Memorable and hyped high school basketball matchups throughout Philadelphia history

Local powers Imhotep Charter and Camden High School face off in a highly anticipated matchup at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s Hagan Arena. Justin Edwards, Imhotep’s star forward and ESPN’s No. 1 player in the nation, goes up against Camden’s DJ Wagner, the No. 2 player.

In light of such a high-profile matchup, jogging a few memories seems appropriate. Parameters are needed, of course, because a high school hoops stroll down memory lane in this city easily could become a marathon.

Here is one high-profile meeting through each decade, starting with the 1960s:

Who: Earl “The Pearl” Monroe (Bartram) vs. Frank Card (West Philly)

What: Public League championship

When: 1962

Where: Southern

What happened: Card led the Speedboys with 24 points en route to a 76-73 victory. Ken Morgan, Deforia Coleman, and Lou Gates added 19, 15, and 14 points, respectively. Gates finished 10-for-10 at the line. Six of his freebies came in the final frame. For Bartram, Chris Kefalos led with 24 points. Monroe added 21. Frank Kunze had 18.

Why the hype: Monroe led the Pub in scoring at 21.4 per game. He was also a first-team all-Pub selection. Card was a second-team selection who averaged 12.8 points per game and was well-respected around the city. Monroe went on to then-Division II Winston-Salem State. He became the No. 2 pick in the 1967 NBA draft. He eventually earned the nickname “Earl the Pearl” and was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990. Card was nicknamed “Watusi” and was drafted in the seventh round of the 1967 NBA draft after his college career at South Carolina State. He played in the ABA and the Eastern Professional Basketball League.

Who: Gene Banks and Clarence Tillman (West Philly) vs. Lewis Lloyd (Overbrook)

What: Public League championship

When: 1976

Where: The Palestra

What happened: With one of the greatest rivalries in city high school basketball history as the backdrop, Banks, a junior, and “Eggy” Tillman, a sophomore, led the Speedboys to an 89-78 victory against Lloyd and the Panthers. Tillman led with 26 points and 20 rebounds. Banks finished with 23 points and 22 rebounds, and fellow junior Darryl “City Lights” Warwick scored 20. Lloyd, also a junior, buoyed Overbrook with 18 points and 17 rebounds, though Robert Carter scored a team-best 23 points.

Why the hype: Banks (Furness) and Tillman (Vare) had already been so good they drew South Philly crowds in junior high. Banks, who was a grade ahead of Tillman, then helped West to a 25-0 record as a sophomore. He averaged 25.4 points as a junior, up from 15.4 the year before. Tillman averaged 19 per game in ‘76, and Warwick added 17.2. Lloyd wasn’t known as “Black Magic” yet, but his name and game rang out all over the city. West also already had beaten Overbrook at Sayre Junior High School during the regular season.

West Philly and Overbrook met again in front of 8,000-plus patrons at the Palestra in 1977. Banks was suspended for a violation of team rules, so Tillman led the Speedboys to a third straight Pub title, 61-51, with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Lloyd had 19 points and 13 rebounds.

As a senior, Banks was considered the nation’s best player, West was the consensus best team in the nation (30-0), and Banks was named to the first McDonald’s All American team. He finished with a 79-2 record at West. He later starred at Duke and then played for the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls. Tillman went to Kentucky before transferring to Rutgers and then playing several seasons professionally overseas. He died in 2021 after a long illness. Lloyd starred for two seasons at Drake University after attending a military school in New Mexico. He was in and out of the NBA, testing positive for cocaine in 1987, which earned him a two-year ban. He died in 2019.

Who: Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers, Doug Overton (Dobbins) vs. Jerome “Pooh” Richardson and Paul “Snoop” Graham (Franklin)

What: Public League regular season

When: 1985

Where: Ben Franklin High School

What happened: Gathers scored 19 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, including a putback at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime, and Dobbins won, 69-68. In the extra frame, Derrick Gathers put back an Overton miss with two seconds left that gave the Mustangs the win. Richardson finished with 17 points and seven turnovers. He also fouled out with 49 seconds left in regulation. Graham finished with 18 points.

