skip navigation

Nelson Classic - Chestnut Hill Game Recaps (Dec. 29)

12/29/2017, 11:15pm EST
By Tyler Sandora & Ray Dunne

Tyler Sandora (@tyler_sandora) &
Ray Dunne (@RayDunneBTB)
--

The 13th Annual Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic opened on Friday, at multiple venues, including a trio of games taking place at the Chestnut Hill College.

Here are recaps of each of the three games; standouts can be found here:

~~~

Game One: Overbrook vs. Church Farm

Even though he’s only a junior, Khalif Washington is Overbrook’s most experienced player.

On a team that consists of mostly transfers, Washington is one of the veterans. Fellow starters Cyrie Coates (West Philadelphia), Raquon West (Constitution), and Rashea Daniel are all new to the program this year.

Since Washington is returning, he’s taken on a mentorship role to those newcomers.

“I just try to take on a leadership role in practice and in the game,” Washington said. “I try to keep my guys level headed, and I don’t want to put the pressure on anyone else to do it. I’ve been here and I want to be a leader.”

It has been evident to head coach Keenan Rand in school that Washington is looking after his teammates. Rand works in the school building, and is with the kids each day.

“He’s making sure they are where they need to be, going to class and everything,” Rand said. “He’s a good kid.

Washington came over to the historic Public League school from Chester High School prior to last season. As a sophomore, he was inserted into the starting lineup immediately. He led the Public League in scoring and was named the MVP of the Public League’s ‘C’ division.

Even with that accolade, Washington isn’t satisfied. The Panthers finished 11-12 a year ago, which is something Washington hopes to change this year.

“Feels like I got something to prove,” he said. “I can’t just come out and be the MVP last year, and then come out and not do anything this year. We have to win, that’s more important. We have to win.”

That’s exactly what Overbrook did on Friday afternoon in the first game of the Play By Play Classics at Chestnut Hill College, defeating Church Farm 60-56 in overtime. Washington led the way with 21 points.

A 5-9 speedy guard, Washington has a quick first step. When he gets into the paint he uses his athleticism to finish over bigger defenders. He also showcased a smooth 3-point stroke, nailing three shots beyond the arc.

“I feel like that was a big confidence booster for him,” Rand said on Washington’s performance a year ago. “Last year, so he came into this season with that target on his back, people know about him now. So being able to build on that from last year, I think he’s ready for it.”

With the win, Overbrook improves to 5-3 on the young season. The Panthers got contributions from Coates (16 points), and West (13 points).

For Church Farm, Jon Bol Ajak scored 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Junior Max Scott added 11. --Tyler Sandora

~~~


Colin Reed (above) dropped 30 points as Archbishop Ryan topped Academy New Church. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Game Two: Archbishop Ryan vs. Academy of the New Church

Just a year ago, Colin Reed was amidst intense rehab as he tried to return to Archbishop Ryan’s varsity team following a torn meniscus; an injury which came just weeks before the start of his sophomore season.

Daily physical therapy coupled with various exercises strengthened his thigh enough to bring him back to the court in January.

Reed, however, never made it onto the floor for the Raiders’ varsity team.

Originally slotted as one of the first guys off the bench for the state semifinalists, Reed did end up coming off the bench, just for the junior varsity team. Because of this, Reed feared the worst for his future in basketball.

“When the injury happened, I thought I wasn’t going to be the same player or even be better than the player I was,” Reed said.

His desire to work his way back to varsity coupled with his surgeon’s realization that the injury was not as severe as originally anticipated helped Reed approach the floor much quicker than Raiders’ head coach Joe Zeglinski thought.

Ultimately, the decision was made to protect the young guard despite his desire to push forward.

“You could tell the itch he had to get back on the court,” Zeglinski said. “He went to get back in and I told him [as well as] the rest of the coaching staff told him to relax because we knew how big he was going to be for our for us in the future.”

If Friday’s game at Chestnut Hill College against Academy of the New Church is any indication of how important Reed is going forward, the coaching staff nailed their prediction.

The 6-4 guard poured in a career high 30 points and shot 6-for-9 from beyond the arc to guide Archbishop Ryan to its sixth win of the season. A sharpshooter by trade, Reed showed the a developing inside game to round out his offensive game.

With his team now sitting at 6-4 on the year, Zeglinski believes Reed has been a steady hand on a rather inexperienced team.

“In the summer he stepped up as a leader,” Zeglinski said. “Obviously we had a lot of points that left last year and Colin’s been able to fill some of those points. As of right now, he’s our go-to guy offensively.”

Aside from Reed, junior guard Jaquill Stone had 13 points. Freshman forward Taleeq Robbins added eight points to go along with nine rebounds.

On the other side, sophomore guard Glenn Sabb posted a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Isaac Marshall led the Lions with 19 points. --Ray Dunne

~~~

Game Three: Shipley vs. Samuel Fels

In a game two weeks ago against Archbishop Wood, Shipley’s star player, Sam Sessoms, came down from a rebound attempt and landed awkwardly on his left leg. It was later revealed the 5-10 guard had injured his MCL. Shipley’s other starting point guard, Amyr Henry, did the same thing to his leg last week against Archbishop Carroll.

Sessoms is hoping to return on Tuesday for Shipley’s game against Episcopal. Henry is back in his home state of California seeing doctors, and his injury is expected to be worse than Sessoms’.

With its two go-to guards out with injury, Shipley needed somebody to step up.

Enter Khai Champion.

Although Champion has been starting for the Gators this entire season, the sophomore guard was more of a catch-and-shoot threat than anything else in the beginning of the year. But now with a void to be filled, Champion is being looked upon to attempt to make up for what is lost.

“I need to do everything [Sessoms] does,” Champion said. “Score, pass, create for teammates, anything I can do to help the team win. Coach told me my role was going to be different this year because last year I was a catch and shoot player. Now my role has changed all the way to leading the team.”

Champion didn’t miss a beat on Saturday, scoring 20 points and leading Shipley over Samuel Fels, 58-52, in the third and final game of the day.

Champion, a 6-foot guard, was getting to the basket with ease with his quick first step, and was terrific from the free throw line, going 9-10 at the charity stripe.

In Shipley’s previous couple of games, Champion admits he was having some trouble finding the bottom of the basket. He had a few games where he didn’t crack 10 points on the scoreboard. Some of that might be attributed to how suddenly looked upon to lead the Gators.

“I was having a rough couple of games, like 2 points, 7 points, and 7 points, so I knew I would have to pick it up a little bit,” Champion said. “When you don’t score a lot, it’s easy to get out of the game and get unfocused. I probably had poor games because I was thinking a lot about it, probably to much. It was a lot of pressure at first but I’m getting used to it.”

Although it’s never good to see your players go down with injuries, head coach Phil D’Ambrosio admits his team’s depth will be stronger when his guards return due to the fact new guys got to see some minutes while the guards were injured.

“We’re kind of throwing some guys into the fire, but it’s good,” he said. “You can see they are getting better and more confident. When those guys do get healthy, it will just give us more depth. To be able to be deeper just gives us more options, and a situation we want to utilize to the best of our abilities.”

For Shipley, which improved to 6-3 with the win, sophomore Joey Gruzinski added 12 points, and junior big man Ray Somerville scored eight and pulled down 11 rebounds.

As for Fels, which competes in the ‘C’ division of the Public League, junior guard Christian Brown a transfer from Olney Charter, dropped 23 points. Senior Sincere Palimore-Sheperd added eight points. --Tyler Sandora


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Tyler Sandora  Archbishop Ryan  Shipley School  Overbrook