By: Rich Flanagan
Videos/Photos: Patty Morgan, Mike Nance, Mike Gray, Donna Eckert, Geanine Jamison & Angelise Stuhl
PHILADELPHIA – Carl Arrigale planned for the worst-case scenario. Prior to Neumann-Goretti’s PIAA Class 3A second-round matchup against Holy Redeemer on March 11th 2020, he addressed his team as if they were about to play in the state final.
There was a feeling of angst and dismay that this could be the Saints' last game of the season for more reasons than simply playing in an elimination game. The coronavirus pandemic was ravaging across continents and was ultimately putting a halt to much of everyday life in the United States.
The entire country was beginning to face the harsh reality of a shutdown and Arrigale understood that he had to level with this team about the possibility of the season's end coming far too soon.
“We had a very good chance to win another state title,” Arrigale said. “We were playing that well. The night of the last game when all of this stuff started coming out [regarding COVID-19] and actors like Tom Hanks were diagnosed, it was starting to really get talked about. As we were waiting to play, it started feeling like this could be it. I didn’t want to think about that but as I addressed the team I said, ‘Fellas, this could be the last game we play.’ When we got home, it was the Rudy Gobert update and stuff was really going down.”
While the Saints went out and decimated the opposition by 38 points that night, all of Pa. shutdown the following day and the PIAA ( Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) made the decision to delay all winter championships. Four weeks later, everything was canceled and players and coaches were kept out of gyms throughout the spring and summer.
While Arrigale and the Saints won the Philadelphia Catholic League title with a 66-58 victory over Roman Catholic, giving the 22-year head coach a league-record 11th crown, not being able to watch his core group of Jordan Hall (St. Joe’s), Cameron Young (Bowling Green) and Hakim Byrd (Marist) compete for a state title was disappointing. Couple that with the uncertainty if there would even be a season in the winter and there was an eerie feeling about the future.
Thankfully, the landscape has changed and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was able to construct a plan for a boys' basketball season.
2020 PCL Boys' Basketball Championship Highlights by Angelise Stuhl:
It will be a league-only schedule with 14 games for each program but with a few adjustments thrown in to accommodate schools within the city, who will be unable to host games this season. All programs located within the city will be playing at suburban counterparts.
There will be no formal playoff bracket this season as the top two teams will advance to the title game at a site to be determined. Games can only be played within the five counties where the Philadelphia Catholic League schools are located, aside from the city, and spectator capacity will be contingent upon individual restrictions in those counties. As a result, each game will be livestreamed by the host school. Finally, regarding state tournament qualification, only one program from each classification within District 12 will advance to the state playoffs.
There is very little room for error this season. With the season slated to begin on January 29 and with a final regular-season date of March 10 there will be little time to correct mistakes from game to game. The Saints (24-4, 12-2 Philadelphia Catholic League) won their first title since 2014 and, despite losing some accomplished players, there are a plethora of returning players from that team.
Hysier Miller, the 6-foot-1 Temple commit and Pa. All-State Class 3A Third Team selection, returns after averaging 14.1 points and 2.8 steals as a junior.
He’ll be joined by Blaise Vespe, the 6-7 senior who avg. 7.8 points per game which included a 24-point game against St. Joe’s Prep, and Chris Evans, the 6-2 senior sharpshooter who has hit 114 three-pointers over the last two seasons. With three starters gone, look for 6-foot junior Masud Stewart, who holds offers from Rider, Holy Cross and St. Peter’s, and 6-1 junior Aamir Hurst to see expanded roles this year.
Hysier Miller, a Pa. All-State Class 3A Third Team selection and Temple University commit, returns for the Saints - PSD Photo by Patty Morgan
Neumann-Goretti had transfers join the roster in Solo Bambara, the 6-6 senior forward who avg. 7.6 points for Cardinal O’Hara last season, and Zaakir Williamson, the 6-7 University of Buffalo commit who avg. 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 blocks at Rock Creek Christian Academy (Md.) as a junior. Williamson actually began his career in the Philadelphia Catholic League playing at West Catholic as a freshman. More additions include an impressive freshman class in Amir Williams (6-4), Robert Wright III (5-10), Khaafiq Myers (5-10). The Saints are looking to build off a season where they drilled 292 three-pointers in 28 games.
