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Lightsey delivers Imhotep second straight Public League title

02/25/2018, 8:15pm EST
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Bernard Lightsey is truly an Imhotep kid.

Unlike some of his teammates, who come to the charter school from other parts of the city, the Panthers’ senior guard grew up in the Germantown part of Philadelphia about a block away from Imhotep.

Around sixth grade, Lightsey began showing up to the gym during community days. Panthers head coach Andre Noble remembers him as a little chubby kid shooting rainbow threes.

As he grew up around Imhotep and later became part of the program, Lightsey saw some great players. Brandon Austin, Devin Liggeons, DeAnte Robinson and Jaekwon Carliyle were a few of the names he mentioned. He shared the court last season with Daron Rusell (Rhode Island) and Dave Beatty (South Carolina).

He wanted to become one of the names people listed when they talk of the great ones to come through Imhotep

“I’ve seen a lot of great players come from here, and I just want to be one of those players,” Lightsey said. “I want to be remembered.”

It might seem like a bit of a far-fetched request for Lightsey, who isn’t even the most high profile recruit on this Imhotep team.

Though Lightsey will likely play basketball somewhere after this season and said he is talking to couple of Division II programs at the moment, he is sometimes overlooked on a roster filled with Division I talent. It’s a role he said can be tough at times.

On Sunday afternoon at the Palestra, however, he cemented his status in the Panthers’ history books. The senior scored 12 points in the Panthers’ 66-37 win against Martin Luther King in the Public League title game. He took home the game’s Most Valuable Player award and collected the third league championship of his high school career.

“I ask our guys to sacrifice a lot,” Noble said. “A lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort. Bernard could be somewhere else shooting the ball a lot more than he shoots on our team, but just being able to buy into winning, playing for championships, believing in the culture that we’ve set, I think it’s just a credit to him as a player.”

The Panthers won the league title during Lightsey’s freshman season, but lost in the Class 3A semifinals to Del-Val during his sophomore campaign. Lightsey spent the majority of those first two years of his career on the bench.

Noble didn’t mince words when describing why Lightsey didn’t see much of the floor. He said he was a slow, fat kid who didn’t like to defend. But that summer, realizing his game was going to have improve, Lightsey decided to change that.

“I felt as though I was getting overlooked and coaches wasn’t believing in me, so I just stayed in the gym and just worked on my game,” Lightsey said.

When he came back for his junior year, Lightsey was a different player. As Imhotep triumphed over King in overtime of last year’s championship game, the Panthers were praised for their defense.

Much of the credit went to Russell and Beatty. Whenever someone brought the subject up, Noble made sure to add Lightsey’s name to the conversation. The growth of Lightsey’s defensive game was apparent in Sunday’s win against King.

He spent the game shadowing Cougars’ senior guard Denelle Holly Jr. Lightsey held Holly scoreless in the first half and locked him down for just four points in the game.

“He’s really improved over these two years on really being a good defender,” Noble said. “I think it just shows. Nellie’s their best player. Who did we put on him? Bernard Lightsey, and that was part of his job the whole week. I think it shows how much he’s worked, going from a guy who couldn’t guard me to a guy that’s guarding the best player on opposing teams.”

Noble said one of the most impressive things about Lightsey is he knew what he was getting into when he joined the Imhotep program.

Sure he saw the championship wins and personal accolades of those who came before him, but he also saw how demanding Noble’s practices were and was still willing sign up.

“It just shows the character of the kid,” Noble said.

Sunday’s win was Imhoptep’s seventh title in the 20 years the school has been open, all have come in the last decade. Before this season the Panthers hadn’t won back-to-back titles in seven years. After three in a row from 2009-2011, the Panthers won in 2013, 2015 and 2017.

To deliver the school its second straight championship and third in four years, and to win MVP in the game, Lightsey feels like he made the mark he set out for at the school down the street he once admired.

 “It’s tremendous because now you can say I’m one of the best players at Imhotep that’s ever been there,” Lightsey said.


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