Shorthanded Imhotep survives MC&S in overtime
STAFF WRITER Imhotep basketball's coach-for-a-day, Jonathan Hall, probably didn't like the circumstances that led to his first victory as a varsity basketball coach, but the postgame smile on his face Thursday evening belied a somewhat tumultuous week for the Panthers.
Imhotep basketball's coach-for-a-day, Jonathan Hall, probably didn't like the circumstances that led to his first victory as a varsity basketball coach, but the postgame smile on his face Thursday evening belied a somewhat tumultuous week for the Panthers.
After an altercation on Tuesday against Constitution, a severely shorthanded Imhotep squad came from behind to knock off host Math, Civics and Sciences, 77-74, in overtime at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center.
"I think more people doubted us, so I feel like it's great to get the win," said Hall, who said he found out he had to coach the team about 20 minutes before the game. "I told the kids at halftime that we were feeling sorry for ourselves and nobody was going to care that the rest of our team wasn't here. We just had to come out here and get it done."
As a result of Tuesday's incident at Ben Franklin High, Constitution's home court, Imhotep (10-1, 4-0) played without head coach Andre Noble, his varsity assistant coaches and seven players, including South Carolina recruit David Beatty, who were all suspended by the PIAA.
Constitution (9-4, 3-1), which won, 56-54, Thursday at King, had one assistant coach suspended and also played without several players. Constitution's coach, Rob Moore, said he wasn't able to comment on who was suspended.
All of Imhotep's coaches will return for the team's next scheduled game Saturday against Simon Gratz.
James Lynch, the executive director of athletics for the School District of Philadelphia and the president of the Public League, said all players directly involved in the incident were suspended for three games.
On Thursday, senior forward Koby Thomas led the Panthers with 31 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Senior point guard Daron Russell, a Rhode Island recruit, added 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Sophomore forward Donta Scott, a sophomore, finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks.
Imhotep trailed, 36-21, at halftime before a 14-4 run got it back into the game and led to just a six-point deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Hall, in his second year as an English teacher at Imhotep, is just in his first season as a junior varsity coach with the team.
"I think I've got bragging rights around the school with the other assistant coaches, so I'll take that," said a smiling Hall, who is from Miami and played at St. Bonaventure from 2008-10.
The Mighty Elephants (10-3, 3-2) were led by Malik Archer's 29 points. Tymair Johnson added 16 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds.
Reached by phone after the game, Noble, also Imhotep's athletic director, said he was suspended because he is "responsible for our program."
Noble accepted his suspension but said he disagreed with the decision to suspend his assistants, who he said left the bench only to pull their players away from the kerfuffle, which he said included opposing players and fans.
"I take responsibility for this," Noble said. "I don't think I prepared our students on the bench for how to handle something that was that extreme and we've taken precautions at our school to talk to all of our student-athletes about how to handle situations where they might be an outside aggressor and how we need to respond to that."
Imhotep 14 7 25 19 12 - 77
Math, Civics & Sciences 20 16 16 13 9 - 74
IM: Daron Russell 12, Bernard Lightsey 16, Koby Thomas 31, Donta Scott 14, Kharon Cummings 4.
MCS Tymair Johnson 16, Malik Archer 29, Kwahzere Ransom 7, Ahmad Wimbush 11, Saheed Peoples 5, Maqi Watson 4, Zahir Jackson 2.