City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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COATESVILLE — Zaahir Muhammad-Gray has known nothing but winning in his short time with Imhotep Charter boys basketball, and he was not about to change that Tuesday night.

In front of the Panthers in a PIAA Class 5A second-round matchup at Coatesville was Exeter Township, the District 3 No. 5 seed and a team Muhammad-Gray was quite familiar with, since the Panthers played Exeter in last year’s PIAA Class 5A state championship.

For one half, Exeter stayed with the Panthers. For the second half, the Panthers zipped by Exeter leaving nothing but a vapor trail for a thorough 83-40 victory, advancing to Friday’s quarterfinals to face District 2 No. 1-seed Abington Heights

Imhotep (26-3) was led by UConn-bound Ahmad Nowell’s game-high 18 points, followed by Zion Green’s 12 and Latief Lorenzano-White’s 10. But when the game was still competitive, when the Panthers made their push forward in the third quarter, it was Muhammad-Gray’s seven points, interior defense and rebounding that played a starring role.

Late last season, Muhammad-Gray had worked his way into coach Andre Noble’s rotation. He played in the state championship game, and he wants to get back to Hershey again.

Though, for a time there in the first half, it was rough. The Eagles (19-9) were within striking distance and at one point in the second quarter, down 19-18. Imhotep wound up going into halftime with a 30-23 lead, then bolted out to a 25-2 run in the first six minutes of the third quarter.

“We knew Exeter was going to come at us hard, so we had to handle our business,” Muhammad-Gray said. “Coach Noble was OK at halftime. He wasn’t mad at all. He actually had faith that we were going to pick it up. Coach Noble told us to handle our business, and that is exactly what we did.”

Spearheading that was Muhammad-Gray, the 6-foot-7 sophomore who already has an offer from Georgia Tech.

“I was a little down on myself because I missed a few free throws, but my coaches told me that I was playing a great game, doing all the effort stuff, and the hard work led to buckets,” Muhammad-Gray said.

Teams have been double- and sometimes triple-teaming Nowell. Over the last month when that has happened, as Exeter attempted to do, the Panthers have found other outlets in younger players like Green, Kody Colson and RJ Smith.

“We have faith in our bench,” Noble said. “When those guys come into a game, we’re not nervous. Ahmad went out, and we made another run. Every time teams have tried double-teaming Ahmad, they have paid. If teams want to keep on doing that, that’s fine. We have other guys who can put the ball in the basket.”

Muhammad-Gray has quietly been a factor. He was named first-team All-Public League and is beginning to blossom into a more complete player.

“Zaahir has been a big factor for us all season,” Noble said. “He works extremely hard. He is one of the hardest workers that we have ever had. He broke our lineup midway through last year, and he has never stopped. I was good at halftime (laughs).

“I was poised and told them that we would walk them down and we were going to win. The biggest thing for us is this: the 40 points (allowed). That number right there, if we keep people in the low-40s we are going to be in every game. Ahmad really locked down Kevin Saenz, who came in averaging 20 points a game (and finished with six).

By Quarter

Exeter Township: 11 | 12 | 8 | 9 || 40

Imhotep Charter: 14 | 16 | 32 | 21 || 83

Scoring

Exeter: Alex Kelsey 12, Devin Nestor 6, Brady Murray 6, Kevin Saenz 6, Reece Garvin 5, Aidan Dauble 4, Jayden Ware 1.

Imhotep: Ahmad Nowell 18, Zion Green 12, Latief Lorenzano-White 10, Kody Colson 8, RJ Smith 8, Makye Taylor 8, Zaahir Muhammad-Gray 7, Devin Carter 6, Jeremiah White 3, Carnell Henderson 3.