While Roman Catholic (18-10, 10-4) lost in the title game, it marked the third straight season Matt Griffin’s team has made the league final. Every team undergoes some sort of change each year but no team may be experiencing a transition quite like the Cahillites. Most notably, Jalen Duren, the 6-10 big man and No. 3 overall prospect in the Class of 2022 who avg. 17.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.4 blocks as a sophomore, and Justice Williams, who led the Cahillites in scoring at 18.6 points per game, transferred to Montverde Academy (Fla.).
Lynn Greer III, a four-year starter who scored 1,392 points and won a pair of league titles, graduated and is doing a post-grade season at IMG Academy (Fla.). Nasir Lett graduated and is playing at Lincoln University. Christian Kirkland (Friends Select School) and Will Norman (Woodbury High School (N.J.), who transferred to focus on his football career, have also moved on.
Roman Catholic head coach Matt Griffin will be fostering a "Next man up" mentality this season- PSD Photo by Mike Nance
In an off-season where so many players moved around due to the uncertainty that basketball would not be played in Pa., Griffin remained focused on helping outgoing and incoming players find the best decision for themselves.
“One of the things that is the most fun about my job is seeing kids succeed,” Griffin said. “We have a lot of players on our roster who can be college basketball players but don’t get to show what they can do because there’s another guy in front of them. That’s what this year is about. Other guys will be getting more opportunities and as coaches we always say, ‘Next guy up.’ Last year, our roster was full of sophomores and now it’s full of juniors.”
Xzayvier Brown, the 6-1 sophomore who avg. 8.1 points, returns to the starting lineup. He’ll be joined by two transfers in 6-4 junior guard Khalil Farmer, who comes over from the Shipley School after being named All-Friends School League First Team with an avg. of 18.2 points and 7.7 rebounds, and 6-5 athletic junior Daniel Skillings Jr., who comes from St. Joseph’s High School (N.J.) after avg. 18.6 points and 7.2 rebounds as a sophomore.
Griffin is expecting big things from a variety of upperclassmen that will see extended minutes in Jhamir Martin, a 6-1 junior guard, John Flood, a 6-1 senior guard who saw time in Roman Catholic’s PIAA Class 6A Tournament opener against Coatesville, and Chad Anglin, a 6-7 junior forward who projects to start at center and “played defense against Jalen for the last two years,” according to Griffin, while on the JV team. The Cahillites also added 2022 forward Matija Radunovic, a 6-7 foreign exchange student from Montenegro, who will be in the rotation.
John Mosco and Archbishop Wood (22-5, 13-1) have unfinished business this season after bowing out to the Cahillites in the semifinals. Two years ago, the 2021 class played in the PIAA Class 5A title game and seemed destined to make another state championship run. As their final run begins, this season will be about much more than basketball.
There is a sense of urgency to finish what they started and Mosco, who led the Vikings to 2017 league and 5A state title, knows this group has tunnel vision for the right reasons.
“Our first goal and focus is the Philadelphia Catholic League championship,” Mosco said. “Losing to Roman left a bad taste in our mouth because we felt we didn’t play to our ability in the first half. It was a great team but to not get to the title game or win it, we fell short of our goal. We had a nice run and were playing some good basketball when the world shut down in March. They feel disappointed and there is more pressure on them to meet that goal this year. We have our goal set right now and it’s going to be a lot of basketball in a short time.”
Rahsool Diggins avg. 20.2 ppg and scored 20+ points in 12 games in route to being named the 2019-20 PCL MVP - PSD Photo by Mike Nance
Defending Philadelphia Catholic League MVP and UConn commit Rahsool Diggins (20.2 ppg) returns to run the point. The 6-3 senior scored a league semifinal-record 35 points against the Cahillites and begins his final year with 1,186 career points, exactly 200 from tying the school record set by Tyree Pickron (2018).
He’ll be joined alongside Daeshon Shepherd (13.0), a 6-5 senior forward and La Salle commit, Jaylen Stinson (14.4), a 6-foot senior and James Madison commit, and Marcus Randolph (14.2), a 6-5 senior and Richmond commit. The final member of the starting lineup will be 6-5 athletic forward Muneer Newton, who had 12 points in the overtime win over Archbishop Carroll in the league quarterfinals.
The Vikings will boast a deep rotation with 6-6 senior Robert Jackson, a Cincinnati football commit, 6-5 seniors John Donahue and Mike Knouse, 6-2 senior Dan Prior, 6-4 sophomore Markus Dixon, and 6-5 sophomore Bahsil Laster, who played on the freshman team last year.
