Frank Sciolla steps down at Conwell-Egan Catholic boys basketball

FAIRLESS HILLS – One year after winning it all, Conwell-Egan Catholic (CEC) boys basketball coach Frank Sciolla has stepped down.

Last year, the Eagles captured a District 12-AA title and the PIAA Class AA Championship with a win over Aliquippa. This year, Egan repeated in the district with a win over Mastery Charter North.

But after the Eagles were ousted in the PIAA quarterfinals in a mid-March matchup with Camp Hill, Sciolla decided to step away.

Before Conwell-Egan, the coach enjoyed stops at Pennsbury and Bristol high schools, the longest of which was with the Falcons. In 20 seasons as a high school coach, Sciolla recorded a 365-180 record.

“I’ve taken so many positive things from these kids and I’m honored to be able to stand in front of them,” said Sciolla, when the current campaign at CEC came to a crashing halt. “That group of seniors changed the dynamic of Conwell-Egan basketball – a state championship, a couple district titles, numerous state playoff wins, wins in the Catholic League over tough teams.

“It’s a total flip of their history and these guys were at the forefront of that over the last three years.”

Before last season, the Eagles had exactly one postseason win – in 1964 in the Catholic League quarterfinals, but that was as Bishop Egan. Since Bishop Conwell merged with Bishop Egan, the Eagles had no playoff wins before last year.

At Pennsbury, where Sciolla guided NBA talent Lavoy Allen and West Virginia/Temple standout Dalton Pepper, the coach registered a 280-136 record and won seven Suburban One League (SOL) titles, five in undefeated fashion.

At Bristol, he led the Warriors to the District 1-AA tournament in back to back seasons (2012-2013). When Sciolla left the borough, he said Bristol was on the verge of big success and the next coach, Tyrone Lewis, proved the coach’s words prophetic when he led the Warriors to back to back District 1 championships (2014-2015).

Just the same, the Falcons didn’t fall apart without Sciolla, either. Current coach Bill Coleman led the Orange & Black to the District 1-AAAA championship game in 2014 and the PIAA quarterfinals last season.

Egan recently wrapped up a 17-10 campaign, a season that included a loss to Bonner-Prendergast in the first round of the Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) tournament. While the Eagles were a big favorite to repeat in the PIAA this season, Sciolla and his team were hit with a significant challenge when shooting guard Stevie Jordan announced he was transferring to Texas basketball powerhouse Advanced Prep International. The 5-11 guard averaged 16.8 points-per-game in 2014-15.

“Obviously, we lost some tremendous leadership and let’s be honest, Stevie was the State Player of the Year,” said Sciolla.

“When Stevie left, a lot of people thought, ‘OK, let’s see what you have. See if you can get back to the districts or make a run in states.’

“That was the first challenge and I want to say that (junior) Kar’ron Johnson stood up and he took on that challenge.

“He played really well for us this year.”

Along with sophomores Eric Esposito and James Leible, Johnson returns to the lineup next year when the new PIAA classifications take effect and the Eagles jump to Class 4A status.

The next coach that comes into Conwell-Egan will have to see his team compete without the services of first team All-Philadelphia Catholic League guard Lapri McCray-Pace and second team All-PCL forward Vinny Dalessandro, who will play at Division II Pace University next season. Both Lapri and Vinny were 1,000-point career scorers for the Eagles with Dalessandro recording his milestone basket in his last game ever in an Eagles uniform.

McCray-Pace reached the 1,000-point mark on Jan. 9, leading the Eagles to victory over host Neshaminy in a non-league boys basketball pairing.

Contact Steve Sherman at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter