City of Basketball Love

Kevin Gamlin (@GamlinKev) +
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

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 area 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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Devon Prep pair still have something to prove

Devon Prep’s coming off winning the PIAA 3A state title, but it doesn’t quite feel that way to two of its seniors. 

Calvin Smith and Mason Thear were both sidelined for the run due to PIAA transfer rules, Smith coming over from Harriton and Thear from Perkiomen Valley during the 2023 offseason. The pair both played during the regular season but had to sit out all district and state playoff games, practices the most they could participate during the team’s second state title run in the last three years. 

“Although we won the state chip, for me and Mason, it still felt like unfinished business,” Smith said. “We got to contribute during practices but we didn’t get to actually play. So we’re really excited to go in, return a lot of our guys back, and we have high expectations as to what we can do this year.”

“I can’t even put into words how much it took out of me not to play,” Thear added.

The pair know they’ll be able to go as deep into the season as the Tide roll this year, and based on early returns, Devon Prep is playing like it wants to finish much higher than eighth in the PCL this year, five seniors in the starting lineup who are all playing at a high level this offseason.

Those two are especially ready for the Catholic League after an adjustment period as juniors, each saying it took them a few games to get used to the speed and intensity of the games night in and night out.

“I just had to learn a lot, off the bat,” Thear said. “Getting used to the PCL, it’s a whole different game, you can’t even describe what it’s like. It just took me some time for the game to click.”

The Tide looked strong in a 61-37 win over King’s Fork (Va.) on Saturday afternoon. Reece Craft (13 points, 13 rebounds) and Shane Doyle (13 points, four steals) led them in scoring, though Zane Conlon (9 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists), plus Thear (12 points, four rebounds, four steals) and Smith (5 points, two rebounds,two assists) all were major contributors.

It’s a versatile group for head coach Jason Fisher. Thear, a 5-11 point guard, is the only one under 6-3; Smith (6-3), Doyle (6-3), Conlon (6-5) and Craft (6-6) can all play multiple spots, inside and out, and give them defensive versatility. Add in senior Mike Pergolis (6-3) and rising sophomore Cooper Fairlamb (6-4) coming in off the bench, and Fisher’s trying to take advantage of his team’s homogeneity and energy level with a defensive change-up. 

The Tide’s defense this weekend was swarming and relentless, full of traps and double-teams, giving up a couple open layups — but only a couple. 

“Throughout all the summer so far, we’ve been pressing every game and we’ve been successful with it,” Smith said. “In previous years we haven’t been pressing at all, just running our offense and being a half-court team, but this year we’re trying something new because all our players can play together and we mesh well together.” -- Josh Verlin

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Matos makes successful Carroll debut

One of the most exciting teams in the Catholic League got some additional firepower in 2024-25. Christian Matos is transferring from Methacton to Archbishop Carroll this offseason, the 6-2 left-hander making his debut with the Patriots this weekend. 

Last season the Patriots finished with a record of 21-9 overall and 8-5 in the PCL. Young a year ago, they now return most of their star-heavy squad, That includes rising juniors Drew Corrao, Luca Foster, Nasir Ralls, Ian Williams, and rising sophomore Munir Greig. Adding Matos to the mix will certainly help after the Patriots lost Darrell Davis who will be attending Boys’ Latin (Md.). 

“The PCL is a different experience,” Matos said. “Basketball wise it’s very different. It’s a faster pace and the competition is better.”

Matos began his high school career at Methacton. Last year the sophomore guard helped the Warriors to a 19-10 record and a 9-4 record in the Pioneer-Liberty Conference. Methacton made runs in both their league and district playoffs but they ultimately fell short of a championship and a conference title. After the Warriors got bounced on their home floor against Garnet Valley during the district playoffs they had to play in playback games in order to qualify for the state tournament. 

Ultimately, Methacton won both their respective games and drew a matchup with powerhouse Archbishop Wood in the first round of the state tournament ; a win or go home game for Matos and company against ESPN top-10 guard Jalil Bethea and Wood. Matos lived up to the moment and went toe-to-toe with Bethea, almost outscoring him with his 28 points while Bethea had 31 in Methacton’s losing effort. 

Matos got to play with his Carroll team this past weekend at Philly Live Session I. Early on, he was looking for his signature pull up jumper but the shots weren’t falling. Matos found more success around the rim and finished with 7 points. The Raiders were without 5-11 combo guard Ian Williams who was in a boot with a patella injury that’ll be putting him out for the summer.

