skip navigation

Current Section

PIAA Class 4A Boys' Championship Preview: Berks Catholic vs. Devon Prep

03/25/2025, 1:45pm EDT
By Rich Flanagan

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
—

Zane Conlon’s final high school game will be the culmination of a prolific career coming to an end, but it will also be a connection to his childhood as he prepares for both the biggest game of his life and the school he almost attended.

Conlon and Devon Prep will meet Berks Catholic in the PIAA Class 4A Championship Game on Thursday night at the GIANT Center in Hershey as the Tide look to secure their third state title in four seasons. Conlon is originally from Berks County as his father, Joe who played football and wrestled at the University of Pittsburgh, and his mother, Stephanie settled there and raised their family.

Conlon’s older brother, Joe Conlon Jr. played basketball at Berks Catholic where he teamed with Kyran Mitchell, the older brother of former Wilson High School star and Marquette guard Stevie Mitchell. The duo helped the Saints advance to the state tournament in 2019 where they bowed out to Donta Scott and Imhotep Charter, who were in the midst of three consecutive titles, in the first round.


Devon Prep senior Zane Conlon (front) grew up a Berks Catholic fan. (Photo courtesy Conlon family)

Conlon already has memories stirring and added intrigue as longtime friends will descend upon the GIANT Center to watch the Berks County native play against a team he is quite familiar with.

“It’s definitely a cool, full-circle moment but I have to look at it as any other game,” Conlon said. “It’s the state championship and both teams are going to try to win, so I’m just looking at it as a regular game.”

Growing up, Conlon played for the Integrity Falcons, a local Berks County AAU team founded by Kyran and Stevie Mitchell’s parents, teammates with Berks Catholic senior Zach Suski; over the years, he's become friends with much of the current Saints' rotation.

The connections don’t stop there. Berks Catholic head coach Ken “Snip” Esterly, who has won more than 800 career games, coached Joe Conlon Jr., and one of Esterly’s assistants at the time was Matt Ashcroft, who led Exeter to the 2023 PIAA Class 5A title game and also happens to be Devon Prep senior guard Shane Doyle’s cousin.  

“I played with pretty much all of them and grew up with them,” Conlon said. “Even Shane, whose parents went to [Reading] Central Catholic, has roots there.”

Jake Linderman is a senior of this year’s Berks Catholic squad; his father, Jason Linderman, was Conlon’s head coach at Immaculate Conception Academy in grade school. Interestingly enough, Jason’s brother Joe Linderman was the 1996 Small School Player of the Year at now-defunct Reading Central Catholic while the late Kobe Bryant was the Large School POY, and Joe led the program to the PIAA 2A title game that season. The connections to Conlon’s upbringing will intersect with his current life at Devon Prep on the biggest stage that Pa. high school basketball has to offer. 

Even head coach Jason Fisher has been briefed on the backstory leading up to this historic matchup.

“Steph has been talking about this game for four years,” Fisher said. “It’s crazy that Zane’s final high school is going to be against Berks Catholic and I’m glad it worked out that way. She knows them very well and has been trying to provide as many tips as she possibly can. It’s ironic that the program that she’s talked about for four years will play against her son in the last high school game he’ll play.”


Conlon is one of five senior starters on the Tide. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Conlon has been one of the catalysts during this state tournament run just as he was last year. The 6-5 senior forward is averaging 16.4 ppg and 9 rpg heading into the state final and has been masterful, as evidenced by his 27-point performance against Valley View in the semifinals. Doyle and Swarthmore commit Reece Craft are the other two integral members who contributed to last season’s victory. Doyle, a 6-3 guard, is averaging 9.2 ppg and has 79 steals on the season. Craft, a 6-7 senior forward, is averaging 17.2 ppg and 8.1 rpg and was as equally dominant as Conlon in the state semifinal win with 24 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

The level of consistency Devon Prep (22-5) has been playing with over the last four seasons has been nothing short of remarkable. Prior to the 2021-22 season, the deepest the program had advanced in the state tournament was the quarterfinals, most recently in 2005. That 2022 PIAA 3A title led by IV Pettit (Chestnut Hill College), Allen Cieslak (Susquehanna College), Lucas Orchard (Monmouth), Jacen Holloway (Army) and Ty Mishock (DeSales) ushered in a new era in Devon Prep basketball and set the program on its current course. What made last year’s state championship victory, a 60-56 triumph over Franklin Area, so distinct from 2022 was the fact that the Tide were missing two starters yet brought home the second state crown in program history.

