City of Basketball Love

By CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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There’s nine high school quarterfinals taking place Saturday featuring local boys and girls’ teams, spread over various venues around the eastern half of the state.

Here’s a look at the Norristown tripleheader and Easton doubleheader; CLICK HERE to read about the other four:

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Boys 6A: 12-3 Archbishop Wood vs. 1-9 Spring-Ford (12:00 PM, Norristown HS)

Archbishop Wood’s working its way through District 1 in search of its second ever state title: John Mosco’s group first survived 1-5 seed Methacton (81-73) in the opening round and then squeezed by Lower Merion (66-64) in the second. Now it’s a Spring-Ford squad that was upset in the district tournament’s second round and had to win through playbacks to get into the state playoffs, but are still just as dangerous as the two that came before it. The Rams dispatched District 2 champs Scranton 55-52 in the opening round, then handled Springfield (Delco.) 45-32 in the second, making another run in states after a semifinals appearance a year ago.

Joe Dempsey’s Rams were thrown off course a couple months back when junior wing Matt Zollers went down with a broken foot, but he’s been back in the fold for a month now, and that’s a major difference-maker. The presence of the 6-3 wing, a football standout who’s a real playmaker for them on the hardwood, helps take some pressure off the backcourt of senior guard E.J. Campbell and junior Jacob Nguyen, two talented scorers and ball-handlers. They’ve got additional length in the form of 6-5 junior wing Tommy Kelly and 6-6 sophomore forward Oben Mokonchu, while Jordan Marsilio and Jake Dellangelo give them more football toughness. 

Wood has perhaps the best backcourt in the state in McDonald’s All-American Jalil Bethea and his classmate Josh Reed, most teams finding it a case of pick-your poison. Either Bethea, the 6-4 Miami (Fl.)-bound shooting guard, goes off with his shooting ability, or the hyper-athletic 6-2 Reed dominates with his rebounding, slashing and play-making. They’re not a big team, with 6-4 senior forward Tahir Howell their main main on the block, while junior guards Milan Dean, Deuce Maxey and Mike Green are all quality options on the perimeter for head coach John Mosco. 

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Boys 2A: 12-1 Constitution vs. 3-1 Lancaster Mennonite (1:30 PM, Norristown HS)

As Constitution chases its first state title since 2018, it has to take on last year’s champions, as Lancaster Mennonite has eyes on a repeat in Hershey next weekend. Rob Moore’s Generals (24-6) are battle-tested, having beaten the likes of Coatesville, MCS, Dobbins, Methacton and more during the regular season, then Delco Christian (77-58) and Mahanoy Area (71-65) in the first couple rounds of states. Lancaster Mennonite has already taken care of St. John Neumann (71-43) and Conemaugh Twp. (70-54), but haven’t yet played any teams from District 12 this season.

The Blazers (20-8) have a host of new faces from last year — gone are leading scorer Camden Hurst (Mansfield), big man David Weaver and the rest of the 2023 senior class, but there are still a few familiar faces. That includes sophomore guard Chase Hurst, Camden’s younger brother, one of the team’s key contributors along with sophomore Cody Fisher. They’re also getting a nice boost from senior Caleb Binkley, who missed the whole regular season with an arm injury but returned for the postseason, scoring 10 points in the win over Conemaugh as the backup to sophomore forward Bill Rothwein. Seniors Myles Halvorsen and Jaydn Taylor also reached double-figures in that game, showing the scoring depth head coach Jeff Hartenstine has at his disposal.

Constitution has a tough trio of seniors to lead the way in 6-3 Kyree Latimer, 6-2 Perry Fields and 6-5 Amir Spieghts, all of whom have different styles of scoring the ball but do it with near-equal effectiveness. After that it’s a number of other upperclassmen guards who chip in, including senior Kory Jones, junior Khaleek Johnson, senior Naamir Flowers, junior Khair White-Blaylock and more. Moore’s been this deep in the postseason more often than not in his decade-plus at Constitution, and he knows how to get it done this time of year. 

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Boys 6A: 11-1 Parkland vs. 12-1 Roman Catholic (3:00 PM, Norristown HS)

This one’s a rematch of last year’s state quarterfinal, which Roman Catholic won 53-35 behind 19 points from Shareef Jackson and 18 from Xzayvier Brown, who just got named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year. Parkland’s looking for its first state semifinal berth since a state runner-up finish in 2004, when first-year head coach Eddie Ohlson was a senior for the Trojans. Roman, which won the 2022 state and ended up as runner-ups a year ago, beat a pair of Ches-Mont League teams so far in Downingtown West (63-37) and West Chester Henderson (47-40). Parkland’s taken out Plymouth Whitemarsh (65-35) and District 3 runner-up Chambersburg (61-46) in the second round. 

