Hill School resets from MAPL miss, rolls past Cristo Rey in PAISAA first round

POTTSTOWN >> The Hill School rode a 10-game winning streak into the Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship game against Blair Academy last weekend and were rightly confident.

Maybe too confident.

“It was pretty shocking,” senior Josh Cameron said of Hill’s 94-61 loss in the MAPL final. “We knew Blair was a really good team and that we matched up really well with them, but we thought we were going to be the tougher team and knock down our shots. It was one of those days where we really didn’t know what happened. The energy wasn’t there.”

With five days to reset before beginning its quest in the Pa. Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament Friday, The Hill School took nothing for granted against Cristo Rey as it won going away, 67-40, to advance to the quarterfinals.

It’s a quick turnaround for the No. 4 seed Blues. They’ll host No. 5 Penn Charter Saturday night at 7 p.m. with the hope of sending another squad packing on their home floor.

“Very excited we got the ‘W’,” Cameron said. “Coach instilled in our minds to use this week to get better and use it to motivate us to win PAISAAs this year.

“The win shows me that we can take a loss like we did last week and come back and kick a team out of our gym like we did. It shows how strong we are, how we’re able to get up after we lose. It’s really promising for the rest of the season because we’re going to face more tough games and face adversity.”

Junior guard Trey O’Neil lived up to his first name and then some by knocking down five 3-pointers on the way to a team-high 16 points.

Cameron led Hill’s long front line Friday as the 6-foot-7 guard/forward from the Bronx showed his versatility and rebounding prowess while scoring 12.

Cameron on Friday was named to the All-MAPL first team alongside teammates Augie Gerhart (Penn commit) and Justin Molen, who scored six and eight points, respectively. Hill got contributions all over with seven players scoring five or more points, including point guard and Pottstown native Jacob Meachem (nine).

Cristo Rey got 16 points from guard Devin Booker and 11 from Lafayette commit Josh Wyche, who was hampered by foul trouble.

Cristo Rey, the No. 13 seed, won its division in the Penn-Jersey Athletic Association with a win over Life Center last week and went 21-6 on the year. The Blue Pride, led by head coach Kyle Sample, has a notable list of assistants, including former Temple standout Dionte Christmas, former Villanova captain Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Aaron Owens, known as “AO” from the AND1 Mix Tape Tour.

O’Neil hit his second 3-pointer late in the frame to give Hill a 15-8 lead after a quarter. The Blues then opened a 24-11 lead after a technical foul on the Blue Pride and closed into halftime on a 7-1 run for a 33-17 advantage at the break.

Cristo Rey could not combat Hill’s size advantage – during a large stretch of the second, four of Hill’s five on the floor were 6-foot-6 and above – and that chasm only deepened into the second half. Quadri Bashiru threw down a nice feed from Matthew FIeld to keep Hill up 20 (50-30) after three quarters.

End 3Q: Hill School 50, Cristo Rey 30.

Quadri Bashiru throws it down on nice feed from Matthew Field in final minute of quarter to build 20 point lead pic.twitter.com/HyCnwkotqI

— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) February 17, 2023

Saturday will be the second meeting between Hill and Penn Charter this year. The Blues took a 62-55 loss in their fifth game of the year. Cameron sees a different Hill team and a lot of progress since that Dec. 3 matchup.

“Everyone came in playing a bunch of different playing styles,” he said. “We’re a bunch of versatile wings and guards so it was us getting used to each other. Throughout the entire season we’ve gained a lot of experience with each other, had ups and downs, and now we know how to pick each other up.”

The PAISAA Championships continue through next weekend with the semifinals slated for Friday and the championship on Sunday, to be held 3 p.m. at St. Joseph’s University’s Hagan Arena.

Cristo Rey: Josh Wyche 3 4-5 11, Amir Nelson 2 1-2 6, Devin Booker 6 0-2 16, Saige Henderson 2 0-0 5, Tyler Tolbert 0 0-0 0, Amir Dow 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 5-9 40.

Hill School: Josh Cameron 5 2-4 12, Trey O’Neil 5 1-2 16, Gerhart 2 2-2 6, Meachem 3 3-6 9, Molen 3 2-2 8, Field 2 2-2 7, Barney 2 0-0 5, Bashiru 2 0-0 4, Terreri 0 0-0 0, Gupta 0 0-0 0, Shao 0 0-0 0, Hewitt 0 0-0 0, Grady 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 12-18 67.

3-pointers: CR-Booker 4, Wyche, Nelson, Henderson; HS-O’Neil 5, Field, Barney.