City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
—

(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s annual “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.)

~~~

There’s an unsettling dichotomy at 18th and Girard. 

On the one hand — 

Jaron McKie, Jordan Ellerbee and Olin Chamberlain Jr. form one of the best senior guard trios in the Keystone State. 

McKie, a 6-3 combo guard, Aaron McKie’s oldest son and a consensus top-150 recruit in his class, is committed to Dayton. Ellerbee, a 6-2 combo guard, has pledged to Florida Gulf Coast. Chamberlain Jr., a 5-11 point guard and Wilt’s grand-nephew, is uncommitted, with high-academic programs at multiple levels involved in his recruitment. 

They’re a three-headed backcourt that presents one collective migraine for opponents, all three high-level ball-handlers, scorers and defenders as well as team leaders and tone-setters. 

“(They’ve) been the foundation of the program the last four years,” head coach Jason Harrigan said. “They’ve won together and lost together [...] they were really able to establish the program as a formidable team in the area. I’m just proud of them.”

But — 

As they enter their final year of high school basketball, there is a huge hurdle they’ve yet to clear: making it past the Catholic League quarterfinals. 

Each of the last two seasons, the Prep’s season has ended one game shy of a Palestra appearance. In 2022-23, when this year’s seniors were sophomores, they finished as the No. 5 seed in the league (9-4 PCL record) and lost by 11 at Archbishop Wood, a step forward for a team that had gone 2-11 in PCL play the year before. 

Last year, despite losing center Tristen Guillouette (eligibility) just before the season, the Hawks went 10-3 and got the No. 4 seed, hosting Archbishop Ryan. Darren Williams and the Raiders played spoiler, William’s shot with two seconds left the difference-maker in a 49-47 win. 

Those exits, paired with the success of other 6A classification squads in Roman Catholic and Archbishop Wood, meant that the Prep hasn’t even gotten a chance for redemption in the state bracket. While others play on well into March, St. Joe’s Prep’s last two seasons ended on February 17 and 16. 

The Hawks might be one of the top five teams in the state in the 6A classification. They’ve just never gotten a chance to show it. 

“It’s hard to digest, we only get to play like (22) games a year when the Neumann-Goretti’s and Devon Prep’s, they’re playing 30 games a year because they’re 3A, 4A, and we have a really competitive conference,” Chamberlain Jr. said. “At the end of the day, it’s just about winning games. If we win games, we’re in the state championship.”

The Hawks’ last time in the PCL semifinals, its last trip to the Palestra, was in 2018. The program’s last championship was in 2004, a few years before anybody on the current roster was born. Getting an opportunity to play on the most famous court in the city is something the trio assumed would happen at some point in their high school careers, but now there’s only one chance left.

“It’s all the motivation we need,” McKie said. “We want to go there bad, we haven’t gotten a taste of it. It’s our last go-around, so we want to go there.”

McKie was the team’s leading scorer a year ago, averaging 18.1 ppg and 6.0 rpg while hitting 63-of-151 (41.7%) from downtown. He and Ellerbee — who averaged 14.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, and 4.5 apg — were both All-Catholic League First Team selections; Chamberlain, who averaged 12.3 ppg/3.1 apg and made 44% of his triples, was a second-team all-league pick. 

“We’ve been working out since before high school, we’ve been playing with us all the way consistently, we played for the same AAU team, so it’s a real brotherhood,” Ellerbee said. “That bond is never going to go nowhere, no matter what [...] that’s something I don't have to think about, it’s just known. I’m going to know them the rest of my life.”

The Hawks will have to replace their fourth and fifth-leading scorers from a year ago, Jalen Harper (11.4 ppg) and Matt Gorman (7.1 ppg). Harper, who’s doing a post-graduate year at the Newman School (Mass.), has been pulling in Division I offers all summer; Gorman is on the roster at D-III Catholic (D.C.). 

Harrigan’s got some quality options ready to fill in. 

Junior wing Will Lesovitz (3.9 ppg) got quality experience a year ago, and sophomore wing Myles Peterson looks ready to contribute at the varsity level, the strong 6-3 wing giving them some bulk in the frontcourt. 

A big heap of talent joined the program this offseason when sophomore guard Mekhi Robertson came aboard from Life Center (N.J.). In a watch at West Chester in September, the 6-3 wing — who already has offers from Villanova and Mississippi State — showed he’ll be yet another weapon for Harrigan, and the seniors are more than happy to have him aboard.

“He’s a great piece,” McKie said. “He brings defensive intensity, obviously he brings the offensive game too, athleticism, he’s a high-motor kid, so I like him a lot.”

McKie’s younger brothers, freshmen Julian and Justin McKie, are both in the varsity mix as well. Julian, who at 6-3 is a couple inches taller than his brother, is more likely to see significant minutes as he’ll help the undersized group on the boards and defensively, while also showing he can step out and knock down shots as well. 

Senior guard Gavin Pennington and sophomore wing Kevin O’Connell are two others who will battle for minutes. Harrigan hopes the fact that he’ll always be able to have at least two of his three seniors on the court at any given point means he’ll be able to play a variety of players alongside them. 

“I think that before we were not as deep because these guys were still growing and maturing,” he said, “but [...] having Olin, Jordan and Jaron on the court as senior guards allows us to give some more guys more opportunities because the ball is always going to be protected.”

Harrigan will test his group in the non-conference, hosting Imhotep Charter and D.C. powerhouse St. John’s College. Ultimately, nothing else matters except 13 games in January and February, and the select few that follow it. 

For the Hawks’ seniors, just making it to the postseason isn’t enough. They have to make their last shot count.

“I feel like it’s known at this point,” McKie said. “Palestra, that’s not our goal. Our goal is to win it, win states. Our goal isn’t just to get there anymore, it’s to win it.”