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BOYS’ BASKETBALL: Malvern Prep's Deuce Turner Follows Idol Kobe Bryant into Southeastern PA's Basketball History

By Rich Flanagan Photos: Kathy Leister, Zamani Feelings & Ed Morrone, 03/26/20, 5:15PM EDT

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By: Rich Flanagan

Photos/Videos: Kathy Leister, Ed Morrone & Zamani Feelings

PHILADELPHIA –As Kieves “Deuce” Turner’s concluding two seasons at Malvern Prep came to an end, he produced scoring outputs to the likes of which the Inter-Ac League had not seen before or may never see again. His final book following each game became more and more jaw dropping for fans and scouts alike. 

Seeing consecutive performances such as his 30 points against Unionville, 32 against Rutgers Prep (N.J.) and 34 versus Coatesville, the area where he grew up, in the Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic transitioned from abnormalities to run-of-the-mill games for the prolific Friars point guard. 

His style of dazzling finishes at the rim, smooth step-back jumpers and fluid handle with the ball was unsurpassed in the Inter-Ac, and more impressively across the state of Pennsylvania. The 6-foot-2 floor general’s game was reminiscent of a former standout at Lower Merion High School and a player who would change the game of basketball forever.

It’s no surprise that Turner modeled his game after the Aces product and his scoring output during his high school career continued to climb.

“Kobe [Bryant] was my foundation,” Turner said. “My dad grew up watching [Michael] Jordan and taught himself how to play, then I grew up and literally studied everything about Kobe.  So, if you watch certain things such as my game style over the last two years I played more from the 3-point shot, but I’ve always been a triple threat and mid-range player. I also incorporated that killer mentality and will to win, not playing for individual achievements.”

Turner and Bryant will forever be linked together in the history of Pa. basketball as 2,000-point scorers. Players like Bryant, Rip Hamilton, another Coatesville native who won an NBA title with the Detroit Pistons, John Bartram’s Tyrone Garland (La Salle), Overbrook’s Wilt Chamberlain, Strawberry Mansion’s Maureece Rice (George Washington) and Episcopal Academy’s Gerald Henderson (Duke) are a few of the Southeastern Pa. players to accomplish the feat and Turner joined this select group this season. 

Bryant, who died tragically on Jan. 26 at age 41 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California along with nine other people including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, scored a Pa. all-time record 2,883 career points and Turner finished his career with 2,452 points, the most in Inter-Ac history. 

On Monday Jan. 13, 2020, Turner became the Inter-Ac League's all-time leading basketball scorer when he passed Episcopal Academy’s John Phillips’ 2,068 career points, a record that had stood for 21 years.

For Turner, being mentioned with Bryant is as humbling an accolade as he’s ever received but he doesn’t want to measure himself against the five-time NBA champion.

“It means a lot in the aspect being that he’s my favorite player and he means a lot to me in my journey as a basketball player and who I am, but it actually doesn’t mean much to me right now,” Turner said. “There’s thousands of guys who have hit 2,000 points, but the reason we still talk about Kobe is because of what he was able to accomplish after high school. So, when they’re talking about me and Kobe at the professional level, then it’ll really mean something to me, but I know this can’t be the part where I begin to feel accomplished and proud of myself because like Kobe said, “Job’s not finished” and that’s the same mentality I adopted. I wasn’t a high major prospect or got national attention, so I have many people to prove wrong beginning next year.”

Turner’s journey from unknown prospect to Bucknell University commit started in Coatesville. Even though he attended the Montgomery School in Chester Springs along with Friars teammate Rahdir Hicks, he played with Rip City on the AAU circuit from sixth through eighth grade with some of the most talented players in the area including three Coatesville standouts in La Salle commit Jhamir Brickus, Dapree Bryant and Andrew King. Brickus finished his high school career as Coatesville’s all-time leading scorer, Dapree will be playing football at Villanova next season and King was the Red Raiders starting point guard this season. Other players on that Rip City team included West Chester commit Tym Richardson (West Chester East) and Providence commit Jyare Davis (Sanford School (Del.)).

Hicks had intentions of enrolling at Malvern Prep and playing for head coach John Harmatuk. Turner did not initially have any intentions of playing for the Friars because he wanted to attend the Westtown School and play for Seth Berger. 

