City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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The first session of Philly Live 2024 brought nearly 200 boys teams to the City of Brotherly Love from all over the region — Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware were well-represented, but teams from as far away as Florida came up for three days of competition in front of college coaches of all levels.

CoBL’s writers spent the weekend at both Jefferson University and the Philadelphia Youth Basketball ‘6th Man’ Center catching up with local teams and prospects of note. Here’s a notebook featuring updates on several District 1 programs:

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(Ed. Note: Links to all of our 2024 Philly Live I content can be found at the bottom of this article)

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Conestoga playing like early Central League favorites

Entering his third year as head coach at Conestoga, Sean Forcine has been busy overseeing a hard-working off-season for his team. After finishing third in the Central League, Forcine has high expectations for his group this upcoming 2024-2025 season. 

Conestoga has set priorities for themselves, especially in the weight room.  

“We saw it was our weakness last year, especially playing some of the more physical teams in our league,” he said. “All our boys have been working hard 2-3 days a week getting as strong as they can, we feel like it’s our best chance for success next year.”

Conestoga has not played much during the summer, but has been focused on working together as a unit, pick-up in house, and strength training. Despite that, Conestoga looked like a well-oiled machine against Big Spring winning 83-48.

The trio of Rowan Miller, Shane O’Brien, and Ben Robinson had it rolling for Conestoga. Miller finished with 10 points and 10 assists, while O’Brien, another rising junior, shot the lights out, ending the game with a whopping 31 points (6-8 from three). The only rising senior of the bunch, Robinson, put up 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals before aggravating an old injury near the end of the game.

Conestoga looked the part of Central League favorites this weekend, bombing in 15 3-pointers and beating Big Spring by 45 on Friday afternoon.

“We got a lot of guys who can shoot from the outside this year,” Forcine said. “We got 5-6 guys who are really solid 3-point shooters.” 

Getting them the ball is Miller, who transferred from Malvern Prep after his freshman year, starting all sophomore season for the Pioneers. Entering his second year with the team as its starting point guard, he’s focused on taking a leadership role with the squad.

“Talking to the guys off the court and being open to them, it's team oriented,” Miller said. “Everyone is getting involved, having fun, and maintaining good attitudes. We all try to stay level-headed all game. It's from (Forcine’s) system.”  

The Pioneers have returned most of their core players, but have some additions to the team. Rising sophomore Sunny Tummala, who scored 13 points against Big Spring, adds 3-point shooting and length to the Pioneers. Rising senior Sam Gibbs, a 6-6 wing, chipped in eight points, adding size and inside presence plus three-point shooting. Also contributing size is 6-2 rising junior Adhvik Mani, who was a practice manager last year.

The Pioneers weren’t even a full team this weekend, missing starting center Cory Hogan, a 6-4 rising junior.

“We got a lot of returning pieces, everyone is pretty comfortable in the system,” Forcine said. “It’s all predicated on the defensive effort, we generate a lot of offense from it.” . — Alex Shevchouk

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Marsh settling in with Abington boys

It was right around this time last year that Dan Marsh went from Abington’s girls’ coach to its boy’s one, making the move when Charles Grasty took over as the school’s athletics director.

Though he had some familiarity with the Ghost’s boys thanks to being around the girls for 18 years, it was still an eye-opening first season, stepping right in to lead a team with double-digit seniors on its varsity roster. Though Abington won 18 games, it lost in the Suburban One semifinals and then in the first round of the District 1 6A playoffs, its season over by mid-February.

That wasn’t easy for Marsh, who was used to making state playoff appearances with his girls, with a pair of District titles under his belt. 

“Honestly, after last year, it was a really hard year, we got knocked out early, I was like, goddamn, did I make the right choice?” he said. “But I’m loving it now, it’s been fun.”

Marsh’s 2024-25 group will be substantially younger. A pair of seniors — wing Paul Glants and guard Jacob Manigault — are both back from last year’s rotation, which went more than a dozen deep. But after that, he’ll be relying on a lot of unproven young talent, including rising junior guard Faizon ‘Skittles’ Garland and rising sophomore guards Xander Grasty, son of the former head coach. 

Marsh said it’s a hard-working group, a common refrain, but he had proof. Near the end of the school year, he said, Manigault and Garland came to him with a request: to hold pre-school workouts from 5:30 to 8:00 am at the school, a plan the whole team was down for.

“At first I was like, are you guys messing with me?” Marsh recalled. “Paul was like ‘you can go back to sleep at 8:30.’”

Glants, Manigault, Grasty and Garland scored a combined 46 of Abington’s 49 points Saturday in a win over Cherry Hill West (N.J.), and Marsh will be leaning heavily on that quartet this season. Grasty (5-10) and Garland (5-7) are interchangeable in the backcourt, two speedy point guards who can get downhill, Garland showing a little more scoring against CH West and Grasty a little more of his distribution abilities. 

There’s going to have to be a lot of work done for Abington to be ready for a deeper run in the District 1 playoffs next February, including developing his team’s depth, and getting his point guards to value the ball at the level they need to compete with the likes of Upper Dublin, Plymouth Whitemarsh, and the other top SOL programs. 

