City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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PHILADELPHIA — Kam Jackson had no idea what the name of the play was in reference to, only that it was called “Duke.” The 5-foot-10 Bonner-Prendie sophomore guard never heard of Christian Laettner. He wasn’t familiar with the iconic NCAA Tournament shot that shook the basketball world and took place a mere 16 miles down I-95 South from where he was Friday night.

It happened long before he was born. The place it happened in doesn’t even exist.

But the play still resonates.

Bonner-Prendie used “Duke,” when Jackson came zipping in for a layup after grabbing a pass from teammate Tysicere Jackson in mid-sprint for the winning bucket in the Friars’ dramatic 66-64 Catholic League victory at Father Judge.

The Friars have now placed themselves in a strong position early in the Catholic League season with an 11-1 overall record and now 3-0 in the league, while Judge fell for the first time in the league, to 3-1 and 8-4 overall.

Bonner-Prendie rebounded from two third-quarter 12-point deficits and were trailing 62-56 with 3:09 left in the game.

The scoreboard and the frenzied crowd in Judge’s stifling shoebox gym said the Friars looked finished.

No one on Bonner-Prendie was listening.

Gradually, the Friars pecked away with defense, and their comeback started with Kam Jackson’s three-point play with 3:00 left. He showed an uncanny ability to fit his tiny frame in almost impossible, tight positions under the basket to somehow score. It was a precursor of what was to come. The play pulled Bonner-Prendie to within 62-59.

Then, with Judge clinging to a 64-61 lead with inside of a minute to play, it was Tysicere Jackson’s corner three that tied it at 64-64, with 48 seconds left, setting the stage for Kam Jackson’s heroics.

With 10.8 seconds left, Judge had a chance to win it, but a Rocco Westfield shot fell off the side of the rim, and the Friars were there to retrieve the loose ball and call a timeout.

With 4.8 seconds left, Bonner-Prendie coach Billy Cassidy called “Duke,” although it was more like Valpo’s Bryce Drew classic buzzer-beater in the 1998 tournament that upset Ole Miss.

The Friars' "Duke" is a play they work on in practice daily for situations like the one they were faced with. It called for Devon Nelson to throw a baseline length-of-the-court pass to Tysicere Jackson, who positioned himself at the foul line on the other end of the court. Tysicere Jackson, or TJ, then would hit the breaking Kam Jackson on the right wing for a driving layup.

TJ played the pivotal Laettner (or Bill Jenkins) role.

As the crowd was screaming, Nelson flung it from under the Bonner-Prendie basket to the waiting Tysicere Jackson, who somehow plucked it out of midair among the four Judge defenders surrounding him. Then in one motion, TJ quickly steered the ball over to the streaking Kam Jackson, who caught it midstride and scored an uncontested layup.

The place erupted.

Bonner-Prendie, and everyone else, thought the game ended on the shot. It didn’t.

There was literally less than a second, .01, left to play.

But Judge’s “Duke” did not work out as well and the Crusaders never got a shot off.

“Once TJ (Tysicere Jackson) made eye contact, I knew I would finish the play,” said Kam Jackson, who scored five of his nine points in the fourth quarter. “Everyone was doubting us. I knew I had to put the team on my back. The only thing that went through my mind was to finish. I went right in there. Being a smaller guy, you have that chip on your shoulders, and I think that’s where the fearlessness comes from.”

Kam Jackson finished the play, but it was Tysicere Jackson that made the play.

“The play was called ‘Duke’ because of the Christian Laettner play,” Tysicere Jackson said. “Once the ball got to me, I had four guys on me. We run that play every day. I knew where Kam was going. I didn’t even see the ball go in. I looked at coach Cassidy, that’s how I knew it went in.

“Everyone said we were too young to win a game like this. No one expected us to win this game. We were the only ones who thought we could.”

Friars’ sophomore Korey Francis continues to shine, scoring a game-high 21 points, followed by Tysicere Jackson’s 14, while Nelson and Kam Jackson scored 9 each.

Crusaders’ sterling senior guard Kevair Kennedy scored a team-high 18, with Nazir Tyler chipping in 13, and Westfield adding 12. Kam Jackson and Jakeem Carroll did a superb job of denying Judge’s potent Derrick Morton-Rivera, who didn’t score until the second half, and wound up with four points.

The last time Judge won the Catholic League championship was in 1998, under the legendary Bill Fox, when the Crusaders went 22-8 overall and 12-2 in the Catholic League. Current Crusaders’ coach Chris Roantree was a junior on that team. He has developed this team into a title contender.

He was not about to let the setback deter that drive.

Bonner-Prendie slowed the game down and dictated the tempo in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Crusaders 17-10.

“Billy did a great job tonight, he outcoached me, they ran some sets that got them some easy early baskets, and that play in the end was fantastic that he ran,” Roantree said. “We made some mistakes. The game plan has been to take DJ (Morton-Rivera) out the last couple of games. (Archbishop) Wood tried to do it, but Bonner-Prendie did a fantastic job all night denying him the ball.

“We didn’t get DJ the ball in spots. Credit to them. I think defensively we were not as sound and solid as we should have been. When we were up by 12, I made the mistake of taking out Kevair when he got his fourth foul. I should have just let him go. We knew were not going to be perfect.”

Roantree and Judge did get a good dose of what the Palestra will be like a month from now. The Crusaders did see Kennedy continue to emerge after the Merrimack commit started the season slow.

“There were a lot of positives, but we have to continue to grind,” Roantree said. “We knew this would be tough, nothing is easy in the Catholic League. We’ll bounce back.”  

By Quarter

Bonner-Prendie (11-1, 3-0 Catholic League):  15 | 16  |  18  | 17 ||  66

Father Judge (8-4, 3-1 Catholic League): 15 | 19 | 20 | 10 ||  64

Scoring
Bonner-Prendie: Korey Francis 21, Tysicere Jackson 14, Devon Nelson 9, Kam Jackson 9, Aydin Scott 7, Jakeem Carroll 6.

Father Judge: Kevair Kennedy 18, Nazir Tyler 13, Rocco Westfield 12, Everett Barnes 8, Rahkiy Mason 5, Derrick Morton-Rivera 4, Kevin Beck 3, Max Moshinski 1.

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 BlueSky here.