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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Ryan Ansel knows the harsh reality of playing in the Philadelphia Catholic League. It’s a hungry monster always looking to eat. Four of the six PIAA state champions (West Catholic-3A, Devon Prep-4A, Neumann-Goretti-5A, Father Judge-6A) are in what is probably the best league in the state and among the best in the country.

Ansel, who will be entering his third season as Explorers’ head coach, was told going into the 2024-25 season that his team may win two or three league games. La Salle won six, finishing 12-11 overall and 6-7 in the Catholic League. The Explorers even made the first round of the league playoffs, bowing to Archbishop Ryan (52-48), after beating eventual state champion Neumann-Goretti by double digits during the regular season.

It was a great first step towards what Ansel is looking to build at La Salle.

“We didn’t know who our starters would be, one of returning starters was not healthy, and we did go on to win six games in the Catholic League,” Ansel said. “This year, I return a whole new team, but a team that has played together during the spring and into the summer. Last year, I started three football players that came back to tryouts and did not do anything since April.

“We had a lot of question marks and we were able to figure out, and part of it was because we were physically dominant. What we have going for us this year are a bunch of young guys committed to going forward growing this program.”

Ansel will need to make up for the loss of shooting guard Nick Parisi, and two Notre Dame-bound football players, 6-6 Joey O’Brien and 6-8 Grayson McKeogh, who will be enrolling early to Notre Dame.

What Ansel does have back begins with the lone returning starter, 6-foot-1 junior guard Nick Neri, who will get help from 6-2 junior guard Tyler Branson, a transfer from Medford Tech (N.J.), 6-4 junior guard Max Okebata, 6-8 sophomore center Pryce Alston, and 6-7 junior forward Mack O’Neill. Ansel may go 10 or 11 deep, with 6-3 sophomore guard Jaxson Carroll, 6-2 sophomore guard Nate Walsh, 6-2 sophomore guard Jayden Carr, 6-4 senior forward Ryan Damon and a pair of 5-10 senior guards, Pat Flaherty and Jack McCabe.

With one possible senior in his projected top-eight rotation, the Explorers could be taking some early lumps.

“The fun thing is, though it stinks losing Joey and Grayson, it gives our younger guys an opportunity to play sooner,” Ansel said. “They were junior varsity players last year who will now have to learn on the go and contribute now. There are a lot of changes these guys are going to have to undergo.”

Branson will come in and play the point this season, freeing Neri to work more off the ball. The problem with that is Neri probably will not be ready until sometime late in December or early January to get his basketball legs back from what is expected to be a deep run by the La Salle football team in the PIAA Class 6A state playoffs.

Neri has added 20 pounds and Alston and O’Neill are more physically mature than a year ago. If this summer is any indication, La Salle will be scrappy. With the depth Ansel may have, he could throw waves of players on the court to push tempo and create offense off turnovers.

Back in September, La Salle played a horrible first half in a charity tournament against District 1 Class 5A title contender Penncrest, and the Explorers made a complete turnaround in the second half to win a low-scoring game (Penncrest was without numerous prime players). It was a crumb, but if Ansel can gather moments like that second half, he will have a competitive team that could be set up for an impactful 2027 season when this young core gains more experience.

“We are a young team, and our expectations are to apply pressure, and speed up opposing teams,” Branson said. “We are still figuring out our chemistry, with a lot of new moving parts that need to be pieced together. We are still learning about each other. We will need to learn how to win. We all push each other.”

Branson mentioned transition defense could be a concern, as well as communicating better on defense, calling out picks and switches. Spacing could be better on offense, and Alston and O’Neill will need more time figuring out how to stop the Catholic League bigs, and build confidence towards scoring inside.

If La Salle was in any other league in Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Explorers would be contenders.

“Because we are close, and one of our biggest strengths will be our size, I think we will be in games,” Alston said. “We are playing to win, but we do know the reality. It’s our goal to be competitive. We know we have a new, young team that will be learning as we go. But I also think we’re going to better later in the season.

“Our goal is making it as far as possible, whether we get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, or we make it to the Palestra. We know, as a young team, we are going to take our share of lumps. But we do have a little leeway to take this experience to learn about each other. We can sneak up on some people.”

Okebata sees this season as a fresh, new start for the program to buy into Ansel’s message and system.

By mid-January, La Salle could be a competitive team in the Catholic League.

“Our togetherness last year, when we got down, would come apart. We need to move forward and pick everyone up, not tear down,” Okebata said. “We are going to play a lot of guys and play 94 feet. Our culture this year will be way different. What will we do when the hard times come? No one got down on each other this summer when we were down in games,”

Ansel’s priority is to make the Catholic League playoffs and see what happens after that. His goal was to find players willing to be part of a building process and be willing to work together.

“We have the pieces to compete with anyone,” he said. “Again, it will be a learning process. We will not be the same team in January and February as we are in December. We want to be in position to make the playoffs. We won’t give up. We will fight.”

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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.