City of Basketball Love

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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Everything stems from the leader. Legendary Imhotep Charter coach Andre Noble knew that if the Panthers would achieve a threepeat as PIAA Class 5A state champions, Ahmad Nowell would be the foundation in which to build this youthful Panthers team. Noble knew, too, the powerful 6-foot-1, 180-pound UConn-bound point guard had the shoulders and mental fortitude to bear it.

This was going to be Nowell’s team from start to finish this season, and the finish line is coming more into focus when Imhotep (28-3) plays District 7 runner-up Franklin Regional (27-3) on Friday in the PIAA Class 5A state championship at 8 p.m. at Hershey’s Giant Center.

Under Noble, Imhotep will be going for its overall 10th state championship, and third-straight with a victory over Franklin Regional (also the Panthers). Imhotep Charter is undefeated in state finals, going 9-0 by winning three 2A titles (2009, 2011, 2012 under the Class 4A system), one 3A championship (2013 under 4A system), three 4A crowns (2017, 2018 and 2019 under the 6A system) and two 5A titles (2022 and 2023).

In contrast, this will be Franklin Regional’s second trip to the state championship, and first since 1997 when it lost to another Philadelphia area powerhouse, Plymouth-Whitemarsh in the 4A finals.

For Franklin Regional coach Jesse Reed, this will also mark his second time in the state finals. His first came as the star guard for Greensburg Central Catholic in 2011. The Centurions were blown out in the Class 2A state finals, 67-34, at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center. The opponent happened to be Imhotep.

“It’s funny, the parallels are crazy,” said Reed, who scored 13 points in the 2011 state final before moving on and playing at American. “As a senior, we lost (to Monessen) in our district final game, came back to beat (Monessen) in the state semifinals to face Imhotep, and Imhotep put it on us that year, I can tell you that. It is exactly what we did this year. We lost (to Moon) in the district (7) final and came back to beat Moon in the state semifinals to play Imhotep in the finals.”

Franklin Regional starts four seniors and a junior, relying on 6-foot senior point guard Cooper Rankin, senior guard Fin Hutchison, 6-3 senior forward Colin Masten, 6-5 senior wing Cameron Rowell and junior 6-foot guard Connor Crossey. It will also rely on pressure and up-tempo style, much like Abington Heights, which Imhotep beat 56-46 in the state quarterfinals. Rowell and Rankin are receiving Division III looks.

“We obviously know Nowell is a beast and we will have to find ways to slow him down as much as possible, but will also know he is not the only one they have,” Reed said. “They have a plethora of talent, so this will take an extremely good effort on our end to try and do something. We can go eight deep, but the bulk of our minutes go to our top five and six guys. We know what we’re up against and it is tough on the Western side of the state in coming into these state championship games, because of the basketball hub that is Philly and all the schools that are out there.

“It’s tough competition. You have a kid who is committed to UConn, and we don’t have much of that out here. … We are going to come and play free, and play aggressive, and play confident. We’ll look at the Abington Heights game. It will be about our guys coming out and being aggressive, and not backing down early. It will be tough, because we are at our best in transition, and we will have to pick and choose our spots.”

Nowell has been the ultimate leader this season. He has sacrificed portions of his game for the betterment of the team. He has dealt with constant double- and triple teams, only to have sophomores like RJ Smith and Zaahir Muhammad-Gray come up and make key plays as they did in Imhotep’s taut 52-48 state semifinal victory over Archbishop Ryan on Monday.

Franklin Regional can switch from man to zone and has three-point shooters.

But it does not have Nowell.

“Our sophomores have graduated to juniors and we have total confidence in them,” said Noble, who picked up win No. 500 on Monday. “Ahmad has been double teamed all season and everyone has stepped up to make plays for us. We know that Franklin Regional is talented and they do remind me of Abington Heights. They are very well-coached and they can play. They have played and beat teams of different styles, and this won’t be a walk through, I can tell you that. They are not big, but they are more athletic than Abington Heights and they have a few guys who can handle the ball. Franklin Regional is not overly aggressive, but they do pressure the ball.

“I have a tight group this year on and off the court. They are a close-knit team and Ahmad doing the things he does makes it difficult for other teams. This is a young team that has learned from competing against each other every day. We had a bunch of eyes on us this year and the Ryan games were wars in amazing atmospheres.”

Nowell took over early in the season in Imhotep’s victory over 6A semifinalist Archbishop Wood, and it was Nowell that went right at Ryan’s 6-foot-9 Georgetown-bound Thomas Sorber in the last minute and scored Imhotep’s last seven points of the state semifinal.

“I came into the season being the leader, being the point guard, being a winner, and that means making everyone around me better,” Nowell said. “That means going into every game, going into every practice with the mindset on doing that. I knew if I could instill confidence in these guys, we are going to win games. We all trust each other. I trust guys to make big stops and make big shots, and they trust me to make big shots, and trust when the ball is in my hands things will work.”

It has so far.

That shared trust has placed Imhotep on the brink of its 10th state championship and remaining undefeated in state title games.

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.