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Prepping for Preps: Shipley School (Pa.)

11/05/2015, 10:15am EST
By Andrew O'Connor

Arvelle Jones (above) is one of three talented scorers on Shipley's roster. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Andrew O’Connor (@AndrewOConnor23)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's "Prepping for Preps," our series of articles previewing area high school teams for the 2015-16 season. For the complete list of schools previewed so far, click here)

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The Shipley School basketball program has split its roster in two for an end-of-practice scrimmage, and sophomore guard Sam Sessoms has the ball at the top of the key.

Senior forward Pete Sobelman runs forward to set the screen, and Sessoms explodes off of towards the basket. The 5-foot-9 guard finishes the drive with a layup through contact that he makes look effortless.

On the other side, junior guard Kiyon Hardy gives his team a quick response by knocking down a 3-pointer, to put them back up by one point.

An underclassman guard misreads the play the scrimmage is focused on and, without hesitation, senior wing Arvelle Jones lunges forward on defense to swipe the ball, taking it the other way to finish with a flush.

The whistle blows. Game over.

That’s just the ending to one practice, but it represents a major part of Shipley’s ideology this season.

“Obviously it’s a team game, but we’re going to look to those three guys for most of our offense,” fourth year Shipley coach Phil D’Ambrosio said. “We have a solid group of role players and they’re for sure going to play a major role in the outcome of games, but we’re primarily going to look to our main three, those being Arvelle, Kiyon, and Sam.”

Each of these three players displayed exactly why D’Ambrosio will be depending on them so much during the Shipley practice. Hardy, who averaged 9.0 ppg and 2.0 apg a year ago, may be considered undersized, measuring at 5-foot 9 and weighing 140 pounds soaking wet, but he is a lights-out jump shooter from 3-point range as well as a skilled passer. If Hardy is open for a jump shot, it is near-automatic points.

Sessoms (10.0 ppg, 3.0 apg, 3.5 rpg), while not quite the elite shooter that his teammate is, is a true point guard with tremendous court vision. He well makes up for this lack of a jump shot with his mixture of speed and strength that allow him to finish all sorts of tough buckets.

Finally there’s Jones (8.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg), a 6-4 wing whose versatility on offense allows him to just as easily shoot a pullup jumper as it is for him to drive to the hoop. He’s also a capable passer and will be able to run the offense and potentially set up Hardy and Sessoms for scoring opportunities.

Along with those three, D’Ambrosio is counting on four others to contribute, including 6-5 senior Amir Fluellen and the 6-4 Sobelman up front, as well as 5-11 senior Micah Salamon and 6-3 sophomore Ronan Higgins in the backcourt.

Last year, Shipley finished in the middle of the pack in the Friends’ League, earning the fourth seed in the FSL playoffs with a 5-3 mark (14-10 overall), but lost in the playoffs to Academy of the New Church, a team they defeated just a weekend earlier. This year, D’Ambrosio predicts a similar finish, even with the loss of seven seniors.

“We’re kind of pegged in the same four, five spot where we finished last year,” D’Ambrosio said, “but I think we have the opportunity to catch some teams off-guard and sneak up into the top three in the league.”

It’ll be tough to get much higher than that; the top two teams in the league, Westtown and Academy New Church, are both stacked with future Division I players.

Those seven seniors were led by Quamier Johnson, a 6-2 guard who averaged 15.0 ppg, seventh-best in the Friends’ League. He’s off at Penn State-Brandywine, along with two fellow Shipley grads, Kevin Zwolak and Josh Gorrell.

With that class gone, this will be Jones’ year at Shipley, as he assumes the role of both on-court leader through his play, and off-court leader, as he was named captain of this year’s Shipley squad.

“I’m really excited for Arvelle’s opportunity this year,” D’Ambrosio said. “He’ll be a four-year starter for us and he’s kind of taken a backseat to guys in past years and this year I’m excited for him to be able to shoot the ball fifteen times a night.”

Shipley opens up its season November 23 against Pine Forge Academy.


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