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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It’s not like a death in the family. It just feels that way anytime last year’s all-time Philadelphia Catholic League championship classic is broached around the Archbishop Ryan basketball program. Roman Catholic’s Kabe Goss’ buzzer-beater in overtime to beat Ryan was not only the shot heard around the Palestra, not only the shot heard around Philadelphia, not only the shot heard around Pennsylvania, it was the shot heard around the country featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter that night.

Ryan coach Joe Zeglinski somehow cobbled the broken pieces of his team together to make a run at the PIAA Class 5A state championship, losing to three-time defending 5A state champion Imhotep Charter in the state semifinals.

Zeglinski will be entering his 10th season as head coach of the Raiders. He loses the best player in program history in 6-foot-10 Georgetown center Thomas Sorber and Florida Gulf Coast’s Darren Williams -- as well as Jaden Murray, Ryan Everett (DelVal) and Rocco Morabito (Gannon) -- from a team that finished 20-10 overall, 10-3 in the Catholic League and was tied 45-45 with Imhotep with 2:16 left to play in the state semifinals, and up 45-44 with mere seconds left from clinching Ryan’s first Catholic League basketball championship.

After recovering from seven months ago, Zeglinski finds himself at work constructing again. He has a solid foundation to build on this season in 6-foot-5 junior guard Brandon Russell, 6-7 junior forward Malik Hughes, a transfer from Roman Catholic, 5-11 junior guard Matt Johnson, 6-4 sophomore guard Keyshawn Franklin, who transferred in from Eastern (N.J.), and 6-3 sophomore guard Semaj Stone, who has shown the potential this summer to be a breakout player.

The Raiders are not as obviously top heavy in talent as they have been the last three years, though this may be the deepest team Zeglinski has ever had, able to go 10 deep, with depth coming from 6-foot senior guard Mark Gallagher, 5-11 junior guard Khabir Washington, 6-foot sophomore guard Seth Gaye, 6-6 freshman forward Jaylin Avery and 6-4 freshman guard Jack McMullin.

Ryan lost its most potent one-two punch in school history, though it does not mean anyone better sleep on the Raiders.

“It is probably our deepest team in where we can run different lineups at the same time,” Zeglinski said. “We have guys off the bench that can score. Mark Gallagher, Seth Gaye, those are guys can really shoot it for us. I’m excited about this group. We have more guys who can do different things this year.

"Last year was tough. It can’t get lost, but we did a lot of great things. I felt for the seniors on that team. That (Catholic League championship) loss was probably the hardest loss that I have ever been through, knowing how much of a commitment those guys made, how much they wanted it and how much they deserved it.

“It was three years of hard work, and in this day and age, that does not happen too often. That team will be remembered forever at Ryan. That team will always be close and we will always stay in touch. That’s the great thing about sports. But this team has to pick up where that team left off. We could do some things this year.”

Russell, who has a Division I offer from St. Francis, is now the face of the Ryan program. The Raiders will run through him—and run more this season, using transition to defend and score. And with 10 players able to play, they will be able to come at opposing teams in waves.

“Defensive pressure and our toughness will make us a success, and we have a lot of legs,” Russell said. “I remember standing on the bench [when Goss hit his buzzer-beater] and it is motivating. It stays with you. I was ready to celebrate a Catholic League championship, and that happened. I didn’t watch a replay of that until three months later. I’m ready to be the go-to guy, but everyone plays a roll. The goal is to be PCL champions.”

Stone remembers seeing how emotionally drained Sorber and Williams were after the Roman loss.

“We could be good enough to win the Catholic League title, and people will look over us. That loss is definitely motivating to all of us,” Stone said. “I take pride in my defense and defense will get us where we have to go. We will be scrappy because we have to be. We will be smaller, but we will be able to play with more intensity."

Johnson, a multi-year starter at point guard, was on the court when Goss made his shot. He remembers being frozen there in disbelief as the Roman team celebrated. It still gnaws at him.

“I want to go back and win it, after what happened last year,” Johnson said. “Everyone thinks we are dead after we lost Thomas and Darren and all our seniors. We are not. We have a lot of guys who can score; everyone will find out.”

Ryan has been to the Catholic League championship in two of the last three years. Many players on this team have been peripheral pieces of those runs. But they are familiar with the bright lights and the big crowds. They know what heartbreak is, and they know what type of commitment it takes to reach that stage. This will be a hustle team, a 90-feet team, and a team that will rely on defensive pressure to stir the offense.

“This group has a ton of potential, but we need to figure out what works,” Zeglinski said. “The Catholic League is always very good. We need to play tough. We will pick our spots when we run tempo. Russell has taken a huge jump from last year, and we are counting on his leadership. We have a chance to be very good if everyone understands their role. It is all about how we will be playing in late-January and into February and, hopefully, we will be where we want to be by then.”

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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.