City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The gym inside MaST Charter is small — four rows of bleachers pressed up against one sideline, benches on the other, no room on the baselines for anybody besides the refs. With the walls almost entirely cinderblock, painted black and blue in the school’s colors, every noise echoes out of every corner, no place to hide 

And it was loud in there on Wednesday night as the Panthers hosted Church Farm in a battle of Bicentennial Athletic League unbeatens, a small-but-vocal student section adding the most noise on top of an energetic group of cheerleaders, as well as other parents and fans filling up the limited seating room.

That hasn’t been the norm at the Northeast Philadelphia charter school, a K-12 institution founded in 1999 and located in a renovated former steel factory. Until this season, when a group with higher expectations than any that came before them is so far living up to them. 

“First home game of the year, I knew something was different, that’s for sure,” senior guard Reuben Dorceus told CoBL. “Usually, throughout the years, (there) would be some games that are really popular. [...] Now I feel like more people show up because they know we can compete with anyone in the gym.

“I feel like outside of basketball, this team has good chemistry with people outside of the team, which builds more people to come to our games, it’s like a family bond.”

Reuben Dorceus goes up for a layup in the second half of MaST Charter's win over Church Farm on Weds., Jan. 7, 2026. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The hometown crowd had plenty to cheer about on once again, as MaST Charter outlasted Church Farm for a 57-42 win on Wednesday to stay unbeaten in BAL play.

The Panthers (11-2, 7-0) got a stat-sheet stuffing performance from senior guard Shawn Nunez to lead three in double figures as the Panthers emerged victorious over the Griffins (6-1, 4-1) in a physical, intense game that featured multiple foul-outs, 48 combined foul shots, 37 combined turnovers and the ejection of Church Farm head coach Jonathan Guarente less than two minutes into the second quarter. 

Pretty, it was not. But despite the intensity of the atmosphere and the overall physicality of the contest, the undersized Panthers never lost their cool or their composure, even when two of their top six fouled out in the final minutes. 

“It’s huge, this is the first time we’ve had guys keeping their composure,” fourth-year head coach Pat Mulville said. “We haven’t gotten a technical foul all season, which is a huge thing.

“It’s not the MaST of old, we try to keep telling our guys that,” added Mulville, a 2015 Father Judge grad who previously spent two seasons on staff at his alma mater before coming to MaST. “The first thing I said to them when this season started: we’re no longer a boys basketball team, we’re a program, a boys high school basketball program, and I think that’s been the biggest difference, and it starts with [...] Shawn and Reuben.”

A 6-foot-1 combo guard who’s been a starter since the first game of his freshman year, Nunez contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, five steals and three blocks on Wednesday night, an effort that’s become typical. Dorceus, a 5-9 point guard who’s been going to MaST since second grade, added 12 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals while doing much of the ball-handling against the Church Farm press. 

The two are both from Northeast Philly, about 20 minutes from their school, near Northeast High on Cottman Ave., both 1,000-point scorers and small-college recruits. 

Shawn Nunez contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, five steals and three blocks in the win. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“We feed off the two of them,” Mulville said. “When they’re bringing energy and they’re playing defense the right way, our guys just feed off of them.”

The pair’s presence were no doubt the biggest reason MaST expected a breakthrough this year after fourth-place BAL finishes each of the last three years. The Panthers went 17-9 (11-4) last year, losing to Phil-Mont Christian in the BAL quarterfinals. They did qualify for the PIAA Class 3A tournament; the previous few years, Districts 1 and 11 had a combined 3A bracket, which saw MaST lose to Lehigh Valley squads in the quarterfinals, but last year they faced New Hope-Solebury and Bristol en route to capturing the district title. 

With its starting backcourt back in the mix as seniors, the Panthers could only aim higher this time around.

“It feels deserved and I feel like this team is proving what we’ve been working on for the last four years,” said Nunez, who happened to play for Mulville’s younger brother Mike as an eighth grader at St. Martin de Porres. “It’s my senior year and I want to show the league what we’re really capable of.”

MaST trailed by one after the first quarter but took control in a foul-heavy second, going up 29-25 at the break. It was 42-35 Panthers entering the fourth quarter, but the hosts played strong throughout the final period. 

Nunez put them up 46-37 with 6:50 to play on a steal-and-score; his final points came with 2:50 left, keeping the edge at nine points. Dorceus made some good plays with the ball in his hands from that point, including finding a wide-open Mikey Perez under the basket on an inbounds play, Perez depositing the ball up and in for a 11-point lead with 80 seconds to play.

Sophomore guard Mikey Perez scored 10 points on Wednesday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“Huge step up from Mikey,” Dorceus said of the sophomore, who finished with 10 points. “That’s a guy you can’t hate, he’s always positive about someone, he’s always letting someone know the highs, he’s never negative. He’s a good teammate, I love him.”

Junior guard Brian Mallon, who joins Nunez and Dorceus as a returning starter from last year, added eight points. Sophomore guard Gabe Jenkins scored nine with seven rebounds. 

Senior guard Carl Raymond scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the way for Church Farm, a boarding school which hadn’t played since Dec. 17 due to its non-local students not being around for the holidays. Junior forward Deng Mabior added 10 points and seven rebounds. 

Wednesday’s win leaves MaST as one of two remaining teams unbeaten in BAL play along with defending league champ Delco Christian (7-3, 5-0). The two meet in just six days — Tues., Jan. 13 — at MaST Charter, one of nine road games the Knights will play in their final 10 games of the regular season. If MaST wants to follow in Delco Christian’s footsteps and win its first league title this winter, it’ll likely have to go through the Knights at some point along the way.

“After every game, we write it on the board, 0-0,” Mulville said. “We’re worried about practice tomorrow and then Morrisville [on] Friday. 

“But in the back of my mind, I’ve been thinking about that game all year, so we’re excited.”

Expect it to be loud. 

By Quarter
MaST:  8   |  21  |  13  |  15  ||  57
CFS:    9   |  16  |  10  |   7   ||  42

Shooting
MaST: 20-49 FG (3-19 3PT), 14-27 FT
CFS: 14-40 FG (4-13 3PT), 10-21 FT

Scoring
MaST: Shawn Nunez 15, Reuben Dorceus 12, Mikey Perez 10, Gabe Jenkins 9, Brian Mallon 8, Logan Webb 2, Zaire Davis 1

CFS: Carl Raymond 16, Deng Mabior 10, Terrion Turner 4, Jayden Green 4, Brandon Bromfield 3, Manny Parsons 3, Chagus Agbor 2