Finn Courtney (@finncourtney_)
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DEVON - Reece Craft seeks the best of both worlds, on and off the court.
With just months to go in his high school career, the 6-7 forward looks to be saving his best performances for last with his best career scoring numbers (13.8 points per game, near two-point increase from 2023-24), good enough for second-highest this season on the Tide. In Devon’s 69-64 win over Father Judge, he turned it up one more notch, with a season high 20 points and 13 rebounds - his second double-double of the week.
Reece Craft is off to Swarthmore, but not without a push for Devon Prep's third state title in four years. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
Meanwhile, in the classroom, Craft has found just as high success, being accepted to one of the country’s finest institutions in ‘Little Ivy’ Swarthmore, committing to play for the Garnet and longtime coach Landry Kosmalski last October. It’s what anyone could call a dream journey from playing on sophomore JV to one of the best D3 programs in the nation and in his own words, it was far from a solo journey.
“The process has been great, I’ve been helped by my family and my coaches, just trying to work hard and find the school that fits for me,” Craft said. “I really just trusted them with my development [and they and Swarthmore] have been great.”
Craft does have some impressive familial pedigree to fall back on. His younger brother, Jaden, is also a varsity player for the Tide, while his aunt Kelly Halpin was a three-time All-American and a Hall of Fame inductee at Scranton and mother Tricia Halpin was an O’Hara grad and four-year standout for George Mason from 1996 to 2000. During her collegiate career, she became the Patriots’ all-time leader in blocked shots (236) and finished in the top 15 nationally in blocks her sophomore and junior seasons, including a First Team All-CAA selection in the latter.
Craft, meanwhile, slid under the radar during his freshman and sophomore campaigns with limited varsity action in the latter, but came on in a big way during summer 2023, with standout performances at Philly HS Live and CoBL’s College Exposure Camp.
Since that fateful summer, Craft has been a varsity starter for his junior and senior seasons, making a big impact in a short amount of time, being named to the All-State Class 3A Third Team. His most important achievement, however, came in the clutch with a 13.2 ppg and 10.6 rebounds per game statline in last year’s state playoffs on route to the Tide’s second state title in three years - the first Craft really had a foothold in winning.
After watching Craft grow over his four years as a member of the Tide, reigning 3A Coach of the Year Jason Fisher is proud of how he’s grown leaps and bounds since the first time the pair met. And in Fisher’s eyes, he’s got bigger and better games on the horizon.
“He’s grown in all areas, I think he’s just scratching the surface because he has so much potential,” Fisher said. “He was always a quote-on-quote ‘big man’ growing up and now he’s learning how to play all facets of the game. He’s doing great things here, but great things when he gets to Swarthmore too.”
Craft had his pick of schools come senior year, with his final three being eventual winner Swarthmore, Randolph Macon and Gettysburg, but he felt something special between himself and his soon-to-be coach Kosmalski from his college process’ inception.
“My relationship with [Kosmalski] from the start was definitely more personal than other ones I was used to,” Craft said, “and I felt he really believed in me and I believed in what he saw for me.”
Despite his on-the-court prowess, the achievement that rings highest is getting into Swarthmore, one of the most competitive schools in all 50 states. In their most recent admissions process, Swarthmore received 13,065 applications and returned just 975 letters of admission for the Class of 2028, barely coming in at a 7.5% acceptance rate.
Missteps happen in any avenue of life, take a missed layup by Craft early as such. But to match such drive and composure on the court, be it at Devon Prep or summer league AAU teams and with such focus in the classroom is a rare combination - one Fisher saw on Thursday against the Crusaders and one he knows Craft will take full advantage of come next fall.
“He stayed the course and made some huge shots in the second half,” Fisher said. “It’s basketball, you’re gonna make mistakes. And so, being able to play through those mistakes is such a huge skill. [Tonight against Father Judge], those guys really showed that. They played through all their mistakes and kept on battling and made huge basketball plays."
Before Craft moves a mere 17 miles down the road, though, he has his eyes set on the prize of a Philadelphia Catholic League title and a 4A state title - a title that would mark Devon’s third in four seasons, after being rewarded by the PIAA with a move up from 3A.
The next seven regular season games and surely PCL and state playoff games from there also mark Craft’s final chance at hooping with his teammates of four seasons, among them the other half of the Tide’s top scoring duo, senior Zane Conlon.
“Me and Zane push each other, we work off each other and we’re always looking for each other,” Craft said. “It’s great to play with him, we both work hard so it’s just been great to play [with him], with two people that work hard like that.”
And no stranger to the toughness of all the teams in the PCL and state playoffs to come, Craft looks forward to each and every opportunity - not having to wait long, as the Tide clash with La Salle next Tuesday.
“We’re feeling confident,” Craft said. “We’re just ready to go, man, we’re ready to go.”
DEVON PREP 69, FATHER JUDGE 64
Despite the great play of Craft and Conlon, who scored 44 out of Devon’s 69 points on the night, it was far from a smooth ride to their fifth PCL win of the year - it was to be touch and go.
Down six at the half after 10 points from Merrimack commit and Judge’s lead star Kevair Kennedy (who led all scorers with 25), Devon needed a rally in the final two quarters to prevent a second conference loss and needed a more focused offensive attack
“Sold-out gym, a lot of people here, it’s Judge - a team that went to the Palestra - and I think once they settled down, calmed down, they started to play a little bit better,” Fisher said. “They were not as sped up on offense defensively, they were in tune with what we wanted to do against their players.”
They did that by outscoring the Crusaders 42-31 down the stretch, including a 21-13 third quarter where Craft dropped 10 points alone. A 10-2 run for the Tide to open the fourth quarter was quickly countered by a 10-0 run of Father Judge, with Kennedy and junior Rocco Westfield leading the way for Chris Roantree and co.
Two free throws from the former put the Crusaders up two before the Tide’s Shane Doyle buried his first three of the day for a one-point lead and under two minutes to go. Back-to-back Conlon buckets from there and clutch free throw shooting (6-6 in the fourth quarter) and Prep pulled off a thrilling comeback in one of the PCL’s best games thus far.
“Dictated defensively and just kept going from there [in the second half],” Craft said. “It was just a mindset, we were a little sped up in the first half and I think we saw a couple shots fall in the second half, we were getting some stops and [we] just tried to look for each other.”
And yet, even with a 10-2 record and 5-1 record in conference play (only bested by undefeated Roman Catholic), Fisher knows their foot must be anything but off the gas pedal - the hardest work is yet to come for his team.
“One day at a time, there’s stuff we gotta clean up, we probably had 20 turnovers tonight and we just got to continue fixing those things and move on to the next game,” Fisher said. “We’re gonna continue to try and be the toughest team out there, [...] these games are absolute wars.”
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