City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

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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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There is a haunting history that looms over the Pennsbury boys’ basketball program: The Falcons have never won a District 1 championship. The last time Pennsbury played in the district championship was 2014, when the Falcons lost to powerful Chester in the Class 4A finals (under the PIAA’s previous 4A classification system). Prior to that, it was 1999, when Pennsbury lost to nemesis Chester and a bolt-of-lighting point guard named Jameer Nelson.

This Pennsbury team could break that program drought.   

Pennsbury head coach Wes Emme has it on a tiny sticky note hanging in his office: District 1 championship. He is, although, quick to put up the caution sign. Do not get carried away too fast, he warns. Emme, who is entering his fourth season as Pennsbury’s head coach and is a 2005 Pennsbury graduate, after spending 11 years as Jenkintown’s head coach, knows Pennsbury’s rich basketball history. He was once a Falcon himself. His father, Wayne, is on the Pennsbury High School Wall of Fame.

Wes has the ingredients of a really good season this year, with three returning starters back, three starters who will stand 6-foot-3 or taller, and only two seniors among his top nine rotation. It is a team that made large strides in the offseason, and could have a budding star in a rangy, returning sophomore. This is where Emme puts on the brakes.

He has a talented, young team that has not done anything yet.

What will be the Falcons’ defensive identity? Can they smooth out their transition game? Can they value the ball when pressured?

“It is challenging, because though we are talented, we are young, and prone to do some young things, so it’s why I like to be cautiously optimistic about this team, because if championships were won on talent alone, we would be one of the teams in District 1 Class 6A that people would favor,” he said. “Championships and games are won on toughness, and togetherness, and as long as we continue to develop them, I feel really good about our group.”

The Falcons are coming off a 13-12 overall season (7-3 in the Suburban One Patriot Division). They reached the second round of the PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoffs, where they fell to legendary coach Gregg Downer and traditional area powerhouse Lower Merion. The Falcons then saw their season end on 67-52 loss in the playback round to Deacon Baratta (Tufts) and Phoenixville.

It was, however, an encouraging step.

Pennsbury’s 63-49 first-round playoff victory over Great Valley last February was its first district postseason win since 2017.  In 2024, the Falcons just got into the district playoffs as the No. 22 seed, and were ousted in the opening round.

The starters back for Pennsbury are 6-foot-6 senior forward Max Manga, whose father, Charles Manga, played at Seton Hall with Samuel Dalembert, 6-5 junior forward Sean Breslin and 6-3 sophomore guard Patrick Jajua, a combo guard with vast potential as a playmaker and a scorer. That trio will be joined by a deep corps that includes 6-foot sophomore guard Brayden Clark and 5-10 junior guard Brady Kent, a pair who may round out Emme’s starting five, and 6-1 senior guard Owen Hogancamp, 5-9 junior guard Zach Staines, 6-5 junior forward Nick Bunda and 6-4 junior forward Quinton Shaffer, a high-level baseball player.

It is a deep squad with a fine blend of size, experience and talent.

“When we are dialed in, we had spurts over the summer when we were good, and times when we were inconsistent on defense, and that needs some work,” Clark said. “We have a sleeper guy on this team no one knows about, Brady Kent. We have guys who can play no one knows about.”

The first hurdle will be getting through the Suburban One Patriot, with defending regular-season champion Bensalem, which beat the young Falcons twice last season. When Pennsbury did step up in 2024-25, the Falcons struggled against Philadelphia Public League semifinalist Dobbins Tech, District 1 Class 5A finalist Holy Ghost Prep and PIAA Class 5A state semifinalist Upper Moreland.

Emme is turning over the keys to the car to Clark, and Jajua will be transitioning from the point guard to the shooting guard spot. Clark and Jajua grew up together. They played for the same Philly Pride AAU team at one point, and they know each other’s strengths.

“Patrick is one of the best passing big guard I have ever had,” Emme said. “As a passer and creator, that is his best skill. He plays the highest level of AAU and can score.”

Jajua was a pass-first guard. Emme wants him to be more assertive with the ball shooting.   

“We can be good this year,” Jajua said. “I like the potential of this team. Everyone on this team has shown certain glimmers in certain games, but no one has been able to keep it consistent, and once we are all able to do it, we are going to be good. We are going to be big. I didn’t realize that until our summer workouts. We have guys who do well in our structured offense. Our transition offense can be better and will be better.”

Pennsbury may be able to compete with District 1 powerhouses like Coatesville, Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Lower Merion, and Conestoga for the district title. It will depend on how quickly the Falcons become a cohesive unit.

Breslin and Clark said the players are not afraid to talk to one another about bigger pictures.  

“We believe in ourselves, and we do talk about big things,” Clark admitted. “Skills pay bills, and we learned a lot from last year. It gave us confidence. We talk about mental toughness and being together on and off the court.”

With only two seniors among its top nine players, Pennsbury will have a window of achieving program history these next two years, beginning with this season.

“What will really be important to our success is talking things out among each other,” Breslin said. “We do that. We were a very young team on that big stage (at Lower Merion in last year’s districts) and playing big teams this offseason will prepare us better for that this year. We grew accustomed to rough basketball. We think this is our time. We have talented guys with high basketball IQs and that knowledge will take us far this year.”    

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.