City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue
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The dust has settled on Week 2 of the annual two-weekend hoopfest that is Philly Live 2025 with 10 courts of action wrapping up play Sunday night.

CoBL had writers and scouts at Jefferson University and the Alan Horwitz 'Sixth Man' Center throughout the weekend. Here's Pt. 5 of notebooks focusing on individual players and their recruitments:

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2025 Philly Live Week 2 Coverage
Standouts: Friday (Pt. 1) | Friday (Pt. 2) | Saturday (Pt. 1) | Saturday (Pt. 2) | Saturday (Pt. 3) | Sunday (Pt. 1) | Sunday (Pt. 2)
Notebooks: Recruiting (Pt. 1) | Recruiting (Pt. 2 ) | Recruiting (Pt. 3) | Recruiting (Pt. 4) | Team Coverage (Pt. 1) | Team Coverage (Pt. 2) |

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Ryan Damon (2026 | La Salle College HS)

After getting a small taste of the varsity level (10 minutes in six games) as a sophomore at La Salle in 2023-24, Ryan Damon was expecting to work himself into the Explorers’ rotation as a junior.

Then came his first AAU practice last spring when Damon went up for a layup and felt a snap in his knee — a torn ACL. The injury cost him all but one game of his junior season.

“I was expecting to get some good varsity minutes, help the team where I could, but the injury happened and I had to put the team first and get healthy for the next year,” Damon told CoBL at the Sixth Man Center on Friday after La Salle’s win over J.P. McCaskey.

Damon returned to the court in late January, around the nine-month mark from when he suffered his injury. It was his lone varsity appearance of the season.

No, it wasn’t the junior campaign he envisioned, but it was a big moment in his hoops career. It came after not being able to walk for a month. It came after three to four days of rehab per week. 

“It was tough but I was able to get through it,” Damon said.

It’s now been more than a year since his injury, and Damon said he is “100 percent back”. He suited up for Next Play Basketball this spring and looked plenty healthy during the June scholastic live periods at Philly Live. He had 15 points, six rebounds and a pair of assists in the win over McCaskey.

His play so far this offseason has caught the eye of multiple coaches at the Division III level. Damon mentioned programs from the Middle Atlantic Conference in particular have expressed interest. That’s been a reward of his hard work to get back on the floor.

“It definitely feels great when you put in all that hard work in and you can feel something come out of it,” Damon said. “It’s definitely a great feeling.”

College coaches have told Dmaon they notice his hustle and motor on the floor. The 6-foot-4 wing can put the ball through the hoop, rebound and defend as well. He looks like he will finally be a big part of the Explorers’ rotation in his senior campaign.

“I think my vocal leadership and defense,” Damon said, is what he will add to the team. “We have a bunch of young guys and I’m one of the only seniors on the team. I look forward to leading them and helping lift this program up like coach (Ryan) Ansel wants. I think this team can be a competitive and winning team in the PCL this year.”

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Nando Mirarchi & Mike Thompson (2026 | Cathedral Prep)

Tucked into the northwest corner of Pennsylvania are a pair of talented players that have played a whole lot of basketball together

Cathedral Prep’s Nandon Mirarchi and Mike Thompson have shared the court together since they were about 5 or 6 years old. Now, both have Division I aspirations, certainly both bound to play college hoops at a high level somewhere.

“We’ve got a strong together since we started playing basketball together, so we’re excited about our senior years,” Thompson said.

Thompson is a 6-foot-5 wing/forward with a skillset that translates both inside and outside. He said college coaches who have reached out value his passing skills.

He can also score it, finishing with 17 points in a win over Paul VI (N.J.). The scoring ability was particularly impressive in the midrange with a smooth turnaround jumper.

“He’s a great scorer, he’s great at everything he does, he’s a leader,” Mirarchi said of Thompson. “That’s what we need on this team.

Mirarchi is a speedy 5-foot-11 guard who can get to where he wants onthe court as well as create havoc on the defensive end. He had 30 points and five steals in the win over Paul VI (N.J.).

“He’s so quick,” Thompson said of Mirarchi. “It’s hard to stay in front of him. We all struggle in practice, and that’s a great factor. He’s got that dog in him.”

