City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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Devon Prep is in uncharted territory for a variety of reasons.

Start with the fact the program has won two of the last three PIAA Class 3A titles, giving it its first two state championships ever. Next, consider the fact the Tide are one of three Philadelphia Catholic League programs to win multiple state titles all-time, joining the likes of Roman Catholic and Neumann-Goretti. Lastly, Devon Prep begins its first season competing in Class 4A following its historic success over the last three years.

As Devon Prep has ascended to new heights, that brings increased exposure and tougher competition. It can bring about a lot of distractions that allowed the program to catapult to one of the best in both southeastern Pa. and the state as a whole.

Head coach Jason Fisher and the Tide commemorated the 2024 3A crown on Sunday during halftime of its game against West Catholic. Fisher has been the steady voice who was at the helm during the transition from the Bicentennial Athletic League to Philadelphia Catholic then propelling Devon Prep to a place it didn’t know was possible. He has kept his players, whether it was Jacen Holloway (Army West Point) and IV Pettit (Chestnut Hill College) or Zane Conlon and Mason Thear currently, focused on the bigger picture of winning basketball games while also playing for something bigger than themselves.

“I wanted to try and enjoy it today but it’s very hard when you’re coaching a game at the same time,” Fisher said. “To build on it, nothing has really changed. It’s about continually getting better, going back and watching film and preparing for Archbishop Wood on Wednesday night.”

Devon Prep certainly looked like a team capable of going on another deep run in the state tournament with its 64-56 win over West Catholic behind a combined 41 points from Conlon and Thear.

Conlon, an All-State First Team selection as a junior, poured in 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists. The 6-5 senior forward was one of the Tide’s key players in the run to the state title last season and he has been even better in his final year. He scored the first bucket of the game on a smooth spin move inside then hit a three-pointer in the second quarter to put Devon Prep (6-2, 1-1 PCL), 23-11.

Conlon, who recently committed to NAIA Southeastern University, was part of the 2022 3A title and has discussed with his teammates about the perspective they should have following a championship of this magnitude.

“The past is the past and there’s no point looking towards it,” Conlon said. “We left that behind and we’re into the new PCL season, so we have to focus on that. Whatever happens after that happens.

Conlon’s family has a pedigree for winning as his father, Joe played football and also wrestled at the University of Pittsburgh and his mother, Stephanie had offers from Carnegie Mellon and Grove City College to play basketball. His brother, Joe played basketball at Berks Catholic and was planning to play in college before tearing his ACL as a senior. Conlon is as versatile a forward as there is in the Philadelphia Catholic League and when the Burrs (3-7, 0-2) started to put together a final push, he stopped it in its tracks.

He scored six of the final eight points in the third to give the Tide an 11-point advantage. Eric Scott (13 points) hit a pair of free throws to end the quarter for West Catholic then Rahmir Speaks hit a three from the wing to cut the deficit to 47-41. Conlon answered at the other end using his impressive body control to absorb the contact from Kingston Wheatley, who put a strong afternoon with a team-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, for the finish. That layup increased the lead to eight and Fisher noted that plays like that have become a regularity over the last two seasons.

“He has turned himself into a really high-level player,” Fisher said. “You saw it today where he did a lot of different things that gave them problems, both inside and outside. He can handle the ball and play defense. It’s exciting and fun to be a small part of that.”

Shane Doyle, another returning starter, hit his second three-pointer, then took a great pass from Conlon while cutting down the baseline and turned it into a layup to give Devon Prep a 56-46 lead with under five minutes to play. Doyle scored 10 points, but Thear was the perfect complement to Conlon on this day.

A former transfer from Perkiomen Valley, Thear had to sit out during last season’s postseason run due to PIAA transfer rules. He had one of his better games this season with 17 points and many of those came in key situations. Thear drilled a three-pointer to open Devon Prep’s largest lead of the day at 32-15 in the second quarter. Late in the game, he followed Doyle’s five-point run with a nifty layup across the middle of the lane then hit three free throws to close things out.

Wheatley battled with Conlon all afternoon, matching Conlon’s strong drives with terrific post moves and tough finishes. The 6-7 junior forward came off the bench and gave the Burrs a long front line alongside the 6-7 Jalyn Hopkins. Wheatley scored six of West Catholic’s 10 points during a stretch in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 41-35 then he brought the deficit to six again early in the fourth. The Tide did a solid job keeping Burrs point guard Saaid Lee (five points) out of the lane and limiting sophomore Jayvon Byrd, one of the best shooters in the league, from getting hot as he shot 1-7 from behind the arc.

The Tide dropped their league opener to St. Joe’s Prep by six points in a back-and-forth matchup between two teams with postseason aspirations and after battling West Catholic for supremacy in District 12-3A, the two teams will not have to play each other in the state tournament this time around. As Fisher noted, “We’re the last three state champions from 3A,” when accounting for West Catholic’s 2023 3A title behind Adam “Budd” Clark (Merrimack) and Zion Stanford (Temple).

