Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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PHILADELPHIA — Jaydn Jenkins has a problem. He kind of knows it, too. He suffers from a disposition most people would love to have. The Archbishop Wood 6-foot-9 sophomore center is nice. Too nice. He’s gradually learning when the times come on a basketball court when not to be nice.
The aggression is surfacing in increments.
Jenkins had a tough time Monday night in West Catholic’s intimate bandbox gym where the crowd is on top of you and you hear everything everyone says—or screams at you. He had trouble sometimes down low handling the ball and missed a gimme layup in the last minutes with the game hanging in the balance.
Jaydn Jenkins came on late to put Wood over the top at West Catholic (Photo by Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL).
But when he had to be emphatic and put the hammer down, Jenkins did, slamming home what eventually turned into the game-winning points in Wood’s impressive 58-55 victory at West Catholic.
The Vikings are now even at 10-10 overall and looking to solidify a place in the Catholic League standings with a 5-6 mark, while West fell to 10-10 overall and 6-5 in the league.
Jenkins finished with 12 points, four coming in the pivotal fourth quarter, and he was assertive inside when Wood needed a stout rim protector. If any opposing team wants to dig into him, now is the time, because he is improving exponentially by the game. He’s a beanpole 195 pounds, and once he hits a regular weight-training regiment and adds muscle to his lithe frame, his potential can be enormous.
“I think it can be,” legendary Wood John Mosco said. “Jaydn has to get stronger, be assertive and that will happen. Jaydn is a really great kid. He’s only a sophomore. Everyone assumes he’s older because he’s 6-9. He’s coming along every game and every game is a new experience for him. Everyone tries to be physical with him. They think they can bully him. We’re coming on strong and getting better. Jaydn is getting stronger.”
Jenkins admits he is working on his aggressive side. He prides himself on the way his parents, Vince and Tomorrow, raised him. He also knows he will be a walking target for the next two years as a 6-9 center.
He is reaching a comfort level. But there was something that stood out Monday night—Jenkins never mentally checked out. West Catholic’s 6-7 junior Kingston Wheatley got up and yelled in his face more than a few times, trying to intimidate him and he did miss some easy shots.
Though Jenkins never wavered. He didn’t lug bad plays with him. And with 51 seconds left to play, and Wood hanging on to a one-score 55-52 lead, it was Jenkins who the Vikings looked for inside to provide the exclamation point on the victory with a slam dunk.
“I’m going to be who I am and whatever anyone says, and they were saying a lot, it didn’t affect me,” Jenkins said. “Look where I am, and look where they are, we won and I came out on top. I’m still definitely working on being more aggressive and trying to get offensively open. I know I have to be more aggressive, but it is really isn’t my nature. It’s a work in progress.
“I’ll get there.”
Wood junior guard Brady MacAdams led all scorers with a game-high 17 points, with 10 coming from Mike Green and nine from Brian Donahue, a junior guard who banged home two clutch threes in the fourth quarter.
“This was a huge win for us for seeding, and this is a tough environment to play and win in,” Donahue said. “Jaydn has gotten a lot better since last year, catching the ball and finishing. We have a lot of confidence in him if we get beat defensively. We are growing a lot of trust not just with Jaydn, but it is a trust with everyone. We are playing with a lot more intensity and a lot more force.”
The game was locked at 46-46 with 6:26 left when the wheels fell off West Catholic, which received solid performances from junior Jalyn Hopkins, who scored a team-high 16, and sophomore Eric Scott, whose two key steals in the last three minutes brought West within 52-49 and 55-52 with 1:06 to play.
“Discipline, execution, paying attention to detail, following the scouting report, that all needs to be addressed,” West coach Miguel Bocachica said. “That’s the basketball game. It’s not just about having talent. You have to listen and you have to focus. You have to know what is about to happen, and when you know what’s coming, you should be taking it away and we didn’t do that.
“I thought we fought. It’s a staple of our program.”
Wheatley said the defense needs to be tightened.
“They had too many straight line drives,” he said. “We didn’t come out ready in the second half. We had a lot of breakdowns on defense. They are correctable mistakes. I don’t know what to say. Coach told us we let them get by us too much. We need to play harder.”
By Quarter
Archbishop Wood (10-10 overall, 5-6 Catholic League): 10 | 14 | 20 | 14 || 58
West Catholic (10-10, 6-5): 16 | 9 | 18 | 12 || 55
Scoring
Wood: Brady MacAdams 17, Jaydn Jenkins 12, Mike Green 10, Brian Donahue 9, Caleb Lundy 7, Dylan Powell 3.
West Catholic: Jalyn Hopkins 16, Kingston Wheatley 10, Isaiah Muhammad 9, Eric Scott 8, Saaid Lee 7, Naseem Perez 3, Rahmir Speaks 2.
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.
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