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THE PHILLY basketball world knew one thing about Carlos Taylor well before he began his senior season for Boys' Latin Charter: He's not consumed with the E word. As in ego.
Most kids with high levels of talent treat Division II colleges like the plague. Not Taylor. He committed to UMass-Lowell after a wonderful early-fall visit.
Boys Latin players celebrate after they beat Comm Tech 70-59 in the Public League semi-final game at South Philadelphia High School in Philadelphia, Pa. on February 21, 2012. ( David Maialetti / Staff Photographer )
"After I said I was going there, people were asking me, 'Why'd you do that? You should have waited,' " Taylor said. "I did have some D-I schools showing interest in me, like Rider, NJIT, and George Mason, but I had the school I wanted. It didn't make sense to me to not say yes.
"I knew right away I wanted that place. The atmosphere was like a family and everybody was treating me great."
He then told a pretty cool story.
"One guy gave up his bed for me!" he said, laughing. "Yeah, I was in a room with two players and one of them, without me even asking, said I could sleep in his bed and he'd sleep on the floor. That's nice, right?"
Taylor is a 6-4, 185-pound senior frontcourter (everything from small forward to center, depending) and Tuesday night at Southern High he slapped together a balanced performance as the Warriors clipped Communications Tech, 70-59, in a Public League semifinal.
Taylor shot 7-for-11 (two treys) and 1-for-2 for 17 points, snagged seven rebounds, registered three steals and dealt two assists. Plus, he made all of his commonplace little contributions, most prominent among them the setting of picks.
There was also this key sequence: After two free throws by Terrence Brown advanced CT, which had trailed throughout, within 56-53, Taylor took a pass from star guard Maurice "Doo-Wop" Watson and converted a layup while absorbing contact. Though Taylor missed the free throw, the ball went over the baseline in BL's favor and Taylor wound up being the inbounder.
Hey, the kid might have a future as a point guard. He threaded a perfect pass to Khadafi Robinson through the assorted bodies and that layup made it 60-53.
"Our three man always makes the inbound passes," Taylor said. "I'm usually the four or five, but I was the three at that time so I had to get the ball in.
"That's my role. Whatever I'm asked to do, I do it. Really, I guess you could say I'm supposed to grab rebounds the most. But I try to do everything."
Early, Taylor stepped away from the basket and drained a pair of treys. The Warriors finished the first 8 minutes with a 17-6 lead and Watson, who last Saturday (at 2,228) surpassed Wilt Chamberlain (Overbrook '55; 2,206) as the No. 2 scorer in city history, didn't score his first points, on a jumper a shade inside the arc, until right before the buzzer.
In the third quarter, after CT made a bit of a run, Taylor created space, at 38-29, with a three-point play off a follow.
Watson posted eight points in that session and added nine more in the fourth, thus finishing with 23.
Taylor could have predicted as much. After all, he and Watson go way back. Well, at least to Beverly Hills Middle School, in Upper Darby.
"We played together there and then we've been together all through Boys' Latin," Taylor said. "That's my boah. We've always been great friends."
In fact . . .
"He's one of the big reasons I picked UMass-Lowell," said Taylor, who plans to major in accounting. "We'll be able to see each other a lot. Our place is maybe a half-hour drive from Boston U. And they have trains that take you right into town."
Watson also distributed nine assists. Junior guard Yahmir Greenlee added 18 points thanks in part to two treys.
For CT, frosh Samir Doughty matched Greenlee's scoring performance while Tony Parker added 14 points and his twin, Terrell, claimed eight rebounds.
Online high school coverage at philly.com/rally.
