City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue
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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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The 2025-26 campaign has been four years in the making for the Harry S. Truman boys basketball team.

When head coach Randolph Jackson took over in 2023, he sent an overmatched young core out every night to take its lumps for two seasons.

After a pair of rough campaigns, the Tigers finally saw some progress last season. With one last season together, Jackson has a battle-hardened group of seniors looking to put Truman back on the map.

“It’s a very special group to me because I came in with these guys when they were freshmen,” Jackson said. “I basically threw them into the wolves. You know the history of Truman, really a historical program, but we had our downfalls and our growing period. Throughout those years, it’s been all about playing as much basketball as we can."

“Our goal is to just go out and continue to have fun, let these seniors go out with a bang and possibly put Truman back on the map."

Truman went a combined 3-26 in the two seasons before Jackson took over the program in 2022-23. The Tigers went 2-19 and winless in the Suburban One Patriot Division in his debut season. They followed with a 1-20 mark in 2023-24.

In Year 3 under Jackson last season, the Tigers put together a 7-15 (1-9 SOL Patriot) campaign that might not have caught eyes outside the program but represented a significant step forward.

Truman’s seven wins last season were the program’s most since a 7-15 campaign in 2017-18.

“We just kept going, stuck with the guys we have and all our core guys stayed and we fought through it,” senior 5-11 point guard Davae Vaughn said.

Vaughn, a second team All-SOL Patriot selection last season, will be a four-year varsity starter this season. He is one of four starters back as Truman graduated just one key senior contributor last spring.

Senior 6-1 forward Juliun Rogers dealt with an injury last season but he has seen varsity action since his freshman campaign. Senior 5-11 sharpshooter Jaden Luchansky, an all-league honorable mention in 2024-25,  is in his third year as a starter

Senior guard Zymere Dixon, and senior forward Dyson Brown are two others with ample experience. Junior guard Abdul Diallo was an all-league honorable mention during his freshman campaign, and is a dangerous scorer the Tigers are looking to take a big step forward in his third year.

“We’ve always been young,” Vaughn said. “Our main guys were young. It gave us a learning experience. Playing against all the good people when we were still young, all the bigger varsity players, people in our league. We learned from them, worked hard, got bigger and went from there.”

Vaughn and Jackson agreed there is a different feeling around this team than in the first three years they spent together. There is chemistry, expectations, and a handful of strong results in the spring, summer, and fall the Tigers have built confidence from.

“It definitely feels like we’re going to come out and do really well,” Vaughn said. “Throughout the summer, we’ve been playing really well. We’ve won a lot of games.”

The Tigers haven’t gotten any taller this season with Rogers the starting big man at 6-1. Junior forward 6-4 Sean Parker brings a little bit of the length to the front court. Their emphasis this season will be to pressure on defense, push the tempo, and collectively box out.

Their experienced backcourt will have to lead the way on both ends, particularly Vaughn who will be an extension of Jackson out on the floor.

“I expect so much out of him,” Jackson said. “His role is just to put our team in the right position offensively. Get guys in the right spot. Defensively, he's a really good, on-ball defender. For him, it’s just let the game slow down for him a little bit more. He kind of moves a little too fast for himself, but he’s our guy. He gets us going, especially on the defensive end of the ball.”

Truman won just one SOL Patriot Division game last season, and there were still a few lopsided losses in the league, but Jackson’s group did enough last season that the pieces coming back believe they’ll have a chance to be in the mix in the division this year.

The Tigers started their 2024-25 season with back-to-back two-point losses to Academy Park and Lincoln. They lost by one to Council Rock North, by four to Bethlehem Catholic and by three to Neshaminy, going 1-5 in games decided by four or fewer points.

Their goals are to win a division title and break a lengthy district playoff drought.

The Tigers haven’t had a winning campaign since 2005-06 when the program went 19-10, won a division title, reached the District 1 quarterfinals and reached the state playoffs.

“A lot of those things, especially from the outside may seem a little farfetched, but we believe those things,” Jackson said. “Last year, there were a couple of games we let get away from us. But we can compete with every team in our division. This year (the goal) is just to make that leap and be more mentally sound. That’s the biggest difference from last year to this year. Be more engaged defensively.”

“We’re trying to go out with a bang,” Vaughn said. “Our last season, we’re trying to make the playoffs and hopefully go farther.”