City of Basketball Love

Jack Goodwillie (@JackGoodwillie)
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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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Touting a 22-6 record in 2014 and an undefeated record in 2013, Bishop McDevitt (Harrisburg)’s upperclassmen are no strangers to winning basketball games. As difficult as winning can be though, consistency is even harder to come by.

Three of the team’s senior players have took the initiative this offseason to ensure team consistency for years to come. Alex Marsico, Nick Gemmell, and James Williams have put countless hours into improving their respective games while also looking to hone their chemistry, which was on display this summer with their AAU club, South Central Select.

The special relationship shared by the three players did not come about overnight. All three of them grew familiar with each other on the court at a very young age.

“We’ve been together since we were really young,” Marsico said in July at Elevate Hoops' Live in Atlantic City. “Maybe we weren’t always on the same team, but we’ve playing together or against each other since the fourth grade. I always feel like I know where James is going to be at or what Nick is going to do.

“Naturally, it’s really easy to play with them.”

Williams, the tallest of the group at 6-foot-5 has felt a similar level of chemistry with his two teammates, having grown close to them over the years.

“We’ve been playing on the same team since the 8th grade, so we’ve been playing together for about five years now,” said Williams. “It’s like we’re LeBron, Wade and Bosh.”

In addition to their key contributions to South Central Select, Williams, Gemmell and Marsico also led the way on Bishop McDevitt’s summer league team that came up short to Harrisburg, the host team in the championship

Their sound play and work ethic in the gym has grabbed the attention of their high school head coach Mike Gaffey, who will be entering his second season at Bishop McDevitt, with this offseason being the first he has gotten to spend with his players.

Now Gaffey is adamant he has a core group of seniors that he can slot into leadership roles.

“Coming out of March and going into April, I thought they could lead but I didn’t have any proof,” Gaffey said. “I had to see it first and I’ve seen it this summer. I’ve gone from the possibly phase to the definitely phase.”

Williams will play the role of the go-to scorer and has spent the majority of his time in the offseason fine tuning his jump shot. Gemmell is a capable deep shooter and lock-down defender while Marsico brings a similar level of defensive intensity to the table along with in-game toughness.

“Before I took over, the previous coach, Jeff Hoke, said ‘that Marsico kid is tough as nails,’” Gaffey said. “That’s a perfect description for him. He is tough as nails and he too has been guarding the other team’s scorers while just providing that physical toughness that your team has to have at his position. All three guys have great qualities that will help my program compete and help my program be successful.”

The trio will be looking to go out with a bang. That means winning the elusive state championship, which won’t come easy following the departure of leading scorer Milik Gantz (18.3 ppg) and with Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, Quade Green and the defending PIAA AAA champion Neumann-Goretti Saints standing in the way. Regardless of how the season plays out, all three of them have college basketball on their minds.

Williams, who finished second on the team in scoring last year behind Gantz with 16 ppg has interest from several Division II schools; Gemmell has has interest from D-IIIs including Hood College, Union College, Elizabethtown, and Juniata. Marsico is undecided on which sport he’ll play at the next level, as he moonlights as a safety on the football team.

At the moment, all three guys are intently focused on what lies ahead of them. They have an abundance of maturity and confidence, which is a lethal combination.

“I think our chemistry is really important,” Gemmell said. “Some of the football players that played basketball freshman and sophomore year didn’t play last year but might come out this year like Kobay White and Bryce Hall. We have good chemistry with them too, so we’re going to try and make a run and see what happens.

“We want to win a state championship. We have the kids that do it. We have the talent. All we have to do now is put in the work.”

Gaffey believes the camaraderie he’s seen out of the three seniors will benefit his team both presently and in the distant future. This year, he anticipates that the group’s leadership will encourage the younger players to step up on the court. He can also see this year’s crop of underclassmen stepping up next offseason to match the level of work put in by Williams, Gemmell and Marsico.

In essence, the bar will continue to be raised year after year.

“In my 25 years of coaching this is my latest in the summer that I’ve still been running open gyms because we have guys that want to get in the gym and be gym rats,” Gaffey said. “Every coach wants gym rats and I’m fortunate enough to have those.

“We’re hoping that what these guys have done this summer will be an imprint for the next ten summers.”