City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The Post & Pivot Pre-Live event took place this past Sunday at Jefferson University, with 18 area boys’ teams getting in a couple games of competition in advance of the June live recruiting periods, which take place each of the next two weekends. 

CoBL had multiple writers in attendance to check out the action. Here’s a notebook full of content from the morning and early afternoon:

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ANC’s Cameron Smith talks first offer

They’re words that are still ringing in Cam Smith’s ears. 

“We’d like to offer you a scholarship.”

It was Bucknell head coach John Griffin III who became the first coach to say that sentence to the Academy New Church rising senior, doing so after ANC played at the school during a team camp last month.

“It still kind of hasn’t registered to me. I still think about it,” Smith said. “Even going back to [when I was] at La Salle [High School], I never really thought I would get a D-I offer. I’ve just been working my ass off.”

Smith said he’s been hearing from Griffin and the Bucknell staff for the better part of a year, going up on an unofficial visit late in the 2024-25 season to take in a game. Griffin, the former St. Joe’s Prep and Bucknell standout, is going into his third season at his alma mater, having gone 18-15 (13-5 Patriot League) last season to tie for the league’s regular-season championship.

“He just said he thinks I’m a winner, I do all the right stuff to win,” Smith said. “Even if it doesn’t show up in the stat sheet, I’m trying to do what’s best for my team. Team first, before myself.”

They’re one of several Ivy and Patriot League types who’ve been on his recruitment, along with Binghamton; Smith said those schools have told him they’ll come out to see him later this month when ANC plays at the DMV Live event this upcoming weekend and at the Mid-Atlantic Independent School Showcase in Allentown the following one. 

A 6-7, 215-pound forward, Smith is going into his third year at Academy New Church after starting off his high school career at La Salle. A skilled big whose best asset is his ability to stretch the floor and take advantage of mismatches, Smith flashed those abilities Sunday as ANC topped Lower Merion; he finished with 10 points and four rebounds, hitting a smooth 15’ fadeaway and a couple other mid-range jumpers with a couple more takes to the rim, not getting a chance to attempt a 3-pointer.

Smith said he’s always working on his shot, along with his handles, as he tries to convert from more of a stretch ‘4’ to a bigger wing over the course of the next few years. 

He’s also switched from Team Melo to Philly Pride earlier this spring, joining ANC teammates Bryce Rollerson and Dior Carter on the Under Armour program’s top team. They’ll be playing in two UAA live period events, from July 10-13 at the LakePoint Sports complex in Emerson, Georgia and then the UAA finals from July 17-20 at the Wintrust Sports Complex just outside Chicago.

“The chemistry’s great and the energy, everybody brings the energy,” he said. “Super-happy with it, we’ve got Dior and Bryce and me so we’ve got some good chemistry.”

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New-look Abington Friends developing chemistry

The Kangaroos have a bit of a different bounce this summer. 

The lineup that Abington Friends coach Jon Wessel rolled out Sunday looked quite different from the one that finished up at the end of last season, thanks to the graduation of four seniors but also due to the arrival of a whole bunch of new faces. Jalyn Hopkins (West Catholic), Semaj Stone (Archbishop Ryan), Andrew Hall (Germantown Academy), Case Davis (Prep Charter) and RaShawn Kim (Neumann-Goretti) are all brand-new to the program, joining the Friends’ Schools League school in the last few weeks. 

It’s a group that adds talent, and also youth: Hopkins is the only one repeating his junior year, the rest are all going to be sophomores. That’s a key quality for a program that’s gone the better part of a decade since it was a serious competitor in the Friends’ Schools League, a league it used to regularly finish near the top of under longtime head coach Steve Chadwin.

The only senior in the starting lineup in a 45-43 win over Dobbins Tech was Rob Spruill, who arrived at Abington Friends from Roman Catholic last summer. Now suddenly the veteran of the group, it’s largely on his shoulders to try and acclimate all of his new teammates and get them on the same page with the June live periods just a week away. 

“It’s just my job to get everybody together so that we can do it on the floor every day,” he said. “I feel like everyone’s meshing well. We’ve just been getting better every day, every game, trying to clean up mistakes, trying to just keep getting better.”

The Kangaroos’ win over the Mustangs was certainly a tale of two halves. AFS looked terrific in the opening 16 minutes, playing quality defense and getting offensive contributions from the 6-3 Spruill, 6-7 Hopkins and one other returner, 6-2 2027 Drew Lyn, who knocked down a pair of early 3-pointers, along with a couple buckets each from Hall and Stone. 

Dobbins came back in the second, getting strong play from 2028 Kyyir Roberts and 2026 Makaii Akridge to take the lead in the game’s closing minutes. But Abington Friends survived thanks to a Hopkins 3-pointer from the corner with under 10 seconds left, capping off a 11-point, nine-rebound game for the lanky forward. 

Wessel said the goal for his team this month is to develop “winning habits,” without the time to put in much in terms of X’s and O’s before playing in front of college coaches the next couple weekends. The last two years, AFS’ offensive identity has been largely based around Zamir Parker-Barnes; without him, it’s going to be a number of pieces that will share the load, and that balance will take time to develop. 

“More than years past, we can be an elite defensive team and really put some pressure on guys,” Wessel said. “I’m waiting to see what our identity will be on the offensive end, we’re still growing that.” 

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Quick Hits
— West Catholic has an incoming freshman to watch in Mehki Graves. A solid-built 6-5 wing with an advanced physicality for his age, Graves is an active body who’s quick on his feet and has good hands and feel. He might not be immediately ready to jump into the Burrs’ starting five, with Kingston Wheatley in the middle, but he gives them some good size off the bench and has good upside for the next few years.

— Camden (N.J.) had an almost entirely new-look squad, one with a lot of youth. One returner is 2028 F Andre Robinson, younger brother of former Camden standout Cornelius ‘Boog’ Robinson (Monmouth), a 6-6 forward who (like his brother) is a physical combo forward who did a good job defensively against Wheatley for long stretches before Wheatley got going in the second half. A pair of newcomers with upside are freshmen guards James Coleman and Jackson Davis, while senior guard Alex Pace is a Georgia native with Division I offers. 

— The biggest team in the Public League next year might be Samuel Fels. Rising senior forward Izaaz Kornegay sets the tone at a physical 6-6, and head coach Jamel Lindsay has a number of other pieces 6-5 and taller to roll out, including in his younger classes. Even his guards are big, like incoming freshman Syrus Gaines (6-4), while junior wing Keiran ‘Kazzy’ Favors is long and lanky at 6-5. That size was a major problem for Devon Prep in a 38-27 Fels win. 

— Lower Merion’s graduated just about its entire starting lineup each of the last three years, but the Aces have kept winning regardless. This year’s group will be a little younger, as Gregg Downer’s program will be largely 2027-focused, including a pair of returning varsity contributors in Will Yard and Kyle Parrish, along with forward Nick Drogut. Also contributing as a starter on Sunday was 2028 guard Israel Ingram and 2027 guard Cayden Arnold.