City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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WYNDMOOR — Jayden Howlett came to St. Joseph’s Prep as a freshman two years ago, the South Philadelphia native pulled in by the Hawks’ standout football program after picking up the sport in sixth grade.

There was just one issue. 

“He was a running quarterback who can’t pass,” one of the Prep basketball coaches quipped as he walked past a post-game interview. 

“Yeah that’s true,” Howell admitted. “I can’t pass at all.”

So after his sophomore year, realizing that perhaps football wasn’t in his future as a 6-foot-tall dual-threat quarterback lacking one of those threats, Howell gave up the gridiron to focus on the sport he’d played for even longer. 

And the Hawks’ hoops coaches are glad he did. 

The junior guard has jumped right into a significant role in his first season of varsity basketball, opening the season as a key reserve for the Hawks and getting major minutes in his first varsity game. Now in the starting lineup, his 15 points were a major reason that Prep took down La Salle 67-51 at La Salle on Monday afternoon. 

“It feels great,” he told CoBL afterwards. “It’s my first time playing varsity, the first year, so it was good to start off 1-and-0 [against La Salle].”

Jayden Howlett (4) attacks the basket during the first half of Prep's win over La Salle on Monday, Feb. 2., 2026. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Stuck in the middle of the always-competitive Catholic League and coming off a disappointing loss at Devon Prep last Friday, the Hawks got a much-needed bounceback on Monday, playing a generally strong 32 minutes against their biggest league rivals. 

Senior wing Will Lesovitz led the way with 23 points, adding five rebounds and six assists, hitting five first-quarter 3-pointers to get the Hawks off to a hot start. Howlett’s 15 and 14 more from sophomore guard Justin McKie were critical on an afternoon where McKie’s twin brother Julian was absent due to illness, missing his second consecutive game. 

Without the 6-foot-4 slasher on the court, the rest of the Prep rotation had to pick up the slack offensively; they responded by turning the ball over just 10 times and shooting 25-of-41 overall, including 9-of-17 from 3-point range. 

Howlett was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor, knocking down multiple mid-range jumpers, including a few on put-backs as he grabbed three rebounds (two offensive), dished out three assists and nabbed two steals. 

“I always try to be aggressive and pick my spots,” Howlett said, “but today I do think there was a little bit more in my head, I’ve got to get going a little bit.”

Howlett was on the JV squad last year as Prep’s stellar 2025 class finished out their four-year careers before going on to various Division I programs around the country. He gave up football this offseason as new head coach Chris Clark took over at his alma mater, knowing minutes would be up for grabs. 

He was first off the bench against Upper Dublin in the season opener, and has stuck in the rotation since then. A quality ball-handler who can get downhill, Howlett has shown he can knock down shots from all over the court and hasn’t been afraid to go up against all the D-I talent in the PCL. 

“I didn’t really know what my role was going to be in the beginning of the year and I just kept showing up to practice and it turned out great,” Howlett said. “After our first couple games, I started seeing how much playing time I was going to get and I started realizing what my role was on the team.”

“We’ve always known with Jayden that he just has a different mentality,” Lesovitz said. “It’s just now the skills are really starting to come together.”

Howlett scored 10 points in the first half, which ended with Lesovitz finding McKie for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that put the Hawks (10-10, 6-5) up 34-22 at the break. McKie ended up scoring eight straight across the halftime break as St. Joe’s Prep pushed the lead to 16; it never got back into single digits as the Prep won all four quarters. 

Junior wing Max Okebata led La Salle with 19 points, the 6-4 wing adding six rebounds, six steals and four assists to a quality all-around showing. Junior guard Nick Neri (10 points) joined him in double figures.

Okebata opened the fourth quarter with three straight steals, helping the Explorers get it to 10. Prep slammed the door shut with seven straight in response, Lesovitz attacking the rim and making plays against the La Salle full-court press. 

The win keeps St. Joe’s Prep in the seventh seed in the PCL race, one game in the loss column behind Father Judge (6-4) for the sixth seed. That’s a significant jump; not only does the No. 6 seed not have to play in the opening round of the league playoffs, but it also avoids having to go visit one of the top two seeds in the quarterfinals. 

La Salle (8-10, 4-6 PCL) sits one game ahead of Devon Prep for the 10th and final PCL playoff spot, though the Explorers do have the tiebreaker over the Tide. The Explorers have a brutal closing stretch, hosting Neumann-Goretti on Tuesday before having to play at Wood and Roman Catholic on Friday and Sunday to close things out. 

The Hawks have their own destiny in their hands, as they travel to Judge to play the Crusaders on Friday before finishing out the regular season on Sunday at home against Archbishop Ryan (4-6 PCL). Win both, and they could potentially finish inside the top four, though that’ll be difficult given the schedules of the teams they’d have to catch. 

“I think everyone in there knows it’s great that we clinched,” Howlett said, “but for our seeding, we need to keep winning games, keep playing hard. I think we all have the same mindset in there, we’ll be alright.”

“We’ve treated every one of the last four games [...] like a playoff game to not get that seven-seed,” Lesovitz said, “and I think that really helped us today.”

By Quarter
SJP:  21  |  13  |  16  |  17  ||  67
LS:    13  |   9   |  14  |  15  ||  51

Shooting
SJP: 25-41 FG (9-17 3PT), 8-13 FT
LS: 19-44 FG (2-13 3PT), 11-19 FT

Scoring
SJP: Will Lesovitz 23, Jayden Howlett 15, Justin McKie 14, Luke Maransky 7, Myles Peterson 6, Atlee Harvey 2

LS: Max Okebata 19, Nick Neri 10, Tyler Branson 5, Ryan Reing 5, Ryan Damon 4, Patrick Flaherty 4, Pryce Alston 2, Jayden Carr 2