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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A reloaded roster doesn’t change the goals for the Perkiomen School boys one bit. 

Harry Morra’s Panthers return only a couple pieces from a squad that made it to the Pennsylvania Independent School (PAISAA) state semifinals, but they’re still loaded with future college players, all of whom are trying to win as much as possible while proving their worth to college coaches. 

It’s a balance that Morra, now in his second year with Perkiomen after a decade as a Division I assistant at Lehigh, is learning to balance. His first season went well, the Panthers sending 13 of their graduates on to a college basketball program. Now he’s got a new group, with the goal to do it all over again.

“Prep basketball is an awesome basketball environment,” said Morra, who played at DeSales and coached at his alma mater before taking a job at Lehigh in 2015. “There’s really good players and really good coaches, really good recruiting out there. It’s a lot of fun, but you’ve got to work, you can’t just show up and expect to win, you’ve got to put the time in.”

The Perk boys turned into a powerhouse under former head coach Tom Baudient, winning a PAISAA title in 2024 behind the play of Gabe Tanner (FGCU), Alex Zakheim (Brandeis), Macon Emory (Delaware), Hayden Johns (St. Anselm) and KJ Cochran (Santa Clara), among others. They’re all off at their respective colleges now that Tanner, Cochran and Johns graduated this spring; Morra has brought in a good bit of talent to replace them. 

The newcomers start with a powerful pair of forwards in 6-11 post-grad center Darnell Lloyd, a St. Andrew’s (Del.) product who just committed to Boston University, and 6-8 Tyler Royal, a high-ceiling 2028 forward who plays with Team Durant on the Nike EYBL circuit. 

On the perimeter, Charlie Yartz (State College) and Bennett White (Newman School, Mass.) are both scholarship-level 6-6 wings who are doing post-grad years at Perk as well, and 6-7 wing Reeve Sysko (George School) has high-academic D-III looks from all over. 

In the backcourt, point guard Elijah Crispin comes in after a standout career at Pitman (N.J.), and Adrian Mathas comes up from the Dallas area; Crispin was especially impressive in offseason watches, the son of Penn State assistant and former Nittany Lion standout Joe Crispin a terrific ball-handler and play-maker. 

“It’s been great playing with Elijah,” Yartz said. “he creates shots for everybody, but he also creates his own shots so it’s pretty hard to guard him, being as he creates for everybody.”

Add in returners Jack Greaves (6-7 2026 SF), Jackson Clough (6-6 2027 SF) and Evan Coleo (6-1 2026 PG), and it’s a deep group for Morra to work with, even if it’s one without a true superstar. 

“Last year was high-end talent and we just ran simple action, ball screens for KJ Cochran and Gabe Tanner, and Hayden Johns was fantastic for us, all three players averaged 15 or above,” Morra said. “Our stuff was simple, just give them the ball and space the floor. This year the group is a lot more interchangeable.”

“I think our shooting will be pretty strong, and we play very well together,” Yartz said. “There’s not really any selfishness on the team, we mesh very well as a team.”

Clough, who started off at Tower Hill (Del.) before transferring to Perk last year and repeating his sophomore year, said he was excited to see some familiar faces join the program: Lloyd, whom he played against several times when they were both in Delaware together; and Sysko, his first cousin, and now also his roommate. 

Though the returning players have their jobs in getting all the newcomers on the same page and adjusted to boarding school life, Clough also gave a lot of credit to assistant coach John Williams in that regard as well.

“Coach Williams does make our job very easy, he’s really good at making the new kids feel welcome, and every time he needs something he’ll text us and we’ll relay it to the kids, or we’ll just make sure everyone knows what they’re doing, they know where to go,” he said. “I’m on the second floor with a bunch of kids from the team, Evan’s on the fourth floor, with a bunch of kids, so we’re all together as a team.”

In addition to playing a slate of local private and prep schools, Perkiomen will also participate in the Elite Prep League (EPL), playing in multiple sessions in Virginia, as well as at the Hoophall Classic in Massachusetts and various other high-level showcases throughout November, December and January. 

By the time they get to the PAISAA tournament in February they’ll have played around 30 games, often in front of college coaches, and against some of the top talent in the country. 

“I think we can manage to go all the way in every game outside the EPL,” Clough said, “and in the EPL, we’re going to surprise a lot of teams.”