City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The 2025 Donofrio Classic began Monday night at the Fellowship House in Conshohocken, kicking off the tournament with the first two of 10 first round games. 

CoBL will be in attendance for as many games as possible throughout the tournament. Read ahead for the game recaps and notebook featuring a handful of players from Monday night’s games:

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Game One: Success Society 90, WeR1 83

Eric Spross brought some talent over from New Jersey, including his sons Will and Dylan from Saint Joseph Academy, to take down WeR1 in the Donofrio opener.

Success Society got up by as many as 16, leading 57-47 at half. After Success built its lead up as large as 16 again, WeR1 trimmed the deficit to 83-77 with 5:20 to go. But Success Society withstood the run. Freshman Donovan Spross hit a pair of crucial triples in the second half.

Samuel Fels junior forward Isaac Kornegay led the team with 19 points. Donovan Spross had 13 points, including three triples, and juniors Will Spross and Jerry Johnson (La Academia) added another 12.

Imhotep junior wing Latief Lorenzano-White led WeR1 with 20 points, and had a huge block and slam to highlight the performance.  Senior Tommy Vaughn (Phelps School) added 15, followed by 12 from sophomore Semaj Stone (Archbishop Ryan).

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Game Two: Flocco’s 83, Uptown 80

Senior Shemar Killen (Muhlenberg) and sophomore Nick Harken (Malvern Prep) combined for Flocco’s final eight points on their way to an exciting victory.

Flocco’s led 39-36 at halftime, and though the game remained tight, Uptown played from behind most of the contest until Souderton junior Chanse Salone put his team ahead 76-75 with 3:03 left. Uptown extended its lead to three before a Killen bucket, Harken bucket and Harken layup off a feed from Killen put Flocco’s back ahead 81-80 with 1:01 left.

Flocco’s survived a go-ahead shot from Uptown and after Killen extended the lead to 83-80 on a pair of free throws with 21.4 seconds left, they got one final stop to put away the win.

Seniors Tommy Kelly (Spring-Ford) and Roman Kulesa (CB West) led Flocco’s with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Harken and Berks Catholic junior Kingston McKoy both added another 14. Salone led all scorers with 24 points, and Phelps School senior Jon Roberts chipped in 18 points.

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Harken brothers get rare chance to team up with Flocco’s

Brothers Jakob and Nick Harken played organized basketball together one time prior to Monday night during Nick’s four years of high school.

Their father Aaron Harken remembers it well as he was the coach of the Pro Skills 10th grade team that had to call up an eighth-grade Nick when too many players got sick. After scrambling to find an extra uniform, Jakob and Nick were the team’s top two scorers that weekend at Jefferson University three years ago.

With Jakob (senior) at Perkiomen Valley and Nick (sophomore) at Malvern Prep during the last two seasons, the Harken brothers never had a chance to team up again at the high school level. But Aaron and his wife Brigitte sat in the bleachers at the Fellowship House on Monday night and watched the two share the floor in an organized basketball game.

“This is the first time they’ve played together since then,” Aaron said.

“Especially since they’re never going to get a chance to play again, it was fun. It was absolutely a blast.”

Brothers Jakob, left, and Nick Harken played together for Flocco's Monday at the Donofrio Classic. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

Nick scored 14 points and Jakob dropped in four points, including a jumper assisted by Nick, in Flocco’s win over Uptown.

“I feel like whenever we go and play somewhere, whether it’s at the YMCA, or if it’s here, or even in these practices, we have chemistry,” Jakob said. “We know what each other plays like. We can hit each other on open plays. I feel like it helps to have each other on the court.”

After his freshman season at Malvern in 2023-24, Nick played with some of the area’s other talented youngsters on the Yellow Jackets at the Donofrio last spring. 

He was invited to play on a few other squads this year, but when Spring-Ford assistant Dan Corr approached Jakob about teaming up with some other Pioneer Athletic Conference standouts on Flocco’s and bringing his brother along too, the opportunity for the Harkens to play together was too good to pass up.

“Why not play together one last time?” Nick said.

Aside from pickup runs at the Y, the Harken brothers have more often gone up against each other over the past four years, helping each other carve their crafts in the offseason before going their separate ways in the winter.

Jakob, two years older, said Nick was “a grown man when he was 12,” and that strength and athleticism has given him confidence guarding whoever has come across his path regardless of the size.