Thompson’s recruitment has varied from Division III to Division I. He said he’s been in touch with Youngstown State and a few programs from the Patriot and Ivy Leagues. He’s already attended camps at Bucknell and Lehigh and plans on going to Harvard, Penn and Lafayette later this summer.

Mirarchi said he started to feel the attention from college coaches last June when they were first allowed to contact his phone directly. He is hearing from coaches in the Atlantic 10, Ivy League, Patriot League, MAAC and MAC. He has an official visit to Mercyhurst upcoming soon.
He said coaches at the next level value his aggressiveness, shooting, defense, speed and point guard skills.

Thompson and Mirarchi will go their separate ways during the rest of July as Mirarchi plays with TNBA and Thompson plays with Team Wildcat on the Hoop Group Summer League circuit. Then it’s one last ride together for Cathedral Prep.

“Just finishing up AAU, training, and see what the future has to offer,” Mirarchi said.

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Mason Santiago (2026 | St. Peter’s Prep, N.J.)

Santiago has had a lot more time on his hands this summer. During the last three summers, the 6-foot-3 guard spent a large part of his summer playing and practicing with the Puerto Rico national team.

With no national team duties there this year, he’s getting some extra time with his high school teammates and a chance to showcase his talents during the scholastic live periods.

“I’ve been having some free time, so I’ve just been with the team a lot, working out trying to get the young guys better and stuff,” Santiago said Saturday at Jefferson.

Santiago is a 6-foot-3 guard with a solid frame. He scored 20 points, corralled seven rebounds and added three steals Saturday against Neumann-Goretti. With a size and strength advantage at the guard spot, he can score the basketball, rebound and defend.

The goal this summer is to make himself into more of a playmaker, handling the ball and setting up his teammates, to improve himself as a prospect at the next level.

“I’ve been trying to work on getting my handle up, really becoming a point guard instead of a combo guard. I’m really trying to elevate to the ‘1’ because guys like me, 6-3, combo guard isn’t really ideal. For me to get to the next level, I feel like I gotta be a true point guard.”

Santiago announced offers from Fairfield, St. Peter’s and Albany last August as well as East Carolina and Fordham in the fall. He said Saturday that Albany, Fairfield and St. Peter’s are still reaching out consistently with St. Peter’s checking in about every other day.

Rider became the latest school to offer him on Tuesday.

“Having schools like that reaching out to me, talking to me, it’s a blessing because I never really though that basketball would take me this far,” Santiago said. “I’ve been taking it day-by-day, really appreciating the schools that have been talking with me and hopefully I get to attend on of them and do my thing over there.”

Toussaint Malukila (2028 | Paul VI, N.J.)

Malukila, originally from the Congo, has the look of a Division I hooper, even if he’s still somewhat of a newcomer to the sport. The 6-foot-11 forward said he’s only seriously played basketball for about three years.

He’s come a long way in that time, as shown in a 22-point, 10-rebound, three-block performance on Friday against Cathedral Prep at the Sixth Man Center.

“It’s just coming,” said Malukila, who averaged 7.5 ppg and 1.6 rpg as a freshman at Paul VI (N.J.) in 2024-25.

Malukila got his athletic start in soccer, crediting his footwork to his time on the pitch. He works hard for position in the post and has good body control once he gets the ball inside, finishing just about everything he put up inside on Friday.

Malukila won’t be confused with a sharpshooter, but he went 6-for-10 from the line on Friday with a fluid shooting stroke. It’s an area he continues to focus on and looks like he already has a solid foundation with potential to become dangerous as a mid-range threat to add another weapon to his offensive game.

“My coach makes me shoot 100 free throws after practice,” Malukila said.
Malukila said college coaches haven’t reached out yet, but he still has three years to draw attention from the next level and improve the rest of this game.

Things won’t be easy for the slender Malukila as teams throw body after body at him to try and slow him down. He had a significant size advantage against Cathedral Prep on Friday night, but still had to fight through jersey pulls, double teams, and constant attention in order to put up his big stat line.

“It’s just basketball,” Malukila said. “You’ve gotta keep playing like that. Because they know, if they leave me open I’m gonna make all shots.”