City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The 2024 Donofrio Classic continued Thursday night, the fourth of the five first-round nights to take place over this week and into next, with 25 games ultimately determining the champions come April 16 at the Fellowship House in Conshohocken.

CoBL will be there for coverage every night as we get our recruiting coverage started this offseason; CLICK HERE to access our 2024 Donofrio hub. Read ahead for game recaps and a notebook featuring several of the players who took the court Thursday night:

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Game One: Rome Runs 110, Great American Pub 109

Sacred Heart commit Nyle Ralph-Beyer (2024 | West Chester Henderson) scored 16 of his team-high 25 points in the second half to lead Rome Runs to a comeback win. Helped by Mani Sajid (2026 | Plymouth Whitemarsh), who dropped in a game-high 31 points, Great American Pub's team of All-Suburban One League first teamers, jumped out to a 54-47 halftime lead. Ralph-Beyer and Patrese Feamster (2026 | Friends' Central), who had 14 of his 17 after the break, spearheaded the Rome Runs comeback. Christian Matos (2026 | Methacton) and Rider commit Aasim "Flash" Burton (2024 | Cardinal O'Hara) also chipped in 17. Great American Pub made a last-ditch effort in the closing moments of the game. After a steal, Kirby Mooney (2024 | William Tennent) pulled GAP within one on a layup with about two seconds left, but Rome Runs let the clock run out. Mooney and Jake Cummiskey (2024 | CB East) chipped in 17 apiece and Jeremiah Lee (2024 | Abington) added another 14 in the loss.

Game Two: 717 Hoops Dreams 98, Flocco's 94

Coatesville teammates Larry Brown (2026) and Dior Kennedy (2024) combined for 55 points in Thursday's 717 Hoops Dreams victory. Brown showed off his range early with a trio of triples during a 13-point first half before finishing with 23 points. Kennedy finished with 22 points. It was a neck and neck game until Jerry Johnson (2025 | La Academia) caught fire with 11 of his 17 points, including three of his four threes, in the second half. 717 Hoops Dreams had to survive a monster performance from Flocco's Julian Sadler (2024 | Perkiomen Valley), who poured in 33 points and made five threes. The Spring-Ford duo of E.J. Campbell (2024) and Jacob Nguyen (2025) joined him in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Ethan Benne (2024 | Penn Manor) rounded out 717 Hoop Dreams' double-figure scorers with 15.

Methacton’s Matos looks to continue breakout campaign

Methacton sophomore guard Christian Matos always knew he could play with anybody. He proved so three weeks ago in the Warriors’ state opening loss against Archbishop Wood.

Though Methacton lost the PIAA Class 6A game to the Vikings, Matos poured in 28 points, going shot for shot with Wood’s McDonald’s All-American and Miami (Fla.) commit Jalil Bethea.

“Before, I knew myself, I could play with anybody on any court, any league,” Matos said. “Going into that Wood game, I felt it would be a good opportunity. An opportunity to show yourself like that, I just try to go out and play my best”

Matos is a 6-foot-2 left-handed guard who has deep, deep range and a propensity for carving his way through the lane. He scored 17 points and knocked down three long balls in Rome Runs’ first-round win on Thursday.

In his first year at the varsity level, he was a first team All-Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division selection for the Warriors, who reached the PACFinal Six, District 1 quarterfinals and state first round.

“On the basketball court, I feel like I do a little bit of everything,” Matos said. “Three level scorer on offense. I can see the floor. On defense, I have length and provide rebounding, a little bit of everything.”

Matos will suit up for East Coast Power’s 16U squad this summer on a talented roster that also includes Silas Graham and Timmy Dennis. His main focus along with continuing to build some buzz as a prospect will be to improve physically.

“Mostly just working on lifting, getting stronger because I feel like I can take that big next step once I get bigger and my body develops,” Matos said. “And once I take that next step, I feel like I’ll be an all-around better player.”

The Warriors will return fellow sophomores Mason Conrad and Wes Robinson next season along with senior guard Sal Iemmello. It’s a core that will likely enter next season as one of the favorites in the PAC.

“We have some big, big goals next season with the sophomore core we got,” Matos said. “We have a few other pieces, and I think we can make a deep run in the PACs, the districts and even states.”

Before Matos gets his AAU season started and shifts his focus to next year, he’ll have the opportunity to continue to chase challenges in Conshohocken. Next up is a talented Philly Hoop Group team next Thursday with Father Judge’s Kevair Kennedy and Archbishop Ryan’s Thomas Sorber among the big names on the roster.

“In the big games, it was just like embrace the moment because it’s not too often you get to play against the big names, big players,” Matos said. “Even here at the Donofrio, it’s an opportunity to play well.”

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Wissahickon’s Vacchiano shares the floor with SOL stars

When the Great American Pub squad took the floor to start Thursday’s game, four different 1,000-point scorers were out there. Another was the first player off the bench.