Why the hype: The Inquirer previewed the game as the most anticipated regular season game since Banks and Lloyd headlined the clash between West Philly and Overbrook. It also was a rematch of the previous season’s Pub title game, which Franklin won. In 1985, Franklin (17-1) and Richardson, who had already signed with UCLA, were ranked No. 11 in the nation by USA Today. Dobbins (20-2) was ranked No. 13. Kimble, Gathers, and Overton were Division I talents. Darrell “Heat” Gates, another Dobbins guard, was considered the best point guard in the city by many.

The coaching matchup also featured heavyweights: Dobbins’ coach Rich “Yank” Yankowitz and Franklin’s Ken Hamilton. In 2003, Yankowitz nabbed the most wins in Pub history (457), surpassing Hamilton’s (456). He finished with 486 when he retired in 2005.

Kimble and Gathers starred at Loyola Marymount after a season at USC. Gathers died in 1990 from complications related to a heart condition. Kimble was picked No. 8 overall in the 1990 NBA draft. Overton starred at La Salle before playing 11 seasons on eight teams in the NBA. Richardson was the No. 10 overall pick in the 1989 NBA draft. Graham was undrafted but spent three years with the Atlanta Hawks. He also played overseas and in the CBA.

Kimble, now the coach at Overbrook, said of the matchup: “It was great. Everybody could play, everybody could score, and the four or five of us were the top players in the city, hands down.”

There was no playoff rematch.

“It was the most anticipated game and unfortunately they lost in the quarterfinals,” Kimble said, “because we were looking forward to a rematch with them.”

Who: Donnie Carr (Roman Catholic) vs. Kobe Bryant (Lower Merion)

What: Regular season (non-league game)

When: 1995

Where: Drexel University

What happened: Carr led Roman with 34 points, while Bryant scored 30. Roman got the win, 67-61, in front of 1,500 “thoroughly entertained fans,” according to legendary Daily News sports writer Ted Silary. Bryant guarded Carr during most, if not all, of the first half and then again late. Roman played a triangle-and-two defense on Bryant and shooter Dan Pangrazio. Carr was always part of the triangle and guarded Bryant exclusively as part of a double team. From Silary, Carr said postgame: “Kobe’s a great player. If you don’t bring it, he’ll embarrass you. I wasn’t trying to be out there just to watch him put on a show. I tried not to let it get personal.” He smiled. “I slipped a few times. That came from just playing hard, wanting to win.”

Why the hype: Bryant was the consensus No. 1 player in the nation. Carr likely was the top player in the Catholic League. The two were also friends. Following Bryant’s death in 2020, Carr told The Inquirer he and Bryant played the year before at a camp run by the NBA Players Association. Bryant was listed as the No. 3 player in the country back then. From the Inquirer’s Mike Jensen: “Walking in, he hugged me,” Carr said, and he never forgot what Kobe said next.

“He was like, ‘DC, you know you’re my guy, man. But I’m not coming out of my room until it’s time to play.’” Then Kobe explained why: “I’m leaving this camp as the No. 1 player in the country.” True to his word, Carr never saw Bryant outside of his room. Bryant did leave as the nation’s No. 1. Carr starred at La Salle and later played in Turkey and France. He is an assistant coach at La Salle. Bryant skipped college and went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Los Angeles Lakers before his death in a helicopter accident that claimed the lives of nine people, including Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna in 2020.

Who: Eddie Griffin (Roman Catholic) vs. Dajuan Wagner (Camden)

What: Regular season (non-league game)

When: 2000

Where: Temple’s Apollo

What happened: Roman rocked Camden, 72-47, in front of 9,339 fans thanks to a well-rested Griffin, who scored 29 points.

From Silary: It was going to be the biggest basketball night of Eddie Griffin’s young life and the excitement was building by the second.

Numerous friends and relatives were packed yesterday afternoon into Griffin’s home in Pittville, a tiny section of Philadelphia west of Broad Street and south of Cheltenham Avenue.

