City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
––

NORRISTOWN — Shareef Jackson stood there afterwards poised and strong like a rock, pretty much like the way he played the entire game against District 11 champion Parkland on Saturday at Norristown High School. The Roman Catholic 6-foot-7 junior center looked everyone in the eye and never once blinked in the shadow of adversity.

District 12 champion Roman Catholic was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 6A boys basketball playoffs by a very good Parkland team, 57-50, despite a brilliant, game-high 22-point performance by Jackson.

The loss ended Roman’s season with a 27-3 mark, while Parkland (24-5) advances to the 6A semifinals against Jalil Bethea and Archbishop Wood on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

Jackson was almost unstoppable, drawing double and sometimes triple teams inside. He scored eight of the Cahillites’ first nine points, and when Roman was dragging in the third quarter, it was Jackson who kept them afloat by scoring all seven of Roman’s points.

“This is pretty difficult,” Jackson said. “The ties here are pretty strong, and we had that streak. Watching it crumble was hard. It was a loss, but there are still more important things in life. I can’t imagine what the seniors are going through. We had that streak of winning the (Philadelphia Catholic League) championship off that buzzer beater, that good time.

“I put that uniform on for games and after practices. It’s something that becomes routine. Taking that off is pretty tough. For me, it’s a little easier knowing I will back next year, but for the seniors, it is hard seeing (it).”

This is a big summer coming for Jackson. He will enter his senior year at Roman having won two-straight Catholic League championships and a PIAA Class 6A state title his freshman year. He is getting attention from Penn, San Diego, Lafayette, Harvard, Princeton and a pile of more schools.

He will be the face of the Roman program, possibly playing with his younger brother Sammy for the last time.

“I have had people tell me that (he will be the face of Roman) already, but it will be going into my last year and these last few years made it seem like it was going to go forever; now we’re getting to that last year and I’m preparing for that,” Shareef said. “The jump (Sammy) made was incredible. Midyear, he started getting a lot better. I never expected to be proud of my brother, because he is always that guy you are joking around with and you have that rivalry with. But it’s pretty cool.”

Parkland made a push in the third quarter, opening up what had been a close game.

Nick Coval, Parkland’s 6-2 senior guard and a Davidson commit, finished with a team-high 19 points. But it was not Coval that stung Roman as much as the Trojans’ supporting cast, led by Jayden Thomas, who finished with 15, and Zaire Smaltz, who had his moments inside, though he had a tough time dealing with Shafeer.

“He had a really good first half,” first-year Parkland coach Eddie Ohlson said about Shareef. “We struggled to guard him one-on-one. So the second half, we brought someone over to make it harder for him to get the ball. He’s obviously a really good player, but we just figured if we can prevent the ball from getting in there, we’re going to give ourselves the best opportunity.”

Ohlson, the son of Parkland girls basketball coach Ed Ohlson, felt the difference came in the third quarter when the Trojans made a 12-0 run, turning a 29-26 deficit into a 38-29 advantage after a Coval bucket with 3:44 left in the third.

“We took a four-point lead, we hit a 3, got it back, and I think it just opened up our eyes a little bit to where the openings were and we were able to attack,” Eddie Ohlson said. “We played a little passive in the first half, I thought, and we missed a bunch of easy stuff in the first half. Once we got going and toughened up offensively and realized we could get to the rim, or we could get in and kick out for open looks, we were able to do that and take advantage of it.”

Now the Ohlson’s will enter a rare place in PIAA basketball history, with both father and son’s teams in the PIAA state semifinals (Ed’s girls will face Cardinal O’Hara back at Norristown in a doubleheader Monday).

“I guess it’s unreal, we don’t really understand it now, in the moment,” Eddie said. “We’re 100% behind each other, his girls team really supports our boys team and vice-versa. I think both teams are playing extremely good defense right now, so we’re giving each other an opportunity to win games because of that. He’s got some strong seniors, we have some strong seniors, and we’ve been leaning on those during the run.”

As for Roman, Shareef and his returning cast will be strong again next year. Of the Cahillites’ 14 players, 10 will return, with significant senior losses coming in the form of Hunter Johnson, Bobby Cotrell, Travis Reed and Kabrien Goss.

“Shareef was a warrior every game for us, and we ask a lot of him and he always responds,” Roman coach Chris McNesby said. “Losing these seniors, though, is really tough. I cracked a few times (saying goodbye). This senior group was special because they were so unselfish.

“Bobby has been through a lot, and he is what this team is really about. We have a big crew back, and I don’t see anything changing with our culture. They are only going to get better. It is sad to say goodbye, and I’m not ready to turn the page yet. I’m just thankful to these seniors. I never complained one day.”

By Quarter

Parkland: 16 | 10 | 19 | 12 || 57

Roman Catholic: 16 | 11 | 7 | 16 || 50

Scoring

Parkland: Nick Coval 19, Jayden Thomas 15, Robbie Ruisch 7, Blake Nassry 7, Zaire Smaltz 6, Luke Spang 3.

Roman Catholic: Shareef Jackson 22, Robert Cottrell 10, Sammy Jackson 8, Hunter Johnson 5, Sebastian Edwards 3, Malik Hughes 2.

~~~

PIAA 6A Boys

Quarterfinals (Sat., March 16)
12-3 Archbishop Wood 67, 1-9 Spring-Ford 61
11-1 Parkland 57, 12-1 Roman Catholic 50
3-4 Reading 62, 1-6 Coatesville 44
3-5 Central York 71, 7-1 Upper St. Clair 60

Semifinals (Tue., March 19)
12-3 Archbishop Wood vs. 11-1 Parkland
3-4 Reading vs. 3-5 Central York

Championship at Giant Center (Sat., March 23)
TBD, 8 p.m.

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.