Archbishop Ryan (19-8, 8-6) made the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals for the third time in five years before falling to eventual champion Neumann-Goretti. Under sixth-year head coach Joe Zeglinski, not only have the Raiders returned to prominence in the league but they’ve been successful in the state tournament as well with three trips including the state semifinals in 2017. Gone from last year’s team are two senior leaders in Gediminas Mokseckas (Campbell) and Christian Isopi (Gwynedd Mercy).
Zeglinski lost the league’s leading scorer at the time but surprisingly, that changed the complexion of the season.
Senior forward, Aaron Lemon-Warren, returns as key leadership for the Raiders - PSD Photo by Mike Gray
“Looking back you realize how great that group was together in their chemistry and how they stuck together,” Zeglinski said. “When Aaron Lemon-Warren went down, guys like Luke Boyd really stepped up. I knew he was a good talent and could really play. When Aaron went down, it’s a testament to those guys who stepped up their games. We leaned on [Mokseckas] down the stretch of games and he was the guy who was the second option behind Aaron.”
Lemon-Warren, the 6-5 versatile senior forward, was avg. 24.4 ppg breaking his right foot in practice on Jan. 23. He holds offers from Richmond, St. Louis and Drexel, among others. Boyd, a 6-1 junior guard, had 18 points, including five three-pointers, and 10 rebounds in an upset win over Bishop McDevitt in the league quarterfinals and his play improved steadily after Lemon-Warren’s injury. Senior point guard Dominic Vazquez avg. 9.9 ppg in his first year as a starter. Jalen Snead, a 6-3 junior, took on a bigger role as well as showcased by recording seven points, 11 rebounds, seven blocks and five steals versus Penn Wood in the PIAA Class 5A first round. David Wise, a 6-1 junior, will also see time.
The Raiders received some impact additions and they start with 6-9 senior forward Christian Tomasco, who avg. 10.2 ppg at Bishop Eustace (N.J.) last season. “He’s an athletic big who can run the floor really well and hit the three,” according to Zeglinski. The freshman class includes 6-6 guard Jaden Murray, 6-3 lefty Darren Williams and 6-3 guard Ryan Everett.
An up-and-coming team that made the league playoffs for the first time since 2014 is West Catholic (8-13, 5-9). Under the direction of third-year head coach Miguel Bocachica, a graduate of Imhotep Charter who helped the Panthers win two PIAA Class 4A titles, the Burrs fell to Archbishop Ryan in the first round and only lost a few pieces from last year such Tyler Allen (Eastern University), Zahir Rawls and Joe Gomez.
The rotation is deep with multiple starters and bench players boasting Division 1 offers. While the talent has generally been on this roster, even before Bocachica took over, there’s a feeling of revitalization amongst the players and the head coach states that it’s becoming more evident.
“They’ve become prideful about West Catholic,” Bocachica said. “We have kids from all over who previously didn’t know much about our school and they were brand new to it just as I was. I just try to lead by example and show how prideful I’m about it. I can hear it in their conversations about West Catholic. It’s a lot different right now.”
Eric Chamberlain, a 6-foot senior guard, led the Burrs at 11.1 ppg. He will be flanked by junior twins, Kaseem Watson, a 6-5 point guard with offers from NJIT and Robert Morris, to name a few, and Kareem Watson, a 6-5 combo guard who has offers from Bryant and Mount St. Mary’s. Kaseem avg. 7.9 ppg and Kareem, who broke his tibia over the summer and is still working his way back, avg. 3.7 ppg. Nasir Griffin, the 6-7 junior forward and three-year starter with multiple D-I offers of his own, had 21 points against Sankofa Freedom and looks primed for a huge year. Other returnees include 6-5 sophomore Anthony Finkley, who had 11 points against Conwell-Egan and holds offers from St. Joe’s and DePaul, 6-4 sophomore Zion Stanford, who has a Bryant offer, and 6-3 sophomore Marcus Banker Jr. Bocachica says Finkley rivals “Jordan Hall as a passer.”
The Burrs welcome a few additions including 6-3 freshman Jayden Robinson, who could see time in year one, Adam Clark, a 5-9 sophomore point guard from Boys’ Latin, and Nasir Dunbar, a 5-10 junior from Freire Charter. Clark had 16 points and eight steals versus Paul Robeson and 17 points against Freire while Dunbar had 18 points against Strawberry Mansion and 16 versus Masterman.
