Devon Prep reaches state championship, ending Math, Civics & Sciences’ final season as a program

It’s a three-month pounding that the Devon Prep boys’ basketball team takes each year with a shared smile.

The Tide keep getting back up, and getting back up, and getting back up, after they get rung through the gauntlet of the Philadelphia Catholic League, the toughest high school basketball league in the state, and it is hardly ever pretty.

The bruises have a way of paying dividends — and leading to where they are going on Saturday, the PIAA Class 3A championship, where Devon Prep will try to win its second state final in three years after getting by Math, Civics & Sciences, 69-50, in a semifinal at Cardinal O’Hara. The game Tuesday was a rematch of the District 12 championship.

The No. 1 seed out of District 12, Devon Prep (14-13) will play District 10′s second-seeded Franklin Area (24-5) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Hershey Giant Center for the state title.

Tide coach Jason Fisher did a superb job in getting the Tide there, revamping his starting lineup, which lost two starters, juniors Calvin Smith and Mason Thear, due to transfer rules. Stepping into their roles has been juniors Mike Pergolis and Ayinde McClendon, who combined for 32 points, including a career-best 22 points from Pergolis coming off the bench.

When Devon Prep faced MCS in the District 12 championship a few weeks ago, Fisher had a completely new starting lineup, trying to figure it all out again.

Five Devon Prep players scored in double figures, led by the sharpshooting Pergolis, who had 15 by halftime, nailing four 3-pointers.

The Tide were a fine cohesive machine, working the ball, finding the cutters, showing patience on offense and most importantly nailing their shots. The Tide went 11 of 20 from the floor in the first half in building a double-digit lead. With 5 minutes, 50 seconds to play, they opened up that margin to a game-high 20-point lead, 60-40.

“These guys have gotten better, and gotten better over the last three weeks, because it was like we were back in November with a whole new starting lineup,” Fisher said. “It’s awesome playing in the Catholic League. Every night, we are going against the best league in the state, maybe the East Coast. Every night, you are playing against high-level coaches and high-level players.

“We’re competitive and we realize in order to win those games, we have to have a lot of things go right.”

Everything has gone right since the Tide were knocked out of the Catholic League playoffs by O’Hara a month ago after blowing an 11-point, fourth-quarter lead. Devon Prep is riding a five-game winning streak and has gained depth in that span.

“We don’t get the opportunity to play with leads in the Catholic League, and that game we had a lead and that was uncharted territory,” Fisher said. “We spent the last three weeks working on how to handle the leads.”

The Tide led from start to finish against MCS.

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“I started one game this year, and tonight I defended Milak Myatt, who is a really nice player,” Pergolis said. “My teammates trusted in knocking down shots and I had to deliver on that. We take the [Catholic League] losses and we take that as motivation. I was on the bench two years ago, but not in uniform [when Devon Prep beat Aliquippa for the state title].

“This is totally different. I can be on the court and make plays for my teammates.”

Zane Conlon, who finished with 15 points, did suit in the state final as a freshman two years ago. He stressed that playing in the Catholic League prepares the Tide for playing schools their own size.

“That’s how we take it, we are surrounded by dogs on this team,” Conlon said. “We learned from the O’Hara loss. We watched the film and realized we can’t stop scoring. We have to remain aggressive and keep attacking the basket.”

For MCS, and its well-respected coach Lonnie Diggs, the loss was not just an end to the season, it was an end to the program. MCS will be closing its doors in June, and Diggs had made countless sacrifices for his players and the program since 2005.

“This was tough, really tough,” Diggs said. “It will eventually sink in. I’ll always remember the good memories of being a coach and seeing these players turn into good people, good husbands, good fathers, and I wanted to see these kids go out with a state title.

“With the school closing, we wanted to go out on top. We had kids graduate from college and go on to do good things. We’ll see what is next for me. It was a little emotional saying goodbye, because I know what these kids went through this year.”

Myatt, a 6-foot-3 sophomore who led the Mighty Elephants with 19 points, transferred to MCS from Imhotep and has a bright future. The cousin of former MCS star Wooga Poplar (Miami) said he will play this summer and think about staying in the city.

“It depends on what the best situation is for me,” Myatt said. “I’ll remember playing hard and taking coaching, and Coach Lonnie helped me a lot. It was a little tough when I got here, not knowing anyone. I’ll remember my experience here.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.