City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2025-26 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Deymein Doctor has seen the Pottsgrove boys’ basketball team come quite a ways in his first three years of high school. 

From his freshman through junior years, the Falcons have just about doubled their win total each time, going from a six-win team in 2022-23 to 11 wins as a sophomore and then up to a 23-5 breakthrough last year, winding up in the second round of the PIAA Class 5A state tournament. A 6-foot-5 wing guard, Doctor’s been a starter the whole way through, and has been a first-hand witness to the progress the program has made in a short period of time. 

But despite those leaps and bounds, there’s something missing from Doctor and his fellow seniors’ high school resumes: hardware. Despite last year’s stellar record, Pottsgrove lost in the Pioneer Athletic Conference and District 1 5A semifinals before its defeat to eventual state champs Neumann-Goretti in the state bracket, the Frontier Division title its only claim from an overall successful season.

The Pottsgrove Class of 2026 doesn’t want to go out that way. 

“We feel as if we earned those championships, or the right to say we won something big like that,” Doctor told CoBL. “We feel as though we put in a lot of work throughout the years that we’ve been in high school together just to say we’ve won something, and we haven’t gotten there yet. 

“This year that we’ve got coming up, we’re keyed on getting something.”

Doctor is one of three senior starters returning for head coach Scott Palladino, and was also their most productive player a year ago, averaging 14 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.6 steals per game while playing at the top of the Falcons’ 1-3-1 press defense. Bryce Phillips and Greg Rosenberger, two versatile 6-2 wings who also had their fair share of double-digit scoring outings, give Palladino a strong core of veterans to rely on for the season ahead. 

Moving on to the college ranks are another wing, 6-3 Julius Marshall (Montco) and 6-5 forward Kamal Curry, a high-flying forward and rim protector who’s now running track at Indiana (Pa.). Also gone are reserves Cam Waller, a 6-4 forward now playing football at East Stroudsburg, and guard Thomas Sambrick.

It was a lineup of five upperclassmen that functioned well together as a unit, wreaking havoc in transition against the majority of their opponents while proving plenty capable in the half-court as well.

The Falcons were at their best once the calendar hit 2025, ripping off 11 straight wins from Jan. 7 through Jan. 31 before falling short against PJP II in the PAC Semifinals. They beat Springfield (Delco.) in the district quarterfinals before losing to Holy Ghost Prep, then smacked Pittston Area in the opening round of states (83-39) before giving Neumann-Goretti a scare, losing 63-56 to end the season.

“Last year, I thought the guys as a whole played great as a group together,” said Palladino, who’s going into the fifth season of his current run at Pottsgrove but his 15th overall at the school, having also coached there from 2006-16. “They played very unselfish; out of those five guys who started, four of the five were in double figures.”

Without those four seniors, Palladino’s looking to see who of his formerly deeper reserves will step up and show they’re ready. Most likely to make a significant varsity impact is sophomore wing/forward Chance Rosenberger, Greg’s younger brother, who got some spare minutes a year ago. 

“It makes me extremely excited for him, obviously he’s always been challenged (playing against) me and my friends,” Greg Rosenberger said. “Seeing him being able to take all those years of being the younger one, not knowing as much, and now being on the court and playing with us at our level and doing his own thing, it’s really cool.”

Beyond that, there’s a lot of possibilities. 

Junior guard Ezai Jones, a 6-0 guard, transferred in from Pottstown this offseason. Seniors Darien Horton (6-0) and Chase Hawthorne (6-1), and junior Lee Day (6-1) are also in the mix, as are sophomores Jahtari Martin, a 6-2 center, and 5-10 sophomore guard Luke Henzes.

It’ll likely take Palladino most of the preseason and into the regular season to firm up his rotation, to figure out exactly how deep his group can go and what player combinations work best on the court. But his top three alone should have the Falcons right in the mix in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, where defending champs Pope John Paul II also return a senior backcourt but Spring-Ford, Phoenixville and Methacton — other annual contenders — have to overcome significant losses to graduation.

District 1 5A will be difficult this year, with Penncrest, Upper Dublin, Holy Ghost Prep and others sure to be in the mix. Pottsgrove’s just as confident as any of them.

“Just know that we’re coming in with a full head of steam and we’re going to try to (have a big year) again,” Rosenberger said, then corrected himself: “We’re not going to try — I believe that we’re going to do it again.”