That was the true turning point for Fisher regarding the state of his program and its longevity.

“The best way to explain it is last year’s state playoff run where we went through it, lost two of our starters and still won the state championship with guys who didn’t play much during the regular season,” Fisher said. “That was really the moment for me that showed we’re doing the right stuff as a program. It’s not just the five guys who play all the time from top to bottom. You throw in Zach [Orchard] and Cooper [Fairlamb] and those guys who didn’t get to play or got a lot of time during the year. They stepped right in and were able to maintain that same standard. 

"We really only play six guys this year and when other guys go in, the standard is the standard. They have to live up to it and that’s how hard they have to work all the time.”


Shane Doyle (above) also has connections to the Berks Catholic program. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Those two guys who didn’t play in the 2024 state tournament were Mason Thear and Calvin Smith, both of whom had to sit out due to PIAA transfer rules. Thear was a Third Team All-Catholic this season and the 6-1 senior guard is making the most of his final season, averaged 10.6 ppg and has made 36 three-pointers. Smith, a 6-3 senior guard, is the best shooter on the team, hitting 57 shots from behind the arc this season, including four makes from deep in the state quarterfinals against Bishop Shanahan.

The success has bred continuity, and that continuity has Devon Prep on the precipice of its third state championship, putting it in a unique position where the likes of Neumann-Goretti (9) and Roman Catholic (4) sit as Philadelphia Catholic League boys programs to have won three state crowns. Conlon was a freshman who saw minutes throughout the course of that 2021-22 season, and he has taken what was learned with that group and applied it to the current corps.

“My freshman year Allen, IV, Jacen and Lucas set the foundation for us, and it’s been us trying to help build what they set for us,” Conlon said.


Kingston McKoy (above) has led Berks Catholic into its first state championship game. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Berks Catholic is making its first ever trip to the state championship game and following the lead of McKoy, the 6-3 junior guard who comes into the game averaging 21.6 ppg. He has been on a tear through the state tournament, starting with his 30-point game against Simon Gratz in the opener followed by his 23-point outing against Sharon in the quarterfinals and finally his 24-point performance against North Catholic in the semis. He has scored almost 700 points this season and is a major reason the Saints are on the cusp of the program’s first title. 

Suski, a 6-foot senior guard, is averaging 12.8 ppg and is second on the team in three-pointers made (31) to McKoy’s 61 made treys. Gavin Welker (7.7 ppg), a 6-3 junior wing, and Carmelo Harper (6.4), a 5-10 freshman guard, have combined for 49 three-pointers this season. Harper is coming on at the perfect time, having scored 17 and 13 in the past two games.

Winning one state title put the 2025 class in the same echelon as the 2022 group. Fisher noted, while this team has already cemented itself as one of the best Devon Prep has ever produced, a second championship would put it in a class of its own.

“It would be a great way to cap off the seniors’ four-year run but really, they’ve still accomplished a lot,” Fisher said. “It’s not going to take away from anything they’ve done. They’ve left a mark on the program.”

Conlon will certainly be the center of attention on Thursday night, both from a matchup standpoint and storyline attraction. He will have plenty of people he knows in the stands as well as those he shared fond memories with while growing up and playing for the Integrity Falcons on a court that he has had great success on thus far. He had 20 points in last year’s final and wants nothing more than to help this corps cement its legacy in his final game.

“This has been the goal since the start of the year,” Conlon said. “I know all of our guys want to go out with a win. We want that storybook ending for our high school careers. If we can get it done, it will be complete.”

D-I Coverage:

View All |

HS Coverage:

View All |

Recruiting News:

View All |

Tag(s): Home  Rich Flanagan  High School  Boys HS  Catholic League (B)  Devon Prep