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PIAA 5A Boys (local games)

First Round (Fri., March 8)
12-1 Imhotep Charter 64, 1-6 Pottstown 46
12-2 Archbishop Ryan 67, 1-4 Sun Valley 43
1-1 Unionville 56, 3-8 Manheim Central 31
2-2 Dallas 71, 12-3 West Philadelphia 61
2-1 Abington Heights 91, 12-4 Bonner-Prendergast 64
11-2 Whitehall 62, 1-3 Phoenixville 46
3-5 Exeter Township 67, 1-2 Upper Dublin 60
1-5 Radnor 63, 11-1 Pocono Mt. West 44

Second Round (Tue., March 12)
1-1 Unionville 74, 2-2 Dallas 36
12-2 Archbishop Ryan 66, 1-5 Radnor 46
12-1 Imhotep Charter 83, 3-5 Exeter Township 40

Quarterfinals (Fri., March 15)
1-1 Unionville vs. 12-2 Archbishop Ryan
2-1 Abington Heights vs. 12-1 Imhotep Charter

PIAA Class 4A: Neumann-Goretti 72, Berks Catholic 51

Neumann-Goretti, the District 12 No. 1 seed, trailed once, 2-0, in the Class 4A nightcap. NG took off from there, beating Berks Catholic handily 72-51 behind a career-high 28 points from Stephon Ashley-Wright.

Neumann-Goretti will next play District 2 champ Scranton Prep, a 71-61 victor over Overbrook, in the state quarterfinals Friday at a time and place to be determined.

“We just keep on putting the pieces together,” Ashley-Wright said. “I just keep going day-by-day, leading my guys to the state championship. We knew Berks Catholic played together and played hard.”

Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale, who hit career victory No. 600 in his last game, is still playing with an undermanned team. He has been forced to slowly ease his team into games, being careful when to press and when to ease up in trying to preserve his starters. West Chester-commit Larenzo Jerkins is nursing a nagging injury, and that has cut into his practice time, and the team is still waiting on the availability of star forward Amir Williams.

Neumann-Goretti may look like a M.A.S.H. unit, though it is playing exceptionally well at the most important time of the season — a testament to Arrigale.

“The funny thing about this tournament is you see one thing from these teams on film and they come out in something else,” Arrigale said. “Berks played man all year, but we were prepared for their zone. We have to be careful how we practice.

“We are sharing the ball, and we did a real good job defensively staying focused. This is rough. Matt Guokas has played well defensively, which has been a real big help.”

Neumann-Goretti led 37-19 by halftime and put it on cruise control from there.

“Let’s see how things look over these next few days,” Arrigale said. “We are looking to hopefully get Amir back soon.”

By Quarter

Berks Catholic (22-4): 7 | 12 | 16 | 16 || 51

Neumann-Goretti (24-3): 16 | 21 | 16 | 19 || 72

Scoring

Berks Catholic: Parker Nein 11, Joshua McKoy 11, Brady Altimar 8, Zachary Suski 5, Elijah Komoro 5, Javen Diaz 4.

Neumann-Goretti: Stephon Ashley-Wright 28, Torrey Brooks 17, DeShaun Yates 13, Larenzo Jerkins 11, Oscar Briskin 3.

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PIAA 4A Boys (local games)

First Round (Fri., March 8)
12-1 Neumann-Goretti 86, 3-6 Littlestown 63
12-4 Overbrook 53, 1-1 Pope John Paul II 49 (OT)
12-2 Engineering & Science 51, 11-3 Pottsville 44
12-3 Archbishop Carroll 66, 3-2 Big Spring 59
11-1 Allentown Central Catholic 68, 12-5 School of Future 33

Second Round (Tue., March 12)
12-1 Neumann-Goretti 72, 3-3 Berks Catholic 51
2-1 Scranton Prep 71, 12-4 Overbrook 61
12-3 Archbishop Carroll 62, 11-1 Allentown Central Catholic 56
12-2 Engineering & Science 45, 4-1 Danville 38

Quarterfinals (Fri. March 15)
12-1 Neumann-Goretti vs. 2-1 Scranton Prep
12-3 Archbishop Carroll vs. 12-2 Engineering & Science

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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.