Seniors Jaden Colzie (Plymouth Whitemarsh), Jake Cummiskey (CB East), Dom Vacchiano (Wissahickon), Kirby Mooney (William Tennent) and Jeremiah Lee (Abington) all left their marks at their respective programs.

“Everybody on the team I was friends with,” Vacchiano said. “Colzie and Mani (Sajid) I’ve known since I started playing high school. I was AAU teammates with Kirby and JJ (Lee) for a little bit, so it was nice for all of us just to get on the same court together and play on the same team.”

Vacchiano, a first team All-SOL Liberty selection, became the ninth Wissahickon player to score 1,000 points this season. He averaged 20.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.1 apg and 2.3 spg in his final high school campaign.

When he entered the program as a freshman, Vacchiano followed in the footsteps of 1,000-point scorer Matt Compas, who is now one of his close friends. On the Trojans’ bench during the last taking Vacchiano under his wing three years was assistant coach Chase Wilson, who is also one of the other eight up on Wissahickon’s 1,000-point banner.

Wilson 

“For me to be on the 1,000-point banner with Chase and Matt is really something special because we grinded all summer for it the last three years,” Vacchiano said.

“Reaching 1,000 was a goal of mine since I got to high school, and being able to do it and playing with my brother for my last year of high school basketball was something special. I had a really fun senior year. To finish it off with this, I can’t wait to go to college and start my next chapter.”

Vacchiano has three places he is choosing from to begin his college career. Shippensburg has been interested since his sophomore year. DeSales has shown interest since the fall. Millersville got in the mix late this winter.

He believes his skillset will translate wherever he ends up.

“I think I’m an elite shooter,” Vacchiano said. “I can shoot from on the line and five feet back from the line. I can rebound on both ends. I’m a really good passer. I can see my teammates on both ends of the court, and I can finish whenever I want to. I think that will contribute heavy to the next level.”

OJR’s Fryer ready to win at Susquehanna

Owen J. Roberts senior Luke Fryer didn’t have much luck against Perkiomen Valley or Spring-Ford during his career, finishing 2-13 over his four years against the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division rivals.

He got some measure of revenge Thursday night when his 717 Hoops Dreams team took down a Flocco’s squad full of his former foes like Spring-Ford’s Jacob Nguyen and E.J. Campbell and PV’s Julian Sadler and Kyle Shawaluk.

“It was a lot of familiar faces, it was fun,” Fryer said. “It felt very good to win.”

Fryer averaged a league leading 23 ppg in the PAC this season and became the first Owen J. Roberts player in a decade to earn a first team all-league nod. He finished his career with 1,184 points, which ranked third in program history.

Up next is a career at Susquehanna, where he’s in for a big role change after carrying the scoring load for the Wildcats over the last four years.

“I’ll take a three when I need it, but be a point guard,” Fryer said. “That’s what I want to be.”

Though Fryer and the Wildcats put together the program’s most wins in seven years this past season, Fryer wasn’t able to play postseason basketball during his high school career. That should change at Susquehanna, which went to the Landmark Conference championship game this past season and is just a few years removed from an NCAA Tournament trip.

“I haven’t got the chance to compete for championships with my high school team, so it’s just going to be a great feeling being able to do that,” Fryer said.

He certainly wouldn’t complain about a team run in the Donofrio before then.

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Perk Valley’s Sadler shines one final time

Julian Sadler learned from one of the best to ever come through Perkiomen Valley boys basketball program.

During the last few summers Sadler had the chance to work alongside Vikings great Justin Jaworski at the Dennis Stanton basketball camps. Sometimes he’d even get a chance to work out after with the former Lafayette standout who is playing in Europe after a stint in the NBA G-League.

It helped Sadler cement his spot right behind Jaworski among the Vikings’ all-time greats.

“(Jaworski’s)  the standard for Perk Valley,” Sadler said. “He’s one of the guys I always looked up to. I always talked to him. Talked about a how bunch of different things, how to just carry myself, how to lead the team.”

Sadler finished his career with 1,450 points at PV, which ranks third all-time behind 1982 grad Marvin ‘Mickey’ Cunningham (1,655) and Jaworski (1,514), who ended his career in 2017. He was prolific and efficient, averaging 22 ppg on 57 percent shooting from the floor and 85 percent shooting from the foul line this season.

The unofficial end to his high school career was a 33-point outing Thursday night at the Donofrio. Where he will continue his career is still up in the air.

Sadler said California (Pa.), Chestnut Hill, Bloomsburg and Randolph-Macon are the programs he’s talking to, the process taking a bit longer than he’d hoped. 

Wherever he ends up will get one of the best players to come through Perk Valley and the PAC.

“I’m starting to really take it in,” Sadler said. “It just happened, so I wish we got to play more basketball, but I think I had a great career and once time goes on I think it will sink in what a great career I had.”