasn’t much chemistry, but we pulled it together, the chemistry’s there [now].”

Ayden Wise led PJP II (12-10), the No. 2 seed in the four-team district tournament, with 19 points in the win over Shanahan, hitting at least one shot in every quarter. The 6-foot-2 guard added four steals and three rebounds, and got one big hug from his dad after Earl Wise put the district championship medal on his son.

“God is good, I just couldn’t ask for anything more,” Earl Wise said. “I’m hard on him, as every dad should be, but he just embraces it, he came out and showed up today. It’s a lot of fun, though.”

Zavertnik was the only other member of the Golden Panthers in double figures with 10 points, hitting a pair of first-half 3-pointers while grabbing six rebounds. After that was balance with six more in the scoring column; Demito added seven points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks in a strong all-around performance. 

The Golden Panthers opened up with a 16-11 lead after one quarter and expanded the advantage to 11 at halftime (30-19), Wise scoring 13 points in the opening 16 minutes. The low-scoring third quarter ended with PJP up 36-27, and the Eagles never made a serious push in the fourth quarter. 

Shanahan (10-14), the top seed in the district tournament, was without two of its top players in junior forward Sean Griffin and junior guard David Maddrey-Rylander, both of whom were sidelined with injuries. 

That pair will return next year along with a health dose of underclassmen who got a lot of action this season; sophomore guard Danny Keenan led them in scoring with 11 points and six rebounds against PJP II, and classmates Anthony Aquila (6 points) and Andew Corcoran (5 points) also were in the starting lineup. 

Bishop Shanahan coach John Dougherty, gave credit to his five seniors, including starter Kevin Scaggs, saying the group led his team “morally and emotionally,” but he knows “the future is bright” in Downingtown.

“We have a number of sophomores and juniors that started [...] throughout the season, and they’re all coming back, and we had other sophomores getting experience in the postseason. I’m excited about the youth and rising sophomores and juniors and seniors that we have coming up,” he said. 

“This year, there was only really two guys on the team this year that really consistently played varsity last year. That’s it. It was a lot of learning how to win those tough games and close games. We took our lumps this year, but I”m hoping it pays off next year, and I know it will.”

In the PIAA Class 4A state tournament, which begins on Friday, March 8, PJP II will play the fourth seed out of District 12, which will be whoever loses the Archbishop Carroll vs. Overbrook game this Thursday. If the Golden Panthers can win a couple games in states for the first time since 2020, there’s a likely date with Catholic League powerhouse Neumann-Goretti in the quarterfinals. It’s a shot they’d love to take.

“I know we want Neumann, we want to play Neumann,” Demito said. “Whenever that is.”

By Quarter
Shanahan: 11  |   8   |   8   |   8   ||  35
PJP II:        16  |  14  |   6   |  15  ||  51

Shooting
Shanahan: 13-47 FG (2-12 3PT), 7-9 FT
PJP II: 17-41 FG (4-18 3PT), 13-17 FT

Scoring
Shanahan: Danny Keenan 11, Ryan Ambrose 7, Anthony Aquila 6, Andrew Corcoran 5, Kevin Scaggs 3, Sam O’Donnell 2, Matt Seifried 1, 

PJP II: Ayden Wise 19, Caleb Zavertnik 10, Dom Demito 7, Chase Mondillo 5, Denny Owens 4, Bradey Bass 2, Jason Green 2, Braden Reed