Nick said Jakob’s shooting ability was a trait he always admired as someone who came into high school as a slasher. He buried a pair of threes on Monday and made sure to give credit to big bro.

“Playing against each other, it kind of helps though because you grow up playing against each other you get to know each other’s moves, so it makes you want to expand and try new things,” Nick said.

Jakob is headed to continue his academic and athletic careers at the Rochester Institute of Technology next winter after finishing off his time at Perk Valley with first team All-PAC Liberty honors this past season that included a school-record 51-point outing against Norristown.

Before he heads away, he’ll get at least one more game next Monday against with Nick and some of his other friends.

“It’s cool. Playing around here has been fun for the past 10 years,” Jakob said. “To end it with this team with some PV/Spring-Ford guys and with him, it’s a good thing.”

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Lorenzano-White continuing to blossom

Already a major piece in the Imhotep rotation heading into the season, junior Latief Lorenzano-White became even more important during the course of this winter.

The Panthers lost forward Zaahir Muhammad-Gary to injury and standout wing Zion Green to transfer (Camden), leaving the 6-foot-4 Lorenzano-White as the lone “big man” on the team and a lot of scoring and rebounding to be replaced.

Lorenzano-White was an eye-catcher his freshman season at Bartram and then did a lot of the dirty work for Imhotep during his sophomore year. He got to show off some more pieces of his game for the Public League and District 12 champions this season during his junior campaign.

“I had to grow tremendously this year because losing Zaahir Muhammad-Gray and Zion Green was really tough for us, so I had to play a bigger role and I had to try and fill his shoes,” Lorenzano-White said. “I came up short in states, but we still won the Public League and the City. That’s kind of how I had to step up.”

Lorenzano-White said he’s already hearing from several Division I programs, mentioning the Ivy League, and Penn, Brown, Princeton, and Campbell, specifically, as teams who have reached out.

He’ll have a big summer ahead with a talented Philly Pride 17U group where he’ll look to continue showing off those pieces of his game as well as the high motor and toughness that have consistently helped him produce throughout his high school career.

“They said they like my motor, how I play basically hard,” Lorenzano-White said of what has piqued college attention.

“Getting rebounds, getting out in transition and just playing hard.”

Lorenzano-White knows he’ll have to play more out on the wing at the next level, so ball handling and shooting are two focuses of development heading into his senior year.

He looked plenty comfortable from long range Monday night, hitting three triples as he fired away with confidence during his 20-point outing.

“This season, I really wasn’t making it, or even shooting it,” Lorenzano-White said. “I wasn’t confident, so this summer is just about growing, getting better at it.”

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Stoga core finishes terrific season together

After helping the Conestoga boys basketball team to history this past season, Pioneers senior Sam Gibbs and juniors Cory Hogan and Shane O’Brien got one last chance to finish off their time on the court all together on Monday night.

They were three important pieces of a Conestoga squad that ended a 38-year District 1 championship drought.

“We knew we had the opportunity, and we were all texting each other like, ‘Definitely gotta do it,’” Hogan said. “Getting one more chance to play with these guys is great.”

“It was awesome,” Gibbs added. “It was such a successful season to be able to win a district championship. To be on the court one more time with these guys was a lot of fun.”

From left, Conestoga's Cory Hogan, Sam Gibbs and Shane O'Brien teamed together one last time with Uptown on Monday night. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

O’Brien said he’s played with Gibbs since he was about five years old. He estimates he first teamed with Hogan just a few years later. They’re part of a core at Conestoga that has bought into third-year head coach Sean Forcine’s mission.

Forcine was there to watch the trio play Monday night.

“Weight room’s very important all offseason, just playing with each other throughout the summer just gets us ready for the season, and we can follow up the big season we just had this year,” O’Brien said.

“Just keep the intensity,” Hogan added. “What got us to where we were this year was just the offseason workouts, seeing the future and working hard in the present. We gotta do that, not just with the guys who are returning, but definitely teaching the guys new to the program how to win, how to play the right way, and we’ll be successful again.”

Gibbs is readying to play Division III hoops next year, with McDaniel College, Bard College and Clarkson University the programs who have offered a spot to the 6-4 guard/wing. 

The Pioneers also graduate Scranton commit Ben Robinson, but Hogan, O’Brien and junior first team all-league point guard Rowan Miller are set to return 

“Don’t count them out,” Gibbs said. “Now that they have so much experience, our core’s still there. … They’re going to be great next year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ll be able to do.”