City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Tyler Sandora (@tyler_sandora)
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MEDIA, Pa. -- The Penncrest Shootout brought 12 teams to the Central League institution on Sunday, the second and last day of the weekend event.

Here’s a notebook from the day’s action:

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Shanahan playing confident after postseason runs

Last year at this time, an unproven Bishop Shanahan squad was hard at work to get people to take them seriously. It’s not that the Eagles were bad, going 15-7 in 2015-16, but they continued a string of never making the Ches-Mont playoffs and lost to Lower Moreland in the District 1 AAA semifinals to fall short of making it to the state bracket.

But the 2016-17 season was certainly a breakthrough. Shanahan won 19 games, making it to the Ches-Mont championship and the new District 1 5A semifinals, earning them a berth in the state tournament. A first-round state loss to King was certainly a disappointment, but with four starters back, this year’s Eagles are attacking the summer with a new ferocity.

That much was clear on Sunday, when Shanahan led a talented La Salle College HS squad, though the shots stopped falling in the last few minutes as the Explorers rallied for a late win.

“I think it’s a really strong effort, we showed that we can hang with them, so that’s good,” rising junior guard Joe O’Malley said. “We’ve just got to pick up on some sloppy stuff and we’ll be good.”

O’Malley is one of four returning starters, along with point guard David Angelo, wing Thomas Ford and forward Kevin Dodds; all had more than a few moments against La Salle. Gone is shooting guard Danny Browne, who’s currently choosing between several small-college options, but the above quartet represents quite a large percentage of the team’s production, leadership and talent.

And unlike last year, when they were all a bunch of still-green underclassmen, they’re all now seasoned vets who know what it takes to win.

“I think we’re really confident, we had a lot of experience last year with a lot of underclassmen playing,” O’Malley said. “I think we feel really good going into this year that we have a lot of potential and we can live up to it.”

The only rising junior of the four returners, O’Malley looked the most improved since the end of last season. The 6-1 guard was aggressive early, scoring off the bounce several times against a La Salle side that features two forwards with Division I offers, showcasing a touch he hadn’t displayed all that often as a sophomore.

His emergence as a scoring option this season would be crucial on a team that’ll need numerous options to keep up with offenses like defending league champ Coatesville.

“If he’s able to develop some offense, it’s going to make us a lot tougher and give us another option,” head coach Ken Doyle said. “Because that’s where we really struggled coming down the stretch as the teams got tougher and the games got tougher, our offense kind of failed because of the inexperience and lack of confidence.

“It’s growing, so it should start to develop.”

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Blumenthal, Avon Grove restarting after resurgent year

In his first year as the head coach at Avon Grove High School, Roy Blumenthal took the Red Devils to the PIAA 6A district tournament, their first appearance since 2009.

After losing to Bensalem on February 4, the team snuck into the district playoffs, beating Downingtown East and West Chester Henderson in their final two games of the Ches-Mont regular season, earning the No. 24 seed in districts, the last seed in the tournament.

Avon Grove traveled down to Spring-Ford High School for the first game in the district tournament, taking on the eighth seeded Rams. The Red Devils held the lead for the majority of the game, but Spring-Ford’s experience showed up late in the game, as the Rams came out victorious, 59-54.

But that was more than enough to re-start interest in the boys’ basketball programs after a few rough seasons.

“The support I got from the school was unbelievable,” Blumenthal said. “The kids got really enthusiastic and the players gained respect around school. The community really got behind us, and it was an awesome experience for all of us.”

Avon Grove’s team this upcoming season is going to look much different than last year’s; they lost six seniors to graduation. Of the seniors, Blumenthal believes Brandon McCullough (Immaculata) and Carl Forrest, two captains, will be the hardest to replace.

“Early on, our guys need to get confident in themselves,” Blumenthal said. “We lost about 30 points to graduation. I need to find somebody who wants to score the ball.”

As Blumenthal watched his team play on Sunday, a team mostly full of freshman and sophomores, one name stood out as a possible heir to the throne in the Avon Grove scoring department.

Destin Murphy, a rising senior, proved he will be the Red Devil’s main scoring option this upcoming season. A 6-foot-4 guard/forward, Murphy is a versatile wing with a knack for getting to the rim. In a loss against Phoenixville on Sunday, Murphy showed his strength, slashing to the basket and finishing at the rim with both hands through contact. Although he’s still working a consistent jumper, Murphy did hit a deep 3 and a few mid range looks.

Another name Blumenthal mentioned as a potential scorer was Aldred Russo, another rising senior. Although he was absent from play on Sunday, Blumenthal believes Russo will be a liable option from the outside this year.

Avon Grove will need the help of Murphy and Russo and perhaps some young talent if they want to make it back to the district playoffs in Blumenthal’s second season.

