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Kennedy Catholic playing for title today
Golden Eagles
in PIAA final
By BRIAN DZENIS
HERMITAGE, PA.
Before he got on the bus, Kennedy Catholic boys basketball coach Rick Mancino pulled out his cell phone.
He wanted to make sure he captured the crowd outside cheering on his team. He knows he has a big trip ahead of him.
“We’re excited, Kennedy is excited and I think all of Mercer County is excited,” Mancino said.
Mancino’s Golden Eagles are going for their first PIAA Class A title since 2002 today against Math, Civics and Sciences Charter School. Mancino was on the first Kennedy team to win a state title in 1986 and the Youngstown State graduate took over at his alma mater in 2009. Given how loaded his 27-2 squad is, he and the team don’t expect to come home empty-handed.
“You gotta go in expecting to win. Yeah we’re happy to be there but going this far isn’t enough,” junior guard Drew Magestro said. “Our community is backing us up and we need to bring them back a championship.”
Kennedy Catholic can be summed up in one word — big. The Eagles boast six players who are 6-foot-3 or taller and four of them are starters.
It starts in the back court with 6-3 freshman point guard Jason Austin and the 6-1 Magestro. That size allows them to smother opponents on defense while being difficult to defend in their own right.
“When your guards can match up with another team’s big guys, it’s definitely a positive.” Mancino said.
Said Magestro: “That size helps us and we have great point guards and great shooters. We’re the whole package.”
In the frontcourt, 6-8 West Virginia commit Sagaba Konate patrols the paint. Konate and his brother, teammate Mohamed Konate, come from Mali and are two of 14 siblings. Sagaba will be the fifth brother to play college basketball and five of his siblings have lived in the Sharon area since Abraham played for Sharon in 2001. Sagaba and Mohamed, along with two brothers who don’t play basketball, live with their AAU coach and legal guardian, Jeff Kollar.
Mancino knows what that situation might look like to outsiders and he insists Kollar didn’t just fly in some kids to play basketball.
“Jeff is not a host. He’s their legal guardian. Him and Janet are like parents to those kids,” Mancino said. “Jeff gets insulted when people say that. There’s other family members that he helps out that have nothing to do with sports.”
The Eagles are facing a Mighty Elephants team with a deceptive record. MCSCS entered the tournament with a sub-.500 record and come into the final at 16-14. The Mighty Elephants’ postseason has been just as much of a roller-coaster ride as the regular season. They needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win in the quarterfinals and another with 1.2 seconds left to play to win a semifinal in overtime.
“That record makes me laugh,” Mancino said. “When you look at those teams in Philadelphia, they play a national schedule. They play unbelievable teams and that’s why they lose.
“We try to play good teams, too, and we were fortunate enough to win some of those.”
“I told our team we might have their record if we played their schedule,” Mancino added.
The mood has been pretty light in Hermitage. Mancino said the team’s last practice wasn’t the most demanding as the highlight was a dunk contest. The Eagles are a confident bunch, but they’re going to enjoy the moment.
“It’s just great to go to Hershey with my teammates and just get this far with all the hard work we’ve put in,” Magestro said. “Just having the whole school and community here supporting us is all you could ask for.”