City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Archbishop Wood got a valuable reminder earlier this week: the Philadelphia Catholic League has no easy nights. 

The Vikings beat Father Judge in the PCL opener last week, stating an early case as to why they should be considered one of the favorites for a title come February, but then immediately lost to Cardinal O’Hara on Tuesday to come back down to earth. The Lions, like the rest of last year’s bottom half of the league, have made strides as well, and nothing’s a given.

“It showed us that you can’t take (any) games lightly, you’ve got to go into every game wanting to kill everyone in front of you,” junior guard Caleb Lundy said. “You can’t overlook any games, got to take everyone serious.”

It was a lesson John Mosco’s squad couldn’t afford to learn twice, not within their first three games of the PCL slate. So trailing by five late in the second quarter at St. Joseph’s Prep, unable to generate any reliable offense against the Hawks, the Vikings had to buckle in. 

Junior guard Caleb Lundy contributed nine points, nine rebounds and five assists to Wood's win. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Six straight points to close the half gave them the lead in the locker rooms, the start of a monster run that spanned the second and third quarters as Wood captured a key early-season league game, 48-41, at Kelly Gymnasium on Friday night. 

The Vikings (6-5, 2-1 PCL) scored the first 12 points of the third quarter to make it an 18-0 run, which opened up their biggest lead at 31-18 midway through the period. 

“We weren’t satisfied at halftime,” junior forward Jaydn Jenkins told CoBL. “We came out and we were just ready to attack and blow it open, get a lead going and get ready to win this game.”

The Hawks (5-7, 1-2) didn’t fold, getting back within as close as four points early in the fourth, sophomore wing Julian McKie (21 points, 11 rebounds, 4 steals) hitting some tough shots in the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter to get his squad back into it. But that big VIking push created enough separation for the visitors to avoid their second loss in as many games, and they were 10-of-14 from the line in the final 90 seconds.

Senior guard Brian Donahue got the third quarter started with a hoop and harm; sophomore guard Dylan Powell (11 points) added five in the period and Jenkins added four of his team-high 14 as well as his teammates did their best to keep working it inside.

A 6-foot-11 center and high-major Division I target, Jenkins added 11 rebounds for a double-double; his impact was felt throughout, including on one possession in the third-quarter run where he grabbed four straight offensive rebounds, all off his teammates’ jumpers. 

“I feel like every single night that we play I have a mismatch,” he said. “There’s not a lot of taller players in the league like me, I should be dominating.”

Jaydn Jenkins (11) was an imposing figure in the middle for the Hawks. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“Six-eleven, that’s big in college, but in high school it’s really hard to (guard),” said Prep first-year head coach Chris Clark, who’d spent the last nine years on Temple’s staff. “He’s got great hands, too, great touch, great hands. I thought he was really the difference in the game, just being a presence around the rim, he’s really difficult to stop.”

Prep finds itself tied with Carroll, Ryan, Devon Prep, Judge and West Catholic through three games, but it’s a position the Hawks are okay with for now. Clark starts three sophomores and brought two more off the bench against Wood, with just one senior — starting wing Will Lesovitz (7 points) — in the rotation. 

He was happy to see his team hold a high-scoring Wood squad to 48 points, forcing nine turnovers and limiting the VIkings to 16-of-41 from the floor and 1-of-13 from 3-point range. But there were a lot of tough jumpers taken, with the Hawks going 15-of-48 from the floor and 4-of-22 from deep. 

“Our guys are learning, they’re growing,” Clark said. “No moral victories, I keep telling them that, we’ve got to figure out ways to win, but I do see growth and I see steps with the McKies, Alonzo Ellis, Jayden Howlett, he’s been playing incredible. These guys are growing and getting better, but we’ve got to figure out ways to win at the end of the day.”

Lundy — who contributed nine points, nine rebounds and five assists against Prep — and Jenkins were both first-year starters as sophomores as Wood finished 5-8 in the PCL a year ago, a rare down year under Mosco, who turned Wood into a perennial powerhouse since his arrival 13 years ago. But with the pair of D-I recruits and Marist commit Brady MacAdams back in the fold this year along with Donahue, junior Malachi Warren and some talented underclassmen, the expectation was that the Vikings would leap back up towards the top of the pack.

St. Joe's Prep sophomore Julian McKie (2) slices to the hoop in the second half. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Even with plenty of time left in the season, a 1-2 start in league play would have put the Vikings quite a bit behind the ‘8’ ball in their quest for a top-four seed and home game in the PCL quarterfinals. They host a Lansdale Catholic side still looking for its first league win in six years on Sunday before a brutal week: @ Roman (Jan. 14, Comm. College of Phila.), @ Archbishop Ryan (Jan. 16) and then at home against Neumann-Goretti on Sun., Jan. 18. 

Bonner, the other 3-0 PCL squad along with Roman and Neumann, visits Wood on Jan. 30. 

It’ll be a surprise if anybody makes it through the PCL gauntlet without a ding or two. But beating the bottom half of the league is a must for whoever wants to claim one of the top two or three seeds.

“We’re not going into Lansdale saying ‘that’s just Lansdale Catholic’ or anything,” Jenkins said. “We’re playing Lansdale, they’re coming up to us and we’re going to compete and step up to the challenge and hopefully get out of there with a win.”

By Quarter
Prep:   10  |   8   |   9   |  14  ||  41
Wood:  8   |  11  |  14  |  15  ||  48

Shooting
Prep: 15-48 FG (4-22 3PT), 7-9 FT
Wood: 16-41 FG (1-13 3PT), 15-22 FT

Scoring
Prep: Julian McKie 21, Will Lesovitz 7, Jayden Howlett 6, Justin McKie 3, Myles Peterson 2, Alonzo Ellis 2

Wood: Jaydn Jenkins 14, Dylan Powell 11, Caleb Lundy 9, Brady MacAdams 7, Brian Donohue 3, Malachi Warren 2, Kyiian Strong 2