City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Constitution and Math, Civics & Sciences are about as familiar with each other as two programs can be. The two Public League rivals have played each other 16 times since the 2010-11 season between regular-season, league playoffs and PIAA playoffs, including seven matchups in the last two years alone.

The series continues Tuesday in the PIAA Class A semifinals, the fourth time in the last six years that the two schools have met at this point in the competition. The only two years it didn’t happen (2013 and ‘14) was when Constitution bumped up to the AA classification.

It’s two days shy of a full year since their last state semifinal matchup--March 17, 2015, in the same gym (Philadelphia University) and same tip-off time (8 PM) as a year ago.

But this one has a bit of a different feel to it than years past. In 2011 and 2012, MCS was at the height of its power, led by eventual Saint Peter’s forward Quadir Welton and Robert Morris/NC Central forward Jeremiah Worthem, while Constitution had Savon Goodman (UNLV/Arizona State) and Daiquan Walker (UCF); even in 2015, when the Generals had Ahmad Gilbert (Minnesota), Kimar Williams (FIU) and company, the Mighty Elephants boasted Samir Doughty (VCU) and a group of five seniors.

This year’s teams are much less-heralded.

“I didn’t expect in December for our team to be this far, or even be competing for a state championship,” MCS coach Dan Jackson said. “We were using this year as a building year and just establish ourselves and get ready for years to come, but the guys have been showing up and playing and we’re back here again.”

That was a reasonable expectation from Jackson, whose starting lineup consists of three juniors and two sophomores, none of whom were in that position this time a year ago. A few, including junior guard Saheed Peoples, were role players a few years ago. Others were on the Mighty Elephants’ junior varsity roster.

And still others weren’t even at the charter school until this season: the team’s leading scorer, Malik Archer, was on the JV squad at one of the Mastery Charter campuses. Sophomore Kwazhere Ransom, who hit the game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation in a quarterfinal win over Phil-Mont Christian and kept the season alive, was at Bonner. His classmate, 6-foot-6 forward Ed Croswell, was at Constitution.

The beginning of the season went just about as you’d expect for a team that was so young and unfamiliar with each other, a 2-7 opening stretch that turned into a 5-12 record after a 34-point loss to Imhotep Charter on Jan. 14.

It was a 61-55 win over Constitution on Jan. 28 that started the rebound, as MCS has now won eight of its last nine games--the only defeat coming at the hands of the Generals in the Public League’s Class A championship on Feb. 13.

Constitution head coach Rob Moore isn’t denying that MCS has turned a corner.

“Absolutely,” he said, “but we’ve gotten better too. They’ve made a lot of progress but I think we’re a better team today than we’ve been all season.”

The Generals do have some more experience, in the form of seniors Anthony Satchell and Nasir Randolph, both of whom contributed to last year's state championship run. Junior guard Tamir Green and classmate Maurice Waters, an athletic 6-6 forward, give Moore some extra weapons to work with as well.

“When we played them last time, they have a lot of matchup issues when they play us, so we’re going to try and use those matchup issues for a positive outcome tomorrow, is ultimately what it comes down to,” Moore said. “If we can utilize our size and matchup issues, and get a lead late in the game and make them guard us, we’ll be successful tomorrow.”

If that happens, Jackson won’t be too bothered.

He knows he’s already playing with house money, and the future looks good.

“Without a doubt,” he agreed. “I think that we have exceeded expectations this year and I think we’ve even got a good chance of competing in tomorrow’s game and possibly coming away with a win.”

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In other games on Tuesday night:

(Click here for a preview of Roman Catholic/Plymouth-Whitemarsh and a look at Reading/Taylor Allderdice)

AAA: Neumann-Goretti (12-2) vs. Imhotep Charter (12-4)
Where: Philadelphia University
When: 6 PM
How they got here: Neumann-Goretti def. ELCO (69-48), Scranton Prep (113-71), Lower Moreland (78-52); Imhotep Charter def. Eastern York (77-45), Lewisburg (72-47), Del-Val Charter (71-54)

Skinny: If you get to Philly U at 6 PM looking for a ticket, you might be out of luck as these two explosive offensive teams go head-to-head. What's amazing is that at least one of these teams is going to go down without a league, district or state championship; Imhotep was upset by Del-Val in the Public League quarterfinals and lost to Archbishop Carroll in a district play-back, while Neumann-Goretti won the PCL regular-season crown but was topped by Roman Catholic in the tourney final and Del-Val in the District 12 championship game. Both of those teams have rebounded nicely with strong runs in states, as would be expected from two programs with state championships in their recent past and plenty of Division I talent on the roster. Neumann-Goretti, the two-time defending Class AAA champion, has the best big man in the game in Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, but the guard play--from N-G's Quade Green and Zane Martin to Imhotep's Daron Russell and Jaekwon Carlyle -- should be what dominates the game. Whichever team makes more big shots down the stretch survives.

AA: Mastery Charter North (12-2) vs. Camp Hill (3-2)
Where: Garden Spot HS
When: 7:00 PM
How they got here: Camp Hill def. Masterman (70-48), EL Meyers (45-40), Conwell-Egan (60-57); Mastery Charter North def. Mahanoy Area (66-38), Danville (85-52), Trinity (75-67)

Skinny: Camp Hill was one of the dark horses of the AA tournament in our bracket preview--and with two of the favorites (Lincoln Park and Aliquippa) playing each other in the western half of the bracket while the third is knocked out, the Lions can now be considered the de facto favorite out of the Eastern part of the bracket. But Scott Barrows has a tough task ahead of him in a Mastery Charter North squad that's been impressive in making it a round further than a year ago. The Pumas are capable of closing out tight games, which they showed by knocking down 9 of 11 late foul shots in the quarterfinal win over Trinity, getting 29 points and 13 rebounds from Daequwon Plowden and an even 20 from Rodney Ross.