When Turner was in eighth grade, Westtown boasted future NBA talent in Mo Bamba (Orlando Magic), Cam Reddish (Atlanta Hawks) and Brandon Randolph, who played at Arizona and has spent time in the G-League, and Berger’s ability to develop players resonated with Turner. After talking with Hicks and meeting with Harmatuk, who knew about Turner from his time with Rip City, the young guard said the Friars head coach “had a real belief in me to come in right away and do great things and the rest is history.”

Harmatuk saw the talent then and stressed to Turner that if he bought into what the Friars program was all about he would realize his true potential as a player.

“I will never forget our meeting together during the spring of his eighth grade year,” Harmatuk said. “Deuce visited campus and we sat down and talked one on one before the end of his day. We talked about his ambitions. I remember saying this to him, ‘if you buy into not only our basketball culture, but the culture of Malvern Prep, your ceiling is unlimited.’ I guess it worked out.”

Turner scored 11 points in his Malvern Prep debut against Friends’ Central then erupted for 38 points in a win over St. Joe’s Prep.  As a freshman, he bursted onto the scene in the Inter-Ac with a 30-point game against Episcopal Academy and a 31-point outing vs. Germantown Academy.  He averaged 19.3 points per game and was named All-Inter-Ac Second Team in his first season.


Deuce Turner surpassed the 1,000 point threshold during his second game of his junior season on the path to becoming the Inter-Ac League's All-Time leading scorer - PSD Photo by Zamani Feelings

Sophomore year only brought the next step in Turner’s evolution as a scorer and leader as well as the beginning of his cementation as one of the all-time greats at Malvern Prep.  He avg. 20.5 ppg, which led the league, and made All-Inter-Ac First Team for the first time. On Feb. 3, 2018, he went off for the most prolific scoring games of his career with a school-record 48 points against Bishop Shanahan. He hit nine three-pointers and shot 10-for-12 from the free-throw line in the historic performance. He also added two 30-point games in Inter-Ac play (one against the Churchmen and the other against the Patriots).

He was already at 977 career points after two seasons and Harmatuk, who took over as head coach of the Friars in 2013 after a successful stint at Cypress Springs High School (Texas) where he helped develop several players who played Division 1 basketball, began to see just how special Turner was going to be.

“I've been incredibly lucky over the years getting to coach several great players,” Harmatuk said. “Karon Bradley played at Marquette with Dwayne Wade. Phillip McDonald played on those good New Mexico teams. Antino Jackson played at Akron and is still playing professionally. All great guards and Deuce is as good as any of them.”

While he always had a knack for putting the ball in the basket, Turner studied Bryant’s game from a young age and refined his own mentality on how to ascend to becoming an elite scorer.

“Really, what is needed is the belief and preparation to do what you need to do on the basketball court,” Turner said. “You have to decide that that’s the player you want to be and then make sure you train enough to be able to do that at the highest level and against anything the opposing team throws at you. So, it’s not so much the skills as it is the mentality because you need to have both.”

Turner scored 33 points and surpassed the 1,000-point mark in the second game of his junior season against New Day Academy (Ohio) in the Kiski School Tip-Off Tournament. He had 37 points against defending PIAA Class 3A champ, Neumann-Goretti and 41 points against Plymouth Whitemarsh. He really asserted himself during Inter-Ac play by scoring at least 19 points in every league contest. 

The Friars fell to Inter-Ac champ Haverford School, which eventually finished undefeated behind Christian Ray (La Salle), Jameer Nelson Jr. (George Washington) and Jameel Brown, by a total of four points in two meetings. The first meeting was a 93-90 loss that went to overtime. He avg. 26.6 ppg, earned his second straight All-Inter-Ac First Team nod and became the first junior in Inter-Ac history to surpass 1,500 career points in three seasons.

His scoring average increased in each of his first three seasons under Harmatuk but the veteran head coach saw improvement in a number of areas during that time that eventually put Turner on the Division 1 radar.

“He was always going to be a dynamic scorer,” Harmatuk said. “I think him improving when to pick his spots and when to get his teammates involved has matured the most. He is a great passer. Second, he didn't take the first open shot early on. He always had to put it on the floor or shot fake first. Catch and shoot and getting his teammates involved has improved the most.”

He earned offers from the Bison, La Salle, Lehigh, Delaware, Mount St. Mary's and St Joseph's. He committed to Bucknell head coach Nathan Davis in August and this allowed him to focus on one final run with his teammates and he did not disappoint. He scored 24 points in the Friars season-opening win over the Phelps School. His three-game run against Unionville, Rutgers Prep and Coatesville was another example of his scoring prowess. The loss to Rutgers Prep on Dec. 27 was Malvern Prep’s last during the regular season and from there they went on a 20-game winning streak en route to the program’s first Inter-Ac title since 2012. 