“There’s some things we don’t do well and a lot of things we’ve got to work on,” Marsh said, “but effort is never an issue.” — Josh Verlin

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Depth in development for Downingtown West

It was a good weekend for Downingtown West, which capped off Philly Live with a 77-39 thrashing of Rahway in the final set of the event. Stu Ross got scoring from his top 10 in his rotation in that one, playing almost all of the 15-man roster he brought, a sign of the depth he’s hoping to instill over the course of the offseason. 

“If I can go [with] 10 guys, that’s good for us and bad for other teams,” the 9th-year said. “That’s my goal. Hopefully we can keep up and be consistent day in and day out, and go from there.”

Ross’s depth production wasn’t just from late substitutions, either. He had at least 10 playing in the first half alone, eight in the scoring column by halftime. Senior Donovan Fromhartz, the Whippets’ four-year starter and Division I recruit, led the way with an 18-point, 13-rebound, six-assist effort that came all too easily for the 6-4 wing.

Rising junior Brady Moore (18 points, three 3’s), a returning starter, and classmates Aidan Critchley (10 points) and Cole Bricker (7 points) all hit shots, while Amari Ross brought length (6-6) and rebounding off the bench. Rising sophomore Isaiah Hicklen, a starter as a sophomore, played big minutes off the bench as Ross rotated his guys through different lineups in the offseason.Two other 2027s, Keron Whitfield and Amari Cannon, also contributed. 

All of this came with 6-8 senior Zeke Staz, an all-Ches Mont League selection as a junior, sidelined for the weekend with an injury. 

While Ross’ dream of going deep sounds great, the reality is that most coaches inevitably tighten the rotation as the season moves on and the games start meaning more and more. When it comes to who will ultimately continue to see minutes, Ross said it’s all about decision-making. 

At the varsity level things are a little bit faster, being able to handle the physicality of the game, and understanding the game,” he said. “As much as it is athleticism, you’ve got to have a basketball IQ and use your brain. Those are the things we’ve been working on all offseason with those guys.” — Josh Verlin

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Quick Hits
— Downingtown East’s 2027 class shined on Friday night in a win over Lansdale Catholic. The trio of JoJo Smuda (6-3), Holland Neff (6-0) and Sergio Hunt (5-10) combined for 45 of Downingtown East’s 63 points, led by a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double from Smuda. It’s a group with a few familiar names: Smuda’s older sisters, Bella (Liberty) and Ari (Southeastern), both starred for the Cougars and have gone on to play college hoops; Neff’s the son of West Chester Henderson girls’ coach Greta Neff. All three brought something a little different to the table; Hunt’s ball-handling and shooting stood out, while Neff constantly sliced to the bucket and Smuda got his work done on the glass and around the rim. Throw in 6-6 2025 Chase Krupansky and a few other shooters, and Brian Grashof might have something cooking in Downingtown.

— Pope John Paul II went more than 10 deep in a short period of time against Hightstown (N.J.), the reserves kicking into overdrive in the second half to power the way to a 78-44 win. The bench scored 47 points, taking what had been a single-digit affair and turning it into a blowout. Rising senior Zach Franco, a 5-10 guard, poured it on with 16 of his 18 points in the second half, showing some nifty finishing abilities at the rim in addition to knocking down a couple 3-pointers on three shots; 2026 guard CJ Hestick added nine points, eight rebounds, and three steals. That complemented quality games from another pair of 2026 guards, starters Ayden Wise (10 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) and Jason Green (11 opints, 4 steals, 3 assists, 2 rebounds). 

— Plymouth Whitemarsh started slow against Union Catholic (N.J.), but once some of the Colonials’ former reserves found their footing, they looked good in a 56-45 win over Union Catholic on Sunday. Mani Sajid tried to do too much early on, forcing long contested 2-pointers, and he took more shots than the rest of his teammates in the first half. But the second half saw 2026 Eric Conicello get hot and chip in nine points and three rebounds, while 2026 guard Jack Hayes, 2026 forward Michael Pereira and others all made some plays; Sajid added 15 points on eight shots in the second half to get to 32 on the game (10-25 FG, 6-12 3PT, 4-4 FT) as the Division I prospect showed why he’s one of the best scorers in District 1. The more offense they can generate around him and not force him to take tough shots, the better off they’ll be in the long run. — Josh Verlin

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2024 Philly Live Session I Standouts
Jefferson Day 1 | PYB Day 1 | Jefferson Day 2 | PYB Day 2 | Jefferson Day 3 | PBY Day 3 |

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2024 Philly Live Session I Coverage
Team Notebook Pt. 1: St. Joe’s Prep, Archbishop Ryan, West Catholic
Team Notebook Pt. 2: Upper Dublin, Bishop Shanahan, William Tennent
Team Notebook Pt. 3: Conestoga, Downingtown West, Abington
Team Notebook Pt. 4: Spring-Ford, La Salle, Constitution, Lincoln, Souderton

Recruiting Notebook Pt. 1: Matt Gardler, Jayden Taylor, Isaac Cole

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