City of Basketball Love

By Kevin Gamlin
—

(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.)

~~~

Through his 26 years as head coach at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Jim Donofrio has had many talented teams. The 27th won’t be any exception. 

The expectations are high once again for the Colonials. After finishing last season 14-8, PW lost in the SOL playoffs to Central Bucks East. In districts, the Colonials had to travel to Chester for a second-round affair, losing a close one 59-54. After winning a few play-back games, the PW boys had their season ended at the hands of Parkland in the first round of the state tournament. 

The Colonials had a mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen last season, but they lost three starters and five seniors overall, led by 6-foot-tall point guard Jaden Colzie, now at Jefferson University; he and 6-5 wing Jahseir Sayles were the biggest losses for the Colonials. 

Last year, Colzie, spoke before the season about a potential breakout sophomore campaign for 6-4 wing Mani Sajid, and he was certainly right. One of two returning starters this year, Sajid burst out as an impressive underclassman last season, the sharpshooting off-guard improving his ability to get to the rim and play with more assertiveness.

After a terrific offseason where he racked up offers from the likes of St. Joe’s, Temple, Xavier, La Salle and more, Sajid will look to showcase more of his skillset this winter and establish himself as one of the best players in all of District 1. 

“Mani has changed over the summer,” Donofrio said. “The attention grew. Mani goes from a terrific sophomore year that puts him on the map. He was close to 500 points, and then he got the offers over the summer.

“I'm big on Mark Twain — most of us could go a whole month with one compliment. He gets highlight reels every week, it’s easy to get comfy, [thinking] ‘I’ve got this show down.’ [It’s] really tricky but he grinds.”

Sajid picked up a number of those offers through his play on the Nike EYBL circuit where he was playing with Team Final’s class of 2026. Sajid wasn’t the only Plymouth Whitemarsh player at Peach Jam; his teammate, Mike Pereira joined him on the circuit. Pereira is a 6-9 big man with great interior presence and a very soft touch at the rim. 

“At Peach Jam I was playing against bigger and stronger defenders,” Sajid said. “Playing in Peach Jam with Mike made a huge difference for us, it helped us both. Mike knows how to use his size now. Which is good, he continues to do that.”

Pereira and Sajid aren’t the only weapons for Donofrio. Jarrod ‘Buddy’ Denard is a 6-1 sophomore transfer from Archbishop Wood. Denard was a swing player last year as a freshman under John Mosco, and will help fill the hole left by Colzie’s departure. 

“Buddy’s brand new to us,” Donofrio said. “I’m just getting to know him. He can go point, spot up, he’s a different level young guy. He’ll work his way into the mix.”

Last year’s sixth man, junior guard Jack Hayes will share the guard spot with Denard; 6-6 junior forward Micah Thompson will also be a huge piece of the puzzle for PW. If Thompson, Periera, and Sajid are sharing the floor at the same time this could result in a matchup nightmare for their opponent due to all the height. PW also returns guards like junior Caleb Bridgeman and junior Terron Davis, along with senior wing Ehab Ahmed. 

“Caleb has been working hard as a senior guard now, he had some minutes last year, we're hoping he can step into another scoring guard position,” Donofrio said. “We need Ehab to be a Swiss Army knife; he can guard three different positions and be really big at times but he can also go to the ‘3’ spot, somewhat like (Sayles) did for us last year. They have to prove themselves, it’s gonna be like that all season.”

The talent is there for yet another successful Plymouth Whitemarsh team, but they'll get tested every single night. 

Multiple bodies will be thrown at Sajid to stop him, the scoring will have to come from multiple places and the competition has gotten better. Upper Dublin has high expectations after winning the SOL championship, Cheltenham always gives the Colonials problems, Wissahickon has a good core of players and Abington has a chance to be a sleeper in the Suburban One. 

As if that wasn’t enough, PW plays the likes of Bonner-Prendie, Neumann-Goretti and Coatesville, and the Colonials are heading to Arizona during the winter break to play in the Cactus Jam tournament, where they’ll face other high-quality opponents. 

Although they might be young, the expectations are very high for this group, with the hope to see themselves at the Liacouras Center in February.

“We’re young but I think we're going to be really good,” Sajid said. “I think we're gonna be special.”

“We wanna put all the ingredients on the table,” Donofrio said,” and then hopefully make a really good apple pie.”