Jackson is back to lead the way for Roman (27-2), the Catholic League champions, but the powerful-yet-deft 6-7 junior forward is the only familiar face back for the Cahillites. Senior guard Robert Cottrell (5-10) was out last playoffs due to state transfer ineligibility rules, but he’s a major part of the equation, as are 6-2 senior guard Hunter Johnson and 6-6 sophomore wing Sammy Jackson, Shareef’s younger brother. After those four, they’ll have to rely on the production of a few folks who didn’t play as much during the regular season, like Semaj Robinson and Malik Hughes, due to a few other ineligible transfers.

Parkland’s got a generational talent playing his final games as a Trojan in Nick Coval, who’s almost certain to go down as the best to ever put on a uniform. The 6-2 Davidson commit is not only the leading scorer in Parkland history, he’s the first past 2,000 points, an elite ball-handler and scorer who’s been a star in the Lehigh Valley since his freshman season. He’s got a strong, depth, experienced supporting cast around him in seniors Robbie Ruisch (6-4), Jayden Thomas (6-3), Zaire Smaltz (6-6), Luke Spang (6-1) and more. If they can somehow limit Shareef Jackson’s impact, they’re good enough to pull this off and win a few more, too.

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Girls 5A: 2-1 Scranton vs. 12-1 Archbishop Wood (1:00 PM, Easton MS)

Last year, the Vikings path to a state final had a very distinctive District 1 feel with four straight games against other area teams before the title game. A game Radnor side kept it local for the first round but this year’s quest has taken on a bit of a District 2 flair so far. After dispatching District 2 third seed Dallas on Wednesday, Wood faces a tough test in district champion Scranton and its young standouts.

Wood’s had a few strong spells in its first two games but the Vikings would likely be the first to say they feel they haven’t played their best game yet so far in states. What they have gotten are two strong performances from senior Lauren Greer and junior Emily Knouse (St. Joe’s), the two tying for the team lead in scoring against Radnor and Dallas and both hitting the glass hard, Greer on the offensive end and Knouse on the defensive side. Senior Ava Renninger (FDU) didn’t have a great shooting game Wednesday, but the 5-foot-6 guard still had 10 boards and she’s one to put together a big game in a hurry. Senior Alexa Windish (Kutztown) and sophomore Sophia Topakas have been finding their spots and freshmen Makayla Finnegan and Sophia McDonald have spelled good minutes off the bench.

Scranton didn’t get past the first round of states last year, but the Knights also didn’t have Zya Small and Chrissy Jacklinski last year. Small, a 6-foot-2 post player, was a force in the second round with 24 points against West Chester Rustin and she’s been an anchor in the paint defensively. Jacklinski, a guard, is the healthiest she’s been all season but that hasn’t stopped her from being a consistent double-figure scorer throughout the season. Maggie O’Shea runs the show while Finley Bittenbender is an excellent floor-spacer on the perimeter.

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Boys 2A: 2-1 Holy Cross vs. 1-1 Dock Mennonite (2:30 PM, Easton MS)

The teams also met in the same round last year when Holy Cross came from eight points down late in the third quarter to win 64-57. The Crusaders bring only one starter, leading scorer Michael Hughes, back from that team. Matt Lyons, a 6-foot-6 forward, came off the bench to score 15 points last year. Vaughn Martin made three 3-pointers while sharing the Dock scoring lead with 19.

Since that meeting, Al Callejas Sr., the only head coach in Holy Cross history up to that point, has been replaced on the bench by Al Callejas Jr. The only time the Crusaders did not make the PIAA tournament in their 17 years was in 2021 when they had to pull out of the District 2 tournament because of a COVID situation. Aside from a slightly faster pace, the team looks much the same. Holy Cross has four straight Mercy Rule wins in the playoffs, including beating Blue Ridge 73-42 in the District 2 final; Schuylkill Haven 70-35 in the state opener and Claysburg-Kimmel 72-24 Wednesday when they racked up 48 points in the first half. Hughes had 20 of his 23 points and four of his five 3-pointers during the first half of the win over Claysburg-Kimmel. Holy Cross then gave up just four points in the second half.

Dock Mennonite relied on defense and rebounding to push them past Sankofa Freedom Academy for the second year in a row. Junior Tony Martin is also a multi-faceted scorer who uses his athleticism to buy a bucket or get to the free throw line. Seniors Ethan Parr and AJ Washington are other scoring options for Mike Fergus, especially with junior Robbie Sukaly out due to injury. The pair combined for 21 points in their second round win. Seniors Vaughan Martin and Michael John round out the starting five and handle the dirty work on the defensive end and glass. Vaughan likes to throw his body around and take charges. John pulled down six rebounds (four offensive) in the win and showcased an impressive vertical. Fergus only goes three-deep off his bench; the Pioneers’ starting five play a majority of minutes and only get subbed off if fouls become an issue.