The corps of Conlon, Doyle and Reece Craft (Swarthmore College) are back while Thear and Calvin Smith are fully cleared for postseason play this season, which puts the pieces in place for another deep postseason run. Fisher isn’t fixated on last season’s success (or three years ago for that matter) and has shown the ability to motivate players from one season to the next.

“I think they’re looking at it as we accomplished a lot and now, they want new goals,” Fisher said. “They want to challenge themselves and find different things to accomplish. They have goals that they will keep between themselves, and they plan to build on that.”

By Quarter

West Catholic (3-7, 0-2): 9 | 14 | 15 | 18 || 56

Devon Prep (6-2, 1-1): 17 | 18 | 12 | 17 || 64

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Scoring

West Catholic: Kingston Wheatley 18, Eric Scott 13, Jayvon Byrd 7, Saaid Lee 5, Rahmir Speaks 5, Jalyn Hopkins 3, Nyeire Farlow 3, Jaden Banner 2.

Devon Prep: Zane Conlon 24, Mason Thear 17, Shane Doyle 10, Reece Craft 7, Calvin Smith 4, Cooper Fairlamb 1, Jayden Allen-Bates 1.

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Elsewhere in the Philadelphia Catholic League on Sunday:

Father Judge 81, Archbishop Wood 60: The Crusaders and Vikings met for the first time since last season’s quarterfinal matchup and Chris Roantree took home this matchup over his mentor, Josh Mosco as Derrick Morton-Rivera, Nazir Tyler and Rocco Westfield all scored 18 points each. Morton-Rivera shot 6-10 from the field and added seven rebounds while Westfield drilled four three-pointers on the day. Tyler shot 8-15 from the floor as the Crusaders shot 47% for the afternoon. Loyola (Maryland) commit Everett Barnes had a strong day inside with 12 points and eight boards as Father Judge (7-3, 2-0) won its second straight league game by 20 points. Brady MacAdams led the way for Archbishop Wood (3-6, 0-2) with 22 points and Caleb Lundy chipped in 13 points and eight boards.

Cardinal O’Hara 67, Archbishop Carroll 64: Milak Myatt scored 12 of his 22 points in the final quarter as the Lions (9-2, 2-0) made a statement against the Patriots. Tygee Clark was instrumental in the win with 16 of his 20 points after halftime and Malik Brown helped Myatt close things out with eight of his 14 in the fourth. Luca Foster (24 points) and Munir Greig (20) paced Archbishop Carroll (4-6, 0-2).

Roman Catholic 80, Lansdale Catholic 47: The Jackson brothers took full command in this one as Sammy Jackson scored a game-high 23 points, including three three-pointers, and Lafayette signee Shareef Jackson dominated inside with 19 points. Tyler Sutton had all 12 of his points in the first two quarters as the Cahillites (8-2, 2-0) shot 33-53 from the field in a sensational effort. Chase Stevens continues to showcase why he’s one of the better freshmen in the area as he led the Crusaders with 14 points while fellow freshman Melore Aylmer and junior Yeboa-Ackah Cobbold contributed seven points apiece.

St. Joe’s Prep 69, Conwell-Egan 56: Will Lesovitz had his best game of the season with 14 points, including 12 after the break, and Florida Gulf Coast signee Jordan Ellerbee hit a pair of three-pointers on his way to 17 points as the Hawks (6-4, 2-0) hit five shots from deep in the opening quarter and cruised to a win over the Eagles (8-3, 1-1). Olin Chamberlain Jr. was steady with 15 points, 10 coming in the final two quarters, and Dayton commit Jaron McKie chipped in eight points. Antwone George poured in a game-high 20 points, all coming from inside the arc or at the foul line, and Myles Moore, an impact transfer from West Catholic who hit the game-winning shot to beat Lansdale Catholic on Friday night, had 16 points.

La Salle 77, Archbishop Ryan 64: The Explorers (8-3, 2-0) have arguably secured the two biggest wins of the Philadelphia Catholic League season so far with victories over Neumann-Goretti and now last year’s runner-up in the Raiders. Nick Parisi displayed once again why he’s one of the premier scorers the league has to offer with 20 points and 6-8 junior forward Grayson McKeogh had his way inside with 18 points. Joey O’Brien, the reigning Red Division MVP on the gridiron, is one of the best kept secrets on the hardwood as he scored 14 points and veteran guard Hayes Altomare followed that up with 11 points of his own. Archbishop Ryan (5-6, 0-2) has had a rough go of it in their first season without Thomas Sorber (Georgetown) and Darren Williams (Florida Gulf Coast), dropping their first two league contests. Malik Hughes had 23 points, Mark Gallagher (14 points) drilled four three-pointers, and Brandon Russell posted 13 points for the Raiders.