City of Basketball Love

By David Comer
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NORRISTOWN — Roman Catholic seniors Shareef Jackson and Sebastian Edwards did not have to be reminded about the last time they played at Norristown Area High School. They remembered. All too well.

On March 16, 2024 — exactly 52 weeks ago to the day — their 2023-24 season ended with a 57-50 loss in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals to eventual state runner-up Parkland.

“They outhustled us,” Edwards recalled. “We were flat the whole game.”

Jackson also remembered that day: “We definitely talked about losing last year and coming back here and not wanting it to happen again.”

Jackson and Edwards made sure it didn’t, as Roman Catholic defeated Coatesville, 52-42, on Saturday before a capacity crowd in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals in the same gym where last season came to an end for the Cahillites.

Roman Catholic, the third-place team from District 12, improved to 24-5 on the season and advanced to the PIAA Class 6A semifinals on Saturday at a site to be determined, where they will play District 7 champion Upper St. Clair, a 51-49 overtime winner over McDowell. Sophomore guard Tyler Sutton led the Cahillites with 17 points, while Jackson added 15 and Edwards finished with 11.

Roman Catholic coach Chris McNesby said the team talked about last year’s loss to Parkland during the practices leading up to Saturday’s return visit to the scene of last year’s season-ending loss.

“Parkland had a bunch of seniors who just seemed to — in that moment — want it a little bit more than us,” McNesby said. “It feels like we were just here, and they kind of remembered that sting a little bit.”

Roman Catholic and Coatesville entered the game coming off completely different types of wins in the PIAA Class 6A second round. The Cahillites defeated defending state champ, Central York, by 50 points. Meanwhile, the Red Raiders got a three-pointer from Amon Fowlkes with two seconds left for a 59-56 win over Cumberland Valley.

The first quarter set the tone for the rest of the game. There would be no easy baskets.

Roman Catholic, behind six points from the 6-foot-8 Jackson, took an 11-8 lead after the first quarter.

“I thought I had a really good first quarter,” Jackson said.

Edwards hit a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter, as Roman Catholic extended its lead to 21-12.

“I had to find my rhythm,” Edwards said. “It took me a minute to find my shot.”

But Coatesville didn’t go away, as they scored the final six points of the first half to pull within 21-18 at halftime.

Roman Catholic entered the game focused on containing Coatesville’s 6-foot-5 freshman star Colton Hiller.

“We really wanted to limit his touches,” McNesby said. “He’s a really talented player. He has a lot of range. He shoots it deep. As soon as he came across halfcourt, we were right on him.”

Hiller scored two points in the first half and finished with a team-high 13. Wherever he went, Roman Catholic junior Sammy Jackson - Shareef’s brother - followed. Hiller’s eight points in the third quarter, including a deep three-pointer with one second left, pulled Coatesville within 34-32 entering the fourth quarter.

Shareef Jackson’s steal and layup with just under four minutes to play extended Roman Catholic’s lead to 45-39, and Coatesville did not get any closer.

“I’m not going to lie,” a smiling Jackson said of the steal that led to his key basket. “It should have been a little bit of a foul.”

For Coatesville, its season ends with a 24-7 record and in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals for the third year in a row. Coach John Allen has rebuilt his alma mater into one of the top programs in the Philadelphia area — a program he helped win a state championship in 2001 before embarking on a stellar career at Seton Hall University and a long stint playing professionally overseas.

He’ll say goodbye to eight seniors led by Fowlkes, who came over from Collegium Charter after his freshman year and instantly became an integral part of the Coatesville prgorgram.

“Man, it’s tough,” Allen said. “The seniors - they’ve been a part of everything that I’ve done. ... I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for me, restoring the tradition of Coatesville, and I told them in basketball, in anything, somebody has to lose. But we’re not losers. We went out as winners - went out as winners.”

“It’s difficult. It’s difficult for us to be in this position, to be so close and to fight and compete and then lose,” he added. “And that happens in basketball, but it’s difficult. That doesn’t make it less difficult. I’m hurt, the players are hurt, we worked as hard as we can for the city, for the community, for ourselves, for our families. And they fought, man. They fought. I couldn’t ask for more. Except a few more shots to go in. But that’s sports. That’s sports. It’s the pain and the joy of it. We had joy the other day and pain today. It is what it is.”

For Roman Catholic, they will have off until Saturday when they play an Upper St. Clair team that is 26-2 on the season and is led by 6-foot-10 Tyler Robbins, a Miami (Ohio) commit whose dunk with 1.2 seconds to play lifted his team into the PIAA Class 6A semifinals.  The Cahillites know that they will have to travel farther than Norristown for their next game — Upper St. Clair, which is 10 miles south of Pittsburgh, is approximately 315 miles from Broad and Vine.

“It’s fun,” McNesby said. “It’s the state playoffs. That’s what makes it unique.”

“They don’t know you, and you don’t know them,” Edwards said of playing an unfamiliar opponent in Upper St. Clair. “It makes it a better experience.”

Edwards and Jackson have looked at the PIAA Class 6A bracket. They know that a rematch with Father Judge, who beat Roman Catholic, 41-34, in the Philadelphia Catholic League championship game on the last Sunday in February, is a possibility in the state championship game that is scheduled for March 29 at the GIANT Center in Hershey.

“We have been taking it one game at a time but definitely looking forward to it - but not enough to harm us,” Jackson said. “The state championship is big, but this year is even bigger with the chance to play the guys that beat us.”

But Roman Catholic knows that it has to win another game before it could possibly have another shot against Father Judge.

“When you start this tournament you know the potential is there, but it’s so far away,” McNesby said. “You kind of put it away, but as it inches closer you kind of think about it - but you have to get through the next one.”

Jackson, who has committed to Lafayette College, will be trying to reach his third state championship game during a remarkable career.

As a freshman, Roman Catholic won the state title. When he was a sophomore — the last time Jackson played in the GIANT Center in Hershey — he and his team lost to Reading in the state title game. 

Now, after Saturday’s victory, the goal for Roman Catholic is to win their semifinal game and return to the GIANT Center — as their redemption tour continues.

~~~

By Quarter
Coatesville (24-7): 8 | 10 | 14 | 10 || 42                                                                                                         Roman Catholic (24-5): 11 | 10 | 13 | 18 || 52

Scoring
Coatesville: Colten Hiller 13, Nasir Williams 9, Larry Brown 8, Amon Fowlkes 7, Armon Shockley 2, Jahil Thedford 2, Max Hiller 1

Roman Catholic: Tyler Sutton 17, Shareef Jackson 15, Sebastian Edwards 11, Sammy Jackson 3, Semaj Robinson 3, CJ Miller 2, Dwayne Ruffin Jr. 1