City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Austin Petolillo (@AustinPSports)
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CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. -- The Donofrio Classic continued into its second night of first-round action on Tuesday, with a pair of games at the Fellowship House.

Here’s a report from the night’s action

Game One: Led by Martin Luther King senior Elijah Kiah-El, Danny Rumph held off a valiant effort from Competitive Edge in a game that was played almost entirely within single digits, winding up with a 88-77 victory. It was a one-point game with under six minutes to play, but the Public League talent on Rumph proved too much for the Pioneer Athletic Conference-dominated Comp. Edge roster. Kiah-El, 6-foot-5 forward, had 12 of his 20 points in the second half, including a number of tough buckets down the stretch; Constitution senior Tamir Green led Rumph with 23 points, while Kiah-El’s MLK teammate, junior Denelle Holly, added 21. Competitive Edge was paced by Holy Cross commit Matt Faw (Upper Merion), who had 26 points and several blocks; senior Justin Jaworski (Perkiomen Valley) had 16 and junior Collin MacAdams (Central Bucks West) had 13.

Game Two: The nightcap looked like it might be a blowout, as James Fox All-Stars jumped out to a 12-point lead almost instantly on Don-Len Trophies. But Don-Len battled back behind strong play from Khari Williams and Chris Arcidiacono to cut it to a five-point game at half, and by the end Don-Len was moving on with an 89-87 win. Williams, a 6-3 senior from Archbishop Carroll, led the way with 25 points, Arcidiacono (2018/Neshaminy) added 17 and 6-6 Andrew Sims (2018/Lenape) chipped in 16, including a trio of second-half 3-pointers. James Fox was led by a quartet of double-figure scorers: Joey DiAntonio (2017/Cherry Hill East) led the way 19 with, followed by Camden senior John Evans (18 points), Abington sophomore Lucas Monroe (17) and York Catholic senior Melik Martin (16).

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Perk Valley star mulling over Division I offers
It took Justin Jaworski a minute to realize what had happened.

The Perkiomen Valley senior hung up the phone with American University head coach Mike Brennan, but it wasn’t until his high school head coach, Mike Poysden, called him shortly after that conversation two weeks ago that it hit him.

“[Poysden] was like ‘so you just got your first scholarship offer,’ and I was like ‘oh yeah I did,’” Jaworski said. “So that was pretty cool.”

The most impactful athlete in the Pioneer Athletic Conference the last two seasons -- Jaworski was the PAC’s leading receiver on the football field and its brightest star on the hardwood -- had pulled in quite a few Division II scholarship offers for his hoops abilities since last summer. But he hadn’t gotten one of the several Division I programs on his trail to extend the same privilege, despite leading the Vikings to a league championship, their first state playoff berth and first state playoff win last month.

It was a frustrating wait.

“I feel like I was under-recruited,” he admitted. “But all I can ask for is an opportunity, so I felt good that I got it.”

Instead of just one opportunity, he’s got two. Shortly after the American offer, Jaworski received another Patriot League scholarship opportunity, from Lafayette.

He visited both schools this past weekend.

“[At Lafayette] I got to work out with the players, play pick-up, I thought I really fit in well with them, and coach [Fran] O’Hanlon’s a really good coach, I like their motion offense, the way they play,” he said. “At American, they run that Princeton offense, spread them out, which is really similar to my high school team, so I really like that. It’s two good academic schools and two good basketball schools, so I can’t go wrong either way.”

A decision will be coming later this weekend.

“I just have to sit down with my parents pretty much and talk about the pros and cons of each and then whatever one I just feel most comfortable with, I’ll choose,” he said.

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Bryant focusing on scoring touch this summer

After Archbishop Ryan made back-to-back Catholic League semifinal appearances and earned its first-ever state playoff berth, thanks in part to NJIT-bound senior guard Izaiah Brockington, it will be interesting to see what the Raiders are going to put on for an encore.

Filling in the shoes of Brockington and his 18.7 ppg will be a challenge -- the Raiders have to replace over 80 percent of their scoring from this year -- but sophomore guard Amin Bryant is up to the task.

Bryant is counting on a big offseason, which would propel him from being the sixth man on Archbishop Ryan (5.2 ppg), to being a go-to guy, along with fellow sophomore Jaquill Stone.

“My objective for this summer is to get better so I can lead my team to more wins,” Bryant said. “I’m going to have to take over that scoring load from Izaiah and try and lead us to the championship and to be a better shooter.”

Bryant and Brockington both show similarities in term of physical stature, standing around 6-foot-4 and weighing about 200 lbs.

But they have rather different styles of play: Brockington was more of a score-first guard who attacked the defense at will, while Bryant is more of a pass-first guard, used to deferring to his elder teammates.

Before Brockington leaves for NJIT -- which has already showed some early interest in Bryant -- he gave his younger teammate some advice.

“He taught me don’t be so passive,” Bryant said. “His mindset is just to go and kill everybody in front of him. That’s the mindset I’m going to take on this year.”

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Quick Hits

-- Last year, we liked the upside of Lenape 2018 F Andrew Sims, as the lanky 6-6 forward showed good athleticism and a smooth 3-point shot. But in his Donofrio debut in 2017, Sims showed that he’s really been working on his ball skills. Though he still can shoot it from beyond the arc, knocking down four triples including three big ones in the second half, he did a much better job of putting the ball on the floor, bringing it up the court on numerous occasions against the press and even displaying a crossover or two. If he can show the ability to play the ‘3’ this summer with the Jersey Shore Warriors, he could see a number of D-I scholarships extended his way.

-- Cherry Hill East 2017 F Joey DiAntonio made his mark as a 3-point gunner headed into his senior season, but quickly needed to adapt as teams began running him off the line. In dropping 19 points for Don-Len in his only Donofrio appearance of the spring, DiAntonio showed off a much more well-rounded scoring game, hitting only two 3-pointers while getting a number of buckets around the rim and one or two mid-range jumpers. “Everyone was chasing me around, so I had to figure out other ways to score,” the 6-foot-4, 205-pound wing said, “because I’m not going to be able to run away from people.” DiAntonio committed to D-III Drew University (N.J.) over Gwynedd-Mercy and Cabrini just after his senior year, and he’ll be studying business management while trying to help the Rangers improve upon their 11-14 record.

-- Martin Luther King 2017 F Elijah Kiah-El showed his strength and all of his 6-foot-5, 200-lb stature to drive the lane and grab rebounds. Kiah-El scored 20 points while scoring 12 in the second half. Kiah-El said that while he has no Division I offers, he has interest from two MEAC schools, Coppin State and Morgan State.

-- Archbishop Carroll 2017 G Khari Williams was a force on the offensive end in the first round of the Donofrio Classic. Scoring a game-high 25 points, Williams led his team to victory knocking down shot after shot after shot whether it was from beyond the arc or making a tough layup. Williams said that he has received one offer from Holy Family and interest from other Division II schools.