City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@jsantoliquito)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2024-25 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Early last February, they can all remember the tears streaming down their athletic director’s face when she stopped practice and told them the news. It came like an anvil from nowhere that landed on the Dobbins Tech boys’ basketball program. In a blink, the PIAA ruled, the Mustangs’ season was torn apart, and along with it, their hearts ripped out. Their 15-7 record was reduced to the rubble of an ignominious 0-22 mark when a District 12 representative was made aware that Dobbins inadvertently used a fifth-year player.

Mustangs’ head coach Derrick Stanton will be entering his fourth year of a team full of vengeance—and three starters back in 6-3 senior guard Jarrell Little, 6-3 junior guard Makaii Akridge and 6-foot junior guard Haneef Davis.

“We made sure we were tight with our eligibility this year and these guys feel that they have something to prove,” Stanton said. “What happened last year was not their fault. But they almost had their season completely wiped out. They can’t wait to start this year.

"I know Jarrell can’t wait. I think he is one of the city’s hidden gems. We have seen him grow from a kid who was 5-9 as a sophomore to someone who has grown to 6-3, and still maintained his guard skills. He can shoot it, he can get to the rim, he can get offensive rebounds.

“He can get defensive rebounds to start the break. Jarrell is going to be our guy we will go to; he’s going to be our biggest threat. He is getting some D-II and D-III attention. What I feel certain about is this team will play hard. We don’t have a lot of kids growing up playing AAU basketball, so we are doing a lot of teaching like help defense, on-the-ball defense, basic skills. Our offense will have to come off our defense. We are very undersized, so we will have to win with defense. Our message is not to take anyone for granted.”

Stanton realizes the Mustangs will need to compensate for departing seniors Zachary Campbell (Springfield College, Mass.) and Saleem Hudson (Alvernia). He feels Little, Akridge and Davis are ready for that stage, supported by 6-4 senior forward Tylee Richardson, 6-3 junior forward Hasan Laws, 6-4 junior forward Khaleef Agbenehia and 6-1 sophomore forward Malakhi Baldwin.

Because of the PIAA ruling, Dobbins forfeited its games to register an 0-22 overall record. The Mustangs’ actual overall record was 15-7 and 7-3 mark in the Pub ‘A’ Division. But because they had to forfeit those games, they were forced to make the Public League playoffs with a play-in win against Bartram, which earned them another shot at the three-time defending Public League champion Imhotep Charter. The Panthers ended Dobbins’ season with a 65-31 defeat in the first round of the Philadelphia Public League playoffs.

“We were a competitive team, we shared the ball and we think we can compete with anyone,” Little said. “We may be the smallest team in the Public League. We have to make our shots, because we will need to be scrappy. I remember being at practice last year when we were told what happened (with the ineligible player). I remember our AD coming into the gym telling us in tears. I think what made us stronger is we kept going.

“Yeah, everyone was angry. But what could we do? We decided to take it out on the court. We ran into Imhotep sooner than we would have liked, but we stayed together. It’s the same attitude this year. We know if we stay together, we will be good, really good. We were good enough to be a final four team in the ‘Pub’ last year and I think we are good enough to be a final four team this year.”

Little said he is ready for his new role as a vocal leader off the court. On the court, his game has evolved from being a spot-up shooter, and with how he has grown over the last few years, to driving more to the basket, and being able to shrug off defenders to create his own shot.

Dobbins’ history is full of icons. The Dobbins’ gym rafters and walls are filled with history, and championships, and legends like Greg “Bo” Kimble, the late Eric “Hank” Gathers and Hall of Famer Dawn Staley. It’s been since 1985 the last time the Mustangs won a Philadelphia Public League championship, led by Bo and Hank.

It’s something the current Dobbins players are fully aware of.

“We will need to move the ball around to win, and it’s important we all get along together,” Davis said. “We did show character after what happened last year. They took our wins from us, they claimed we were cheating. But let us play (in the Public League playoffs). We will push the ball, but we will all have to rebound, because we are so small.”

If the Mustangs can run an effective, exhaustive press, Akridge feels, they will be okay.

“That will create more offense for us,” he said. “We know we are small. We know that with the some of the bigger teams that we can’t get into a (half-court game) with them. It will take a lot of energy. We have three guys able to score in me, Haneef and Jarrell. Teams won’t be able to stop just one player. We have three. We are good enough to reach the Public League championship. We have the talent. We have the motivation, especially after what happened last year.”

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Joseph Santoliquito is an 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.