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Young Germantown Ac. squad makes its debut

Just how young is this year’s Germantown Academy squad? After his team lost its first game of the day, to Lower Merion, head coach Jim Fenerty gathered the players for a post-game pep talk. After it ended, he asked them, “which of you can drive?”

Not a single player raised his hand.

Oh yeah, they’re quite young.

That’s okay with Fenerty, who’s gone through this before.

“I think it’s going to be one of those teams where it’s going to be my job to get them ready by the time we hit January,” he said. “And I think we’ll be fine.”

Four years ago, Fenerty graduated seven seniors, then coached a team consisting of two juniors (Tim Guers, Sam Lindgren) and a bunch of underclassmen to its second straight Inter-Ac championship. Two freshmen who started that year, Evan-Eric Longino and Kyle McCloskey, went on to win four Inter-Ac titles in four years, sharing it with Episcopal as seniors but otherwise taking it outright.

Now Fenerty has a similar situation to that 2013 summer, though it’s possible this year’s team is even younger: with Longino and McCloskey, plus Josh Brownstein and Cole Storm, all graduating, Fenerty once again will have to turn to two juniors and a host of incoming freshmen and sophomores to go for six in a row.

Like four years ago, it’s going to have to be the junior class which matures quickly and takes the reigns. On Sunday, 6-5 forward Brian Basile, who only averaged a few points per game as a sophomore, looked much more assertive with the ball in his hands, scoring in double figures against Lower Merion and knocking down shots from all over the court.

But the most impressive player on the court for the Patriots was one with a familiar name -- Jordan Longino, younger brother of Evan-Eric and a rising freshman at the school. The 6-2 wing, who impressed at the Jr. All-City Classic last week, dropped 17 points against Lower Merion, including a pair of 3s.

“(Longino’s) going to be special, and I think Brian Basile’s really going to come into his own, too,” Fenerty said. “I think he’s a really good player and I think he now he kind of understands like, there’s no Kyle or Evan-Eric around so I’ve got to do this. It’ll be the balance of trying to figure out when to do it, when not to do it, and that’ll be fun.”

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Quick Hits
-- Slowly but surely, La Salle College HS 2019 SF Konrad Kiszka is turning into a serious Division I prospect. Now standing 6-7 and weighing 185 pounds, Kiszka is becoming a much more fluid athlete who can score from all three levels, with a smooth, easy release from 3 and a handle that can get him into the mid-range and to the hoop. In scoring 14 points in the win over Shanahan, Kiszka knocked down two threes, hit a one-handed 10-foot runner in the lane and a pair of layups in transition.

-- Losing Avery Close (Gettysburg) and Shyheim Abernathy (DeSales) as well as quite a few other seniors to graduation, Phoenixville’s squad this upcoming season will be mostly last year’s junior varsity team. In a win over another young Avon Grove team, rising sophomore Steven Hamilton showed signs of maturity, acting as a confident floor general. The athletic 6-foot-0 guard displayed an array of open court moves, and even knocked down two 3’s. Look for 6-6 rising senior Brendan Jenkins, a long, athletic big man, to be another main contributor on a young Phantoms squad.

-- Methacton had a strong opening half-and-a-bit against Council Rock South, going up 20 early in the second half, though the Tribe couldn’t quite find the gas to put it away, holding on for a 43-37 win. Rising sophomore big man Jeff Woodward is turning into the kind of player that Methacton coach Jeff Derstine needs him to be, a 6-8 post who the offense can flow through. Woodward is an above-average passer for a big man, and almost borders on being too unselfish, giving up layups to try to find cutting teammates; when he does look for his shot, he’s got a developing post game with good touch around the rim. Also playing well in the win was point guard Marcus Girardo, who ran the offense and gathered in eight rebounds; junior guard Dave Duda scored 13 points.

-- Division IIIs New York University and the University of Rochester are two schools in contact with Lasalle High School’s rising senior Sean Simon. A 6-2 wing, Simon transferred to La Salle College HS, his father’s alma mater, after spending his first two years at Springside Chestnut-Hill Academy. Known for his knockdown shooting ability, Simon hopes to improve his ability to attack and finish at the rim before he moves onto the next level. The upcoming July live period, playing for WeR1’s 17u squad on the Under Armour circuit, is Simon’s last major opportunity to play in front of a multitude of college coaches, and he’s hoping to take full advantage.

-- Jalen Trent and Nazir Jordan both had impressive showings in Upper Darby’s win over Germantown Academy. Both rising seniors, Trent and Jordan will run the Royals’ backcourt next season. A 6-4 lead guard, Trent used his long a athletic frame to get into the paint and finish over defenders will his soft touch around the basket. Jordan, a 5-11 stocky guard, was more of a facilitator on Sunday, using his quickness to blow by defenders and find teammates around the block for easy looks.