Although Matos might’ve struggled and Williams was hurt, the Patriots still got a double-digit win against an Upper St.Clair team that finished the 2023-2024 campaign with a 22-5 record.Adding onto the concern, the Patriots only had four guys in the scoring sheet, 6-6 wing Luca Foster supplying most of that with his 31 points.

Before that first Philly Live session Matos had already built connections with his current Carroll teammates. 

“I played with Luca Foster on Team Final for AAU,” Matos said. I played with Nasir (Ralls) on East Coast Power, and I played with Munir (Greig) when I was younger.” 

Before transferring AAU programs, Matos had played East Coast Power ball with Ralls; then he decided to make the move to one of the top EYBL teams in the country, Team Final. That’s where Matos built a strong connection with Foster; the two of them will now be playing AAU and high school ball together for the next two years. 

With hopes of the unit continuing to grow, coach Francis Bowe has his squad back for Philly Live session II where his Patriots will take on Sidwell Friends and Jackson Reed. 

Carroll will be hunting that Palestra trip this season with maybe their best team since the 2017-2018 Patriots that had a PCL championship run come up short at the hands of Bonner. 

“I think we could be the best team in the PCL,” Matos added. “We can win most of the games and make it to the Palestra. We have the talent to get there.” -- Kevin Gamlin

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Quick Hits
— An impressive showing over the weekend for Archbishop Wood. The Vikings won all three of their close games, including two of the top games from the weekend; Wood beat Imani 79-76 in what seemed to be an AAU like atmosphere, the Vikings also knocked off Bergen Catholic 78-74 in an overtime thriller. Thriving in the big moments, Archbishop Wood’s Mike Green was one of the top eye-catchers throughout the three day event. Green finished with 13 points against Bergen Catholic and then he erupted late in the game against Imani. The 6-foot guard finished with 23 points and knocked down six 3-pointers, most of the three’s coming in the later stages of the game. 

Milan Dean and Deuce Maxey were also two huge impact players, them and Green are the only returning players from the rising senior class that had big minutes in last season’s state final four run. Losing a McDonald’s All-American in Jalil Bethea and sending off Josh Reed to Drexel were big losses for the Vikings. Coach John Mosco will look for Dean, Green, and 2026 guard Brady MacAdams along with a heavy dose of underclassmen to fill the void. Class of 2027 Jaydn Jenkins is a returning forward that played a decent amount of minutes last year, 2027 guard Buddy Denard will dictate the Vikings’ ship and 2028 combo guard Rowan Phillips will be relied on for shot making. After beating three really good teams this weekend the Vikings look to keep it going next week in Philly Live 2. 

“Losing two great players hurts but we still have a good core that we think can win the Philadelphia Catholic League,” Green said. “We got some young guys who’re good, I feel like we all mesh well.”

— One of the highest scoring teams over the weekend was CB West; the Bucks put up 80 points in a double-digit win against a very active West Chester Henderson team. Every offensive possession for the Bucks seemed to be a good shot; whether it was rising junior point guard Max Millilo driving and dishing for an easy two or rising senior forward Roman Kulesa knocking down a corner triple.Kulesa and Millilo will be leaders for this CB West squad next season, also, you can add in a mix of Eli Wolf, a 5-10 shooter, and Daniel Pellegrini, a 6-3 forward in the class of 2027. Coach Adam Sherman’s team should be on the lookout throughout the rest of the summer and going into spring. 

— Incoming freshman Colton Hiller is a name to watch in the area as he continues to grow as a player. The 6-4 Coatesville sniper was hitting most of his shots from deep and he showed his ability to get his pull up jumper going when defenses closed out too hard. A season ago, the Red Raiders went to the elite eight in districts, adding Hiller makes them a very deep club in the 6A classification. Rising senior Amon Fowlkes will be a key piece for Coatesville, the 5-11 point guard looks to run the show, joining him is 6-7 forward Larry Brown, a rising junior that can shoot it but does most of his work in the paint. Another junior role player is Chris Allegra, he’s a 5-11 guard that’s taking Zuri Harris’ spot from last season, after Harris graduated from Coatesville to go play hoops at Elizabethtown. -- Kevin Gamlin