City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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NEWTOWN SQUARE — Matt McCarthy knows when he gets to Florida Gulf Coast University next year, his best chance of earning minutes from the get-go won’t be as the team’s leading scorer.

The Episcopal Academy senior and FGCU commit, who’ll be counted on to be one of the Churchmen’s main bucket-getters this year thanks to the graduation of the unrelated Kevin McCarthy (Army West Point), will have to be much more of a distributor and defensive specialist to see the court right away, a common place for a true freshman at the highest level of college basketball. 

“(I’ll need) to be more of a point guard and make plays for other people,” he said. “Still take pride on getting rebounds, playing defense, doing other things. I’ve never been just a scorer, so having guys who are really versatile and can do a lot of things is really helpful.”

So he was more than happy to play such a role in Episcopal Academy’s season opener, as teammates Timmy Dennis and Dawson Brown went off to lead EA to a 73-50 win over Shipley School on Tuesday afternoon. 

With Dennis (24 points) and Brown (23 points) combining for more than 64% of all Episcopal’s scoring, McCarthy’s impact was felt on the glass — where he grabbed eight rebounds (three offensive) — as well as just about everywhere else, as he added seven points, three assists and three steals to his stat line. His normally-reliable 3-point shot might not have fallen (0-4) in this particular one, but his looks were all clean, and it never once impacted his effort at either end.

“Timmy and Dawson really shot the ball well, really played well on offense,” he said. “A lot of times, guy’s scouting reports are going to be shifted towards me, trying not to let me get shots and having them step up. Teams are going to see pretty quick that they’re not going to be able to do that.”

McCarthy committed to FGCU last month, taking his only Division I offer and running with it following an official visit to the school’s Ft. Myers (Fl.) campus. He’s joining an Eagles program that, while it’s most known for its “Dunk City” run to the 2013 Sweet Sixteen, has become increasingly Philly-oriented under third year head coach Pat Chambers, a Newtown Square native and EA alum. 

He’s the third area prospect to commit to FGCU for its 2025 incoming class, along with Jordan Ellerbee (St. Joe’s Prep) and Gabe Tanner (Perkiomen School). Rahmir Barno (Imhotep Charter), Tristen Guillouette (St. Joe’s Prep/George School) and Darren Williams (Archbishop Ryan) are all underclassmen with local ties. 

“I got to meet everybody, and it was pretty cool seeing how if we were to play a game in Philly, that would be a home game,” McCarthy said. “You’re not alone down there, there’s a bunch of guys just like you, got a lot of similar ties.”

There’s all sorts of connections between McCarthy and his future college coach. One of Episcopal’s assistants is Paul Chambers, Pat’s brother; head coach Taylor Wright is the son of former Villanova head coach Jay Wright, who was Pat’s boss when Pat was an assistant coach at Villanova from 2004-09. 

“Having Paul here and having Coach Chambers down there, it kind of felt like I had a connection even before I got to meet anybody,” McCarthy said. “(Paul) kinda stayed out of the whole thing, wanted me to be able to make an unbiased decision, I guess. But it is nice having that connection.”

Another tie that fits into the mix is Brown, whose father Howard Brown played at Villanova in the 1990s and now is an assistant coach for EA, coaching his son for the first time since youth ball in Phoenixville. A sophomore at Phoenixville a year ago, Dawson Brown is repeating his sophomore year, moving into the 2027 class, and got his time with the Churchmen off to a great start. 

A 6-2 guard, Brown was 5-of-8 from deep, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out three assists. 

“It felt great,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for this time all summer [...] I want to bring anything I can do to win. We talk a lot about attitude and I feel like that’s a very big improvement in my game from last year.”

He also picked a good day to shoot well, considering he was checking off a box on his bucket list, as a certain Naismith Hall of Famer was in the bleachers, taking in the game. 

“Going into freshman year at Phoenixville, I had a vision board, and I put ‘have Jay Wright go to one of my games,’” Brown said, “so seeing him in the stands today, that was crazy, that was awesome.”

Dennis, a 6-7 junior wing, was even more efficient, going 8-of-11 from the floor, 4-of-6 from 3-point range and 4-of-5 from the floor line, grabbing five rebounds. He scored 10 points in the first quarter as EA opened up a 19-13 lead, then really broke the game open with back-to-back 3s in the third quarter, the second of which became a four-point play; the Churchmen won the third 25-10 to lead 60-35 after three quarters and cruised from there.

Sophomore wing Gage Cunningham, moving into the starting lineup this season, added 10 points and grabbed six of his seven rebounds on the offensive end; freshman guard Wynton Foster, younger brother of starting guard and Kenyon commit Langston Foster, added eight points including 2-of-3 from 3-point range.

“He’s been picking up things really quick,” McCarthy said, “and he’s fearless. A lot of times freshmen get in and freeze up; he showed today that he’s ready to compete.”

The older Foster brother didn’t score, but contributed six assists, four rebounds, two steals and a block to the win. 

Steve Maniatis led Shipley with 20 points, including five 3-pointers; fellow juniors Jack Naegle (13 points) and Danilo Linsalata (12 points) joined him in double figures.

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By Quarter
EA:    19  |  16  |  25  |  13  ||  73
Ship:  13  |  12  |  10  |  15  ||  50

Shooting
EA: 25-54 FG (11-25 3PT), 12-16 FT
Ship: 17-46 FG (6-19 3PT), 10-15 FT

Scoring
EA: Timmy Dennis 24, Dawson Brown 23, Gage Cunningham 10, Wynton Foster 8, Matt McCarthy 7, Torrey Cooper 1

Ship: Steve Maniatis 20, Jack Naegle 13, Danilo Linsalata 12, Danny Braslow 3, Gabe Brown 2