City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It wasn’t the goal, but it was a goal. 

When Devon Prep joined the Catholic League seven years ago, winning the PCL title at some point down the line was the clear target, even though the Tide’s basketball program had a long way to go at the time. Getting there meant putting the program on the biggest stage in the area, the Palestra, the nearly 100-year-old gymnasium on Penn’s campus set off 33rd Street between Walnut and South. 

Prep actually got to the Catholic League semifinals in 2021 — but it was the COVID season, not a full PCL slate, and wasn’t held at the Palestra. An achievement, to be sure, but only a step in the right direction. 

But now, courtesy of a 63-55 win over West Catholic in a Thursday quarterfinal, Devon Prep is headed to the Palestra. The Tide, who finished tied for second in the Catholic League with an 11-2 record and earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament, will play No. 2 Roman Catholic next Wednesday (Feb. 19), at the Cathedral of College Basketball. 

“It’s so crazy,” senior wing Zane Conlon said. “Playing in that atmosphere, there’s nothing like it. And that was really the goal.”

The 6-foot-5 senior wing only needed a millisecond to correct himself.

“Well, not the goal. The goal is to win it.”

Top-seeded St. Joseph's Prep and fourth-seeded Father Judge also won their quarterfinals Thursday.

Devon Prep’s all-senior starting lineup — Conlon, Reece Craft, Calvin Smith, Shane Doyle and Mason Thear — has been playing like a contender all year long, coming off a PIAA Class 3A state championship. They’ll play in the 4A state tournament this year; West Catholic, whose season is not over, will continue in the state 3A bracket.

Now the Tide find themselves potentially two wins away from hoisting the 2025 PCL title, which would be a monumental achievement for a program that was at the bottom of the league when it joined from the Bicentennial less than a decade ago.

Devon’s program has been building towards a serious run the last few years under Jason Fisher, and it became clear this offseason that a group that went 5-8 in the PCL a year ago had a chance to take a step forward. The Tide lost their PCL opener by only six at eventual champ St. Joe’s Prep but then won their next six league games, a three-point loss to Roman Catholic their only other blemish. 

It’s a group that will enter the Palestra very much knowing it can compete for a title. 

“From the start of this season, we’ve just believed that we can be a PCL contender and can win the PCL chip,” Smith said. “It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.”

“Just being the toughest team, that’s been our motto the whole season,” Conlon said. “If we’re the toughest, we don’t think anybody can handle us.”

To get it done against West Catholic, the No. 6 seed in the league and a young squad on the rise, it took a strong effort from all five of those seniors. 

Conlon led the way with 20 points, eight rebounds and four steals, scoring his team’s first three buckets and setting the tone early. Thear, a 6-0 point guard, added six points, five assists and two steals. Doyle, a 6-3 guard, scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out six assists. Craft, a 6-7 forward, scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had two blocks on one of the most important defensive possessions of the game. And Smith, a 6-3 shooting guard, added 14 points, all in the second half, including the biggest shot of the evening. 

As a group, they defended West Catholic effectively for long stretches, forcing more than 15 turnovers and largely controlling the glass.

Craft and Smith’s clutch moments came back-to-back. 

With Devon Prep up seven points midway through the third quarter, having grown a one-point halftime edge thanks to a couple Smith 3-pointers, Craft rejected not one but two straight layups in a row but West Catholic’s all-league junior, Kingston Wheatley (9 points, 10 rebounds), the second one landing in the hands of Thear. The point guard raced up the court and kicked to Smith on the right wing, Smith letting fly as a defender collided with him. 

His four-point play put Devon in control up 41-30 with three minutes left in the third, a major momentum swing in the span of about 10 seconds, Prep coach Jason Fisher yelling “more of it” over and over as Smith got ready to shoot the foul shot.

“At the break I probably had 10 people telling me to be ready to shoot it, keep shooting,” said Smith, who missed his three first-half triples but finished 4-of-8 from deep. “Everyone’s confidence helped me look for my shot and helped me know that every shot I take is going to be a good shot.”

Devon Prep took a nine-point lead into the fourth and built it to as many as 13 multiple times in the fourth quarter. West Catholic senior Saaid Lee (22 points, four assists) did his best to put some pressure on Devon late, scoring 11 of his points during the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer to make it a five-point game with 46 seconds remaining. 

Doyle hit two foul shots with 36 seconds left to re-establish the lead at seven, and Conlon did the same nine seconds later. When Devon Prep got a final stop and Smith hit one more for the game’s final point with 17 seconds left, the Tide seniors finally began to exhale. 

For some, like Smith, it’ll be a return to an atmosphere they’ve experienced before as fans. Smith said he and his father came multiple times when he was growing up, including when he was a freshman and sophomore at Harriton, not imagining that he’d be there himself. 

Conlon’s been to the Palestra for Penn games, he said, but the PCL semifinals remained elusive.

“I have not — I could never get a ticket,” he said with a wry smile. 

That won’t be a problem this year.

By Quarter
DP:  13  |  10  |  22  |  18  ||  63
WC: 13  |   9   |  14  |  19  ||  55

Shooting
DP: 23-46 FG (6-17 3PT), 11-15 FT
WC: 23-44 FG (4-12 3PT), 5-7 FT

Scoring
DP: Zane Conlon 20, Calvin Smith 14, Reece Craft 12, Shane Doyle 8, Mason Thear 6

WC: Saaid Lee 22, Jalyn Hopkins 11, Kingston Wheatley 9, Eric Scott 7, Rahmir Speaks 6