City of Basketball Love

By Corky Blake
—

It’s been more than a month since Devon Prep lost in the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals to Roman Catholic in the Tide’s first trip to the Palestra.

Devon Prep hasn’t been defeated since, including Friday night’s methodical 64-44 dismantling of District 2 champion Valley View in the PIAA Class 4A boys semifinals at Parkland High School to advance to Thursday’s state championship game in Hershey against Berks Catholic.

Maybe having an entire week off since its 24-point quarterfinal victory over Bishop Shanahan re-centered the Tide. Devon Prep coach Jason Fisher wasn’t so sure his team benefited from the extended break, which was a result of the Giant Center not being available for the PIAA finals this weekend. But Fisher did like what he saw from start to finish against the Cougars.

“They played hard; they played good defense,” Fisher said. “We definitely had a letdown after the Palestra, but the last two games we’ve been coming out of that funk. I believe we have yet to play our best game.”

The Tide (21-5) has one more opportunity to deliver an A-plus performance in the eyes of its veteran coach, and it might be needed to earn its third PIAA championship in the last four years against Berks Catholic, which ousted North Catholic 67-59 in the other semifinal.

“Our goal was to get to the Palestra, which we did, and now we want to go back-to-back,” said Devon Prep senior guard Shane Doyle, who experienced Hershey gold as a member of the 2022 and 2024 Class 3A championship teams. “Normally, we’d be playing twice a week (in the playoffs). We had a little break and then had three days of hard practices. We knew Valley View would be a tough team coming from the Scranton area.”

Valley View’s calling card in its three state wins was a stifling defense coupled with big offensive runs. Neither of those things materialized against the Tide.

After the Cougars drew to 12-10 with 3:27 to go in the opening quarter, Devon Prep scored the next eight points on a Mason Thear 3-pointer, a Zane Conlon power move to the basket and Reece Craft’s traditional three-point play off a feed from Calvin Smith on a slip screen.

By halftime, the District 12 champions had pushed their lead to 40-24 as the 6-foot-7 Craft scored 16 of his 22 points and the 6-5 Conlon collected 13 of his game-high 27 points.

“We knew they’d try to double us (in the post) and that allowed us to find open shooters,” said the Swarthmore-bound Craft who added 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots to the stat sheet. “I scored a lot (in the first half). We made an adjustment and that got Zane free after halftime.”

Devon Prep plays fast but is never in a hurry. The Tide repeatedly broke down Valley View’s defense with an extra pass for the easy basket. Early in the game, Craft outraced his defender down the court for uncontested layups in transition.

“We wanted to keep a fast pace against them,” Doyle said.

And that continued to start the third quarter. The Cougars missed their first four shots while Devon Prep built a 46-24 edge on a Craft basket from Conlon and a pair of Conlon field goals off assists from Smith and Thear.

Conlon, who is headed to Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, possesses an “old guy’s” game that is refreshing to watch in this era of spread the floor and launch 3-pointers come hell or high water.

When Conlon spots a mismatch, he backs down his defender, tucks him on his hip and takes him for a ride to the basket. When the defense sends an extra man at him, Conlon finds Craft for a layup or one of his teammates waiting for his pass beyond the arc.

Pick your poison with Conlon and the rest of the Devon Prep’s all-senior starting lineup because it’s usually a losing proposition either way.

“I’ve tried to play him 1-on-1 and I can’t beat him,” Doyle said with a laugh of facing Conlon in practice and pick-up games.

“I just try my best out there, and I’m super competitive,” said Conlon when asked if he’d ever lost a pick-up game.

Conlon said winning the PIAA championship last year after entering the tournament with a losing record – thanks to the rugged PCL – created a confidence that the Tide has carried over into the 2024-25 season.

“Playing together last year and winning the tournament and then playing together all summer helped bring us together and boost our confidence,” Conlon said. “But we got to finish this with a win.”

By Quarter
Valley View (23-6): 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 || 44
Devon Prep (21-5): 20 | 20 | 12 | 12 || 64

Scoring
Valley View: Beyon McLean 10 1-2 23, Aidan Smola 2 2-2 7, Nick Kucharski 2 0-0 4, Jagger Roe 2 0-0 4, Tyler Scoblick 2 0-0 4, Noah Veno 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 3-4 44.

Devon Prep: Zane Conlon 12 3-5 27, Reece Craft 10 2-2 22, Calvin Smith 2 0-0 5, Shane Doyle 2 0-0 4, Mason Thear 1 0-0 3, Cooper Fairlamb 1 0-0 3. Totals 28 5-7 64