Another upstart team from a season ago was Cardinal O’Hara (16-10, 9-5), which finished with a winning league record for the first time since 2001. Third-year head coach Ryan Nemetz oversaw a team that started the year 11-0 and also defeated Neumann-Goretti in the regular season.
Adrian Irving, a Third Team All-Catholic selection who avg. 14.0 pig, returns for Cardinal O'Hara - PSD Photo by Donna Eckert
The Lions lost multiple pieces from one of its better seasons in recent memory as Tre Dinkins (Harcum College) and Kevin Reeves (Eastern University) graduated, and Bambara left to join the Saints. Jaden Rogers made the move to Caravel Academy (Del.), Jameel Burton transferred to Chester High School and Ant Purnell made the jump to the Kiski School while reclassifying to the class of 2022. Frankie Parotti will be focusing on baseball.
Nemetz has certainly changed the view of Cardinal O’Hara basketball since taking over and, while several players are no longer with the program, he’s focused on developing the new group to keep the Lions in position to compete for the league postseason once again.
“Last year was awesome to see the guys that we had developed into really good players and into a really good team,” Nemetz said. “Anybody who came to see us play saw toughness and a team that played the right way. We pride ourselves in developing guys. We have guys that come in, know they’re going to be developed and end up being good players when all is said and done. It was a fun ride overall and an amazing season.”
The Lions will lean heavily on returning starter Adrian Irving, the 6-foot senior guard and Third Team All-Catholic selection who avg. 14.0 ppg and posted 28 points against the Haverford School. With Bambara gone, 6-7 senior forward and Marymount University commit Jax Trickey will start upfront.
Nemetz will have two freshmen in his starting lineup this season in 6-1 guard Hunter Johnson and 6-3 guard Amir Speights. Pearse McGuinn, a 6-3 freshman, will also see time as will Collegium Charter transfer Massai Harris, a 6-foot junior who had 20 points versus Brandywine Heights last year.
Devon Prep (8-11, 3-11) begins its third season in the Philadelphia Catholic League with lots of optimism. Despite the loss of point guard Nicholas Crowe (University of Scranton), Scion Dorsey (Gwynedd Mercy) and Nick Perullo (Dickinson College), The Tide should have a potent offense this season. First, head coach Jason Fisher returns two starters in 6-4 seniors Eamon Walsh and Chris Patton.
Senior guard Chris Patton will be returning for the Tide this season - PSD Photo by Geanine Jamison
Walsh, a four-year starter, avg. 10 ppg and enters his final campaign with 693 career points and 92 charges taken. Patton, a lefty sharpshooter, avg. 11.5 ppg while hitting 49 three-pointers and shooting 47 percent from behind the arc last year.
Players like 6-4 senior forward Michael Ferry, 6-3 junior Jake Kenney, 6-2 sophomore Jacen Holloway and 6-4 sophomore Lucas Orchard will all compete for minutes.
The biggest addition for the Tide is 6-2 junior guard IV Pettit, who scored 903 points in two seasons at West Chester Rustin. He had 23 points against Wallenpaupack Area in the PIAA Class 5A Tournament first round a year ago.
Heading into year three in a new league, Fisher has seen a massive change in his team’s preparation whether it be off-season workouts or strength training, and players molding themselves into college basketball prospects, much like the 2020 class.
“Every night, you’re playing against players who are striving to be college basketball players,” Fisher said. “Our teams have always played hard but in order to be competitive, that’s how you have to approach it. That goes from the weight room to off-season training, you have to view it as constantly going against elite talent which is very well coached. Over the course of the last three years, players have begun to understand that.”
Tag(s): Home Schools Philadelphia Catholic Boys Basketball Philadelphia Catholic League Arch. Carroll Boys Basketball Arch. Ryan Boys Basketball Arch. Wood Boys Basketball Bishop McDevitt Boys B-Ball Bonner & Prendie Boys B-Ball Cardinal O'Hara Boys B-Ball Conwell-Egan Boys Basketball Father Judge Basketball La Salle Basketball Lansdale Cath. Boys Basketball Roman Catholic Basketball Saint Joseph's Prep Basketball Neumann/Goretti Boys B-Ball West Catholic Boys Basketball