Deuce Turner was named 2019-20 Inter-Ac League MVP, the first for a Friars player since Brendan Kilpatrick (2012) - PSD Photo by Kathy Leister

Turner scored 31 points and surpassed the 2,000-point mark for his career in a Jan. 4 win over Friends’ Central, the team he played in his first high school game. He became the Inter-Ac’s all-time leading scorer on his first basket of the game against Cheltenham on Jan. 13, surpassing 1998 Episcopal Academy standout John Phillips. Adding to his Inter-Ac accolades, he was named league MVP, the first for a Friars player since Brendan Kilpatrick (2012).

As he continued to imprint his name into the storied tradition of Inter-Ac basketball, Turner never once thought about achieving the record but rather on ensuring a W was sketched at the end of each game.

“I actually didn’t think about it because I knew it was going to happen and I didn’t think much of that achievement,” Turner said. “I was focused on winning as many games as possible and trying to be a great teammate with all the accolades I was hitting.”

Coincidentally, Hicks, who he had grown up with both as a person and a player, reached the 1,000-point mark this season but for Turner it was all about making a run not only through the Inter-Ac but to the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association title. The Friars had advanced to the PAISAA Tournament in Turner’s first three seasons but never past the quarterfinals. He avg. 26.8 ppg during the Friars run in the state playoffs and advanced to the title game before falling to the school that Turner nearly chose over his soon-to-be alma mater, Westtown. 

He exited his final game following two free throws with about 1:20 remaining and finished with 22 points. It was a difficult end to an illustrious career but Turner received high praise from the opposing head coach after the game.

“They came out and literally had three guys guarding me whenever I touched the ball,” Turner said. “After the game, Coach Berger, who has coached high school sensations and NBA players, said I’m one of the most unbelievable high school players he’s seen. That’s a great compliment.”

The Friars won a school-record 27 games in Turner’s senior season. Over the course of his four seasons in a Friars’ uniform, Malvern Prep’s record was 74-34 and 31-9 in the Inter-Ac. 


Deuce Turner ended his final game vs. Westtown in the PAISAA championship with 22 points - PSD Photo by Kathy Leister

Playing alongside players like Hicks, Fran Oschell,  Spencer Cochran and Lonnie White, Turner transformed into a leader and skilled passer. He wasn’t someone who was forcing shots or taking on double teams but rather allowing the game to come to him and working to get others involved.

Harmatuk wants people to know the type of player Turner grew into and how he’ll leave Malvern Prep as possibly the best ever to come through the program.

“I think the biggest misnomer is we didn't win much during his career,” Harmatuk said. “That is simply wrong. I would argue we play as tough a schedule as anyone in the state, if not the toughest. Over the last three seasons, we were 26-4 in the Inter-Ac. All four losses were to a historically great Haverford School team in close, great games. He affects winning in more ways than just scoring. Just commenting on him as a scorer means you aren't truly paying attention to the game.”

Turner had talent around him with the Friars but also learned to become a more complete player on the AAU circuit with Team Final where he played with a multitude of Division 1 prospects in Neumann-Goretti’s Hakim Byrd (Marist) and Jordan Hall (St. Joe’s), Westtown’s Noah Collier (Pittsburgh), Imhotep Charter’s Elijah Taylor (Notre Dame) and Roselle Catholic’s Niels Lane (Florida). He finished his AAU career with Philly Pride.

Turner has lofty expectations for himself as he prepares to begin his career with Bucknell and he sees a future similar to what he accomplished at the outset with the Friars.

“My goal before arriving is being the best and most prepared player I can be,” Turner said. “So, I’m constantly progressing to sharpen my skills and expand my IQ as a basketball player, so when I get on campus I’m ready for any challenge there may be.  Coach Davis wants me to come in and do what I do right away. They’ve told me I can be an impact right away and establish a big role on this team, but I have to compete and earn that position. I firmly believe that I’m able to do what I do against the top competition in the country and against the best players in the country and that’s something I’m going to have to prove next season at Bucknell.”

He may not be ready to admit that he will forever be mentioned with his idol and perhaps one day he will come to that realization.  As Bryant said after his last game, “Mamba out,”  Turner will merely say, “Deuces.”