Malvern Prep’s Ryan Williams sees basketball career come full circle in final season

Ryan Williams had terrific role models as a promising eighth grader at Malvern Prep.

The senior class included Deuce Turner, the school’s all-time leading scorer who’s now a junior playing at the University of San Diego. In the grade behind him was Rahdir Hicks, another 1,000-point scorer currently playing Division I hoops at Towson.

While Williams didn’t share the court with that group — only playing for the Friars’ junior varsity team — he saw them in the hallways during the school day. He was there with them at practices and bus rides, getting the chance to learn from them and ask questions.

Williams isn’t the inquisitive young player picking the brains of the Friars’ standouts anymore. The senior, who’s committed to Northeastern, has grown into the unquestioned leader of the Friars squad.

And the other young talent, like freshmen Nick Harken and Marvin Reed, are learning from Williams.

“It’s a full circle moment,” Williams said. “I know I got to play my best and be composed throughout the whole game because they’re looking at me. I just want to lead them in the right way.”

Malvern Prep boys’ basketball coach Paul Romanczuk is in his third season coaching Williams. He arrived during the 6-foot-3 guards’ sophomore campaign when he first started making a name for himself.

Williams averaged 15.5 points and earned first team All-Inter-Ac honors as a sophomore for the Inter-Ac co-champs. He continued to assert himself as a Division I prospect during his junior campaign, averaging 17.6 points on 44% shooting and earning first team all-league honors as the Friars shared the league title with Penn Charter again.

He carried that into a strong summer on the Under Armour Association circuit with Philly Pride before announcing his commitment to Northeastern in September, choosing the Huskies over Columbia, Iona, and Fairfield.

With his commitment behind him, Williams’ play is on another level as a senior, currently averaging 22.9 points in 16 games into his senior campaign. Romanczuk has seen more than his scoring average grow in the last three years.

“He’s gone through such a maturation process that’s been so enjoyable for me as a coach to see,” Romanczuk said. “When he was younger as a sophomore and some of the mistakes, and now he’s over those mistakes and growing from them.

“He trusted that Malvern was the place for him, and that Malvern was the place for him to grow — and boy has he grown. He’s just a really hard worker.”

» READ MORE: Ryan Williams is Malvern Prep’s self-made rising star

Williams, who eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone earlier this season, had a co-star the last two seasons in Andrew Phillips, last year’s Inter-Ac MVP who’s now at Lafayette. Classmate Ryan Pegg was another key returner from last year’s co-champion team.

“Last year, I could always count on Andrew to score 20, 20-plus, but now this year it’s more I’ll get that 20 and everyone else is kind of scattered in the scoring,” Williams said. “I feel like we can play as a team, and when we do that, everyone can kind of get theirs.”

Along with Williams’ maturity, Romanczuk said, his buy-in on the defensive end is one of the biggest differences he’s seen this season. Williams is eager for the responsibility to try and lock down the best players on opposing teams before going down the other end to splash threes, sink floaters, and take drives to the hoop.

He knows both sides will be important in trying to get on the floor when he gets to Northeastern. That foundation was sprinkled into him during those Q&A sessions with his older teammates as an eighth grader.

“I couldn’t really take too many pointers from Deuce because he’s a one of a kind scorer, but Rahdir he was always talking about playing defense,” Williams said. “You can always play hard no matter if your shot doesn’t go in or not. That’s something really big I took from him.”

Part of Williams’ job this season is to make sure his younger teammates are ready when their number is called. He needs to pass down lessons like Turner and Hicks did for him.

He’s been successful so far.

“It’s great to have somebody to look after you,” Harken said. “They set a good example and just to follow his lead and success will come.”

The cycle will start all over again when Williams heads off to Boston and joins an experienced group of upperclassmen. He’ll even get the chance to go up against one of his former mentors in the Coastal Athletic Association as Hicks is a junior with the Tigers.

He has his sights on an outright Inter-Ac title before then. Williams, a senior captain, is equipped to carry this team down the stretch.

“I think it’s still just playing together and being relaxed,” Williams added.

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.