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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It may be easy, on paper, to look by Spring-Ford this coming season. That is, on paper. The Rams did lose their all-time leading scorer, Jacob Nguyen (Jefferson), and one of the program’s best leaders, Tommy Kelly (Lock Haven). During their tenure, under head coach Joe Dempsey, the Rams evolved into one of the pillars in District 1 Class 6A, making the state playoffs each of the last three years and reaching the district finals for the first time in school history in 2023.

This new group of Rams plans on upholding what the previous Spring-Ford teams have done.

They know what they are up against, compensating for Nguyen’s lost scoring, and Kelly’s interior defense, rebounding and court generalship.

The Rams finished 22-9 overall last season, reaching the second round of the PIAA Class 6A state playoffs, where they lost to Catholic League champ and eventual PIAA Class 6A state champion Father Judge.

Talent is back in three returning starters 5-foot-11 senior guard Syaire Barnes, 6-foot senior guard Jack Kennedy and 6-4 senior forward Blake Turner (a Colgate football commit), who will be joined by 5-10 junior guard Matteo Magazzolo, 6-5 junior forward Bryce Robinson, 6-5 sophomore forward Duke Jackson, 6-2 junior guard Declan Plate, 6-2 senior guard Evan Diehl, 6-4 senior forward Ethan Ojakovo, and 5-8 senior guard Lymir Green, a transfer from Cardinal O’Hara.

Dempsey has built a culture here. It is a winning culture. But Dempsey, who enters his fifth season at Spring-Ford, as well as his team, do hear the whispers over social media and throughout the Pioneer Athletic Conference basketball community about how this is supposed to be “a down year” for Spring-Ford.

The last three seasons, Spring-Ford is a combined 73-21. That nucleus was bound to dissolve. This version of the Rams have known nothing but winning, riding a three-year streak of making the state playoffs. Prior to that, Spring-Ford’s boys’ basketball team had only been to the state playoffs once.

“I always like to under promise and over deliver,” Dempsey said with a laugh. “Because we lost such a great senior class, we know what a lot of people are thinking. We had such a great leader in Tommy Kelly, and that is where my concern lies. You see the Eagles bringing back a great leader like Brandon Graham, Tommy was right at the top like that. It was as much about Tommy’s leadership as his play on the court. My expectations are if the kids allow me to continue coaching them hard, buy into our culture, move the basketball and make good decisions, I’d like to think we can surprise some people.”

Dempsey has an optimistic group. It is also a team that will have a different look. Nguyen was the Rams’ obvious go-to player the previous two years.

Who assumes that role this season?

Dempsey has a variety of players to choose from, between Barnes, Kennedy, Magazzolo, and Turner. They realize no one is going to be able to fill it up each night like Nguyen did.

But it will be unique to have options.

“Syaire is an electric scorer, he is just an amazing talent with his quickness, his shooting and his ability to get to the rim,” Dempsey said. “With that said, I have always preached that my good teams in the past have had two scorers, and my great teams have had three scorers. If we can get three guys to consistently score, we will have a balanced attack. Syaire will have to score more for us. We will also have four guys on the floor who can handle the ball, and I think we will be able to shoot the three better.”

Barnes is coming off a strong summer. He displayed a penchant for scoring in bunches and possesses a stealthy shiftiness that allows him to burst to the rim. He’s added some weight since last season, and that surfaced by finishing through contact. He is not averse to diving for loose balls and has shown a scrappy side when playing defense.

Barnes likes the Rams being considered underdogs.

“We use that as motivation, because we know the work we put in,” he said. “Coach Dempsey has built this. On the first day I practiced here, you can tell there is a culture. No one is bigger than the culture which I love. I know a lot of people will look at us as underdogs losing some great Spring-Ford legends like Jacob and Tommy Kelly, but we trust ourselves that we will continue what they built. With the guard play we have now, it will be different than in past years. We will be able to run more, and we will be faster than a lot of teams.”

Dempsey may be able to go eight or nine deep. He may be able to pressure teams longer. The Rams will wait for Turner to find his basketball legs after the football season.

Since the Rams will be a guard-heavy team, the issue could be rebounding.

Dempsey will have the interchangeable luxury of Barnes, Kennedy or Magazzolo handling the point.

“We also have our big guys who can handle the ball, too,” Magazzolo said. “We could have all five guys on the court who could score. It will not be one guy. I think everyone knows we will have to share the ball to be successful. We trust each other. We will need to help on the boards.”

Kennedy, who transferred into Spring-Ford his junior year from Malvern Prep, likes the fact that everyone on this team knows their roles.

“We are together, and everyone is willing to work hard,” he said. “I see our offense flowing through everyone. We don’t have one player that teams will aim to shut down. We can be as good as we want to be. I think we have every tool to compete 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.