City of Basketball Love

By Matt Allibone (@bad2theallibone)
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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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Devin Coleman has plenty of motivation to see his Friends Central squad get over the hump after losing to Academy of the New Church in the FSL title game last season.

Of course, he wants to guide the Phoenix to its first league title since he was a senior with the program in 2011. But he also wants to reestablish the program as a force to be reckoned with in the area.

While last season’s 18-6 campaign was a needed step in that direction for Friends Central, Coleman knows it will take more than one good year to recapture the reputation of a program that won three straight Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association championships during his career. Coleman went on to play for Clemson and Temple in college. 

“We want to give ourselves a chance to compete at that level,” he said of the program’s championship aspirations. “And establish ourselves as a successful program in the area.”

The Phoenix will need some untested players to emerge if it wants to replicate last season’s success. It graduated three starters including its top two scorers – 6-foot-4 wing Muhsin Muhammad (17.3 ppg) and 6-foot-3 guard Fazl Oshodi (14.5 ppg). Friends Central’s other departed starter, point guard Reid Belcher, finished fourth in scoring (10.6) and first in assists (4.5).

Coleman acknowledged his team’s “young guys will have to step up and fill some shoes.” But he does have plenty of talent to work with. Sophomore Patrese Feamster started and averaged 12.2 points per game as a freshman. 

A 6-foot-3 guard, Feamster has a complete skillset. He can shoot from the outside (48 3-pointers last season) but also has a bevy of moves he uses to get to the rim and unlock his midrange game. He scored double digit points in 16 games last year with a season-high of 28 in a close win against Chi-Prep Academy. 

Coleman said he expects Feamster to take another “big step forward” for the Phoenix this season.

Feamster will be joined in the backcourt by seniors Su’Meer Allyne and Evan Boyer. Standing 6-foot-4, Allyne is a physical guard who can defend multiple positions while still handling the ball. Coleman said he’s seen consistent improvement from Allyne since last season. 

A 5-foot-9 point guard, Boyer came off the bench last season but will run the show this year.

“He steadies the ship,” Coleman said about Boyer. “We have a lot of guys who like to get (shots) up and he facilitates and sets the table for those guys. Defensively he really applies pressure to opposing guards.”

Down low, Friends Central will have an intriguing mix of bigs highlighted by 6-foot-6 senior forward Nigel Pierman and 6-foot-7 sophomore Oben Mokonchu.

Pierman showed significant promise last season but will take on a bigger role this campaign. He averaged 5.4 points and 3.3 rebounds but reached double digit points four times. He recently committed to D-III Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.)

But Mokonchu might end up being the Phoenix’s X-factor. He was a double-double threat for a Spring-Ford team that reached the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals last season, but transferred to Friends Central and reclassified in the Class of 2027 this offseason. 

“For him it’s just about getting more reps,” Coleman said. “All of these fall league games are super important to getting him acclimated because the rest of our kids have been with each other for a while now.”

Two junior guards who got a taste of playing time last season and could be primed for bigger roles are 5-foot-7 Vaughn Jones and 5-foot-11 Dylan Tomov. 

Coleman knows the Phoenix will face plenty of challenges this year. It opens the season against prep school powerhouse Perkiomen on Nov. 15, but doesn’t get a rematch with Academy of the New Church until Jan. 7. The Phoenix lost 64-50 in last year’s FSL title game to the Lions, who return a strong lineup headlined by star junior guard Dior Carter. 

In September, Coleman said his players still needed to get in shape to play the up-tempo style he’s hoping for. Friends Central averaged 70.2 points per game last season, but Coleman believes its defense will be more important in determining how far the team goes this season.

“I know the stuff we have to take care of,” Coleman said. “We want to use our defense to create a transition offense. That will only come to fruition if you can play hard defense for the entirety of the game. We definitely have to take that stride here.”