City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) +
Rich Flanagan (@RichFlanagan33)
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The state playoffs are a time where experience and maturity reign supreme.

Just don’t tell Archbishop Carroll’s boys that.

Francis Bowe’s Patriots have what has to be the youngest roster in the state, but they’re right there in the state semifinals on Monday night, a matchup with Scranton Prep upcoming at Bethlehem”s Liberty High School at 7 p.m.

Bowe doesn’t have a single junior or senior under his watch, like the high school version of a junior college roster. His sophomores are the experienced vets leading the freshmen, in a year when most of their basketball-playing classmates around the country are still on junior varsity rosters.

“It’s very unorthodox,” Bowe said. “I don’t know if a lot of coaches can say they’ve been in the same predicament I’ve been in. When you’re worried about what sets you’re running in January and how clean you look on the defensive side of the ball, I’m still reminding guys that you have to be locked in for two hours in practice, you can’t be daydreaming. 

“The longer the season went, the smarter and better we’ve gotten as a team. It’s been fun to watch, because I’m a teacher, I love it. They really are learning every game and every practice, but we really did start from square one when we did preseason workouts in August.”

Though all of Carroll’s rotation plays beyond their years in one way or another, the one who most exemplifies it is point guard Ian Williams. The 5-foot-10 sophomore is a second-year starter on the ball for the Patriots (20-8), and he’s critical towards their overall on-court steadiness and controlling the tempo. But he’s got plenty of help from classmates Drew Corrao (6-9), Nasir Ralls (6-0) and Luca Foster (6-5), who’s having a breakout season of his own.

Making a difference in the postseason after a quarterfinal lost in the Catholic League playoffs has been the play of freshmen Munir Greig, a high-ceiling 6-7 wing, and lightning-quick 5-9 combo guard Darrell Davis. The two combined for 31 points in a quarterfinal win over Engineering & Sciences.

“To see the game slow down for Rell and Munir, they’re starting to see things [differently],” Bowe said. “Before they were just going out and playing, now it’s like I can attack here, let’s attack on a different part of the possession. There’s no question this has been so valuable for the two freshmen for me, and it’s the reason we’ve had success.”

A pair of District 7 schools, Hampton and Lincoln Park, will meet in the other PIAA 4A semifinal, 7:30 p.m. at North Allegheny High School.

Scranton Prep (19-9) has proven itself to be a worthy adversary, the Cavaliers taking out Neumann-Goretti 76-75 in the quarterfinals after beating Fleetwood Area and Overbrook in the opening two rounds.

First-year head coach Larry Reagan isn’t afraid to go five deep into his bench, with sixth man Packy Doherty going for 40 points earlier in the tournament and adding 20 more against Neumann-Goretti. Junior Brycen Martin led the way with 26 in that game, though senior Daniel Santaniello, senior Kellen Casey and more will all go for double figures. 

“They come in with an attitude like they don’t care, they don’t care where you’re from, they don’t care what Catholic League you’re in,” Bowe said. “This team has a ton of confidence and it’s in all of their guys.” — Josh Verlin

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PIAA 5A: Imhotep, Archbishop Ryan ready for rematch

Andre Noble was there to witness one of the most incredible games of the high school season.

The longtime Imhotep Charter head coach was on hand at the Palestra as Archbishop Ryan seemed to secure the Philadelphia Catholic League title in the waning seconds only to see Roman Catholic spoil any possibility of that with a buzzer-beater from Kabe Goss. A night that was supposed to be historic for the Raiders was the opposite as Noble described that “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” The Panthers and the Raiders met five days later in the district title game with the Philadelphia Public League champions rolling to a 62-47 victory.

Noble witnessed the crushing end as a title was ripped from the Raiders’ hands but he’s well aware of how they’ve turned things around.

“It was unbelievable, and I know that had to take multiple days to recover from with how much they gave and how they fought back to lose like that,” Noble said. “At this point, they’re in a completely different place having won three games and have a different feel for themselves.”

Archbishop Ryan (20-9) and Imhotep Charter (27-3) will meet in the PIAA state semifinals for the second consecutive season on Monday night at Bensalem High School with a trip to the GIANT Center in Hershey on the line. Moon Area and Franklin Regional, the top two teams from District 7, will meet in the other semifinal.

Ryan and ‘Tep have played four times in the past three seasons with the fifth coming on Monday and the Panthers have won every meeting to this point, including last year’s 72-50 win in the semifinals.

UConn commit Ahmad Nowell led the way with 26 points in Imhotep’s quarterfinal win over Abington Heights. He’s joined by sophomore guard R.J. Smith and a pair of sophomore wings in 6-6 Latief Lorenzano-White and 6-7 Zaahir Muhammad-Gray. Down low, the Panthers boast Albany commit Ma’Kye Taylor, Jeremiah White and freshman Zion Green. Those three will have to contend with Archbishop Ryan’s vaunted front court of 6-6 senior Jaden Murray and 6-9 Georgetown commit Thomas Sorber, who had 20 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in the quarterfinals against Unionville.

The Panthers are at their best when they’re getting out in transition and dictating tempo, something Raiders head coach Joe Zeglinski wants to limit this time around.

“We need to slow them down and not have any live-ball turnovers,” Zeglinski said. “It’s also about staying in front of guys as we didn’t stay in front of RJ and Ahmad.”

Noble notes that Sorber and Florida Gulf Coast commit Darren Williams are “two of the best players in the city on the same team and that’s tough to deal with.” Williams along with seniors Rocco Morabito (Gannon) and Ryan Everett, junior Brandon Russell and sophomore Matt Johnson lead the Raiders offensive attack. As Sorber notes, those guards will need to aid him and Murray on the glass as the Panthers had their way in the first meeting two weeks ago.

“We did a terrible job of rebounding in that game, and we didn’t feel the physicality in our team,” Sorber said. “We’re going to come ready to play.”

It’s a matchup of two of District 12’s best teams with a spot in the state title game at stake and should be one of the best games of the season. — Rich Flanagan