Most were talking. Some were playing video games. And then, there was Eddie.

His contribution to the pregame festivities - zzzzzzzzzzz.

“Eddie slept all day, pretty much,” said Marvin Powell, Griffin’s brother and a former star forward at Martin Luther King (class of 1984) and Hartford. “He was relaxing, just chillin’, like nothing big was going to happen. It didn’t surprise me. That’s Eddie. He doesn’t get caught up in all the extra stuff. Hey, he hardly saves the articles people write about him. All he cares about is playing ball. Showing his love for the game.”

Wagner, who was coming off a broken pinky finger and was playing in his first game that season, shot 4-for-23 for eight points, missing 17 of his first 18 and all seven of his threes. Roman senior point guard Mike Wild added 16 points and 10 assists.

Why the hype: Griffin had already signed with Seton Hall and dazzled Philly fans with his combination of soft touch, ferocious dunks, and intimidating blocked shots. He was widely regarded as the nation’s No. 1 senior. Wagner was considered the No. 1 junior. Then-Sixers Allen Iverson, Larry Hughes, and former Sixer Tim Thomas were seen at the game. In a recent phone interview, Wild, now a coach at Holy Family, remembers being focused on the task at hand, though perhaps his peepers wandered a time or two. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t look around to see Larry Hughes in the stands, and Allen Iverson, and these guys who are pros. It was like, ‘Man, they’re here watching our high school basketball game.’ I know we had a lot of big names and a lot of hype around the game. For me, it was kind of surreal, looking around and saying, ‘man, this is an unbelievable opportunity.’” What I didn’t want to do was have any regret, so I just tried to help my team get a W, so when I walked off that court I could say I did everything I could.”

Griffin starred at Seton Hall and was the No. 7 pick in the 2001 NBA draft. He played for the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves before his death in 2007. Wagner starred at Memphis under John Calipari, who will coach D.J. Wagner next season at Kentucky. Dajuan was the No. 6 pick in the NBA draft in 2002. He spent five years between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. He also played in Poland. His grandfather, Milt, also starred at Camden before becoming a standout at Louisville and playing in the NBA.

“A lot of people take a lot of things for granted in life,” Wild said. “Those are days I just don’t. I still look back. I have pictures of (Griffin) in my house. They’re just memories you’re never going to forget …”

Who: Quade Green (Neumann Goretti) vs. Collin Gillespie (Archbishop Wood)

What: Catholic League regular season

When: 2017

Where: Archbishop Ryan

What happened: In what arguably was the most anticipated matchup in the city since Brandon Austin and Rysheed Jordan battled at Temple’s Liacouras Center in 2013, Green and Gillespie dazzled a capacity crowd that may have nudged fire safety standards. Gillespie scored a career- and game-high 42 points in Wood’s 82-73 victory, while Green scored 30. The gym was uncomfortably warm. About 2,500 fans packed the stands and just about every other parcel in the place, including the corners of the court typically cleared for the exits. Gillespie added eight rebounds and seven assists. He also shot 13-of-23 overall, 4-of-11 from behind the three-point line and 12-of-17 at the foul line. Green added seven assists and shot 11-of-25 overall and 2-of-6 from three-point distance. Green scored 17 points at the half. Gillespie scored 26 in the second half, including 16 in the fourth.

Why the hype: Green, who was committed to Kentucky, had been named a McDonald’s All-American about 10 days earlier. Gillespie had committed to defending national champion Villanova about 12 days earlier. Even the two coaches, Carl Arrigale and John Mosco added to the matchup’s allure. Mosco had been a longtime assistant of Arrigale’s. Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, a senior for N-G, also was set to join Gillespie at Villanova. The Saints and Vikings met again in the Catholic League championship game at the Palestra. Gillespie led Wood from a 15-point deficit to claim the school’s first PCL boys’ crown. Later, he added the school’s first PIAA boys’ title. He went on to star at Villanova, where he won a national championship as a freshman. He was twice named the Big East Player of the Year. He went undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft, but landed with the Denver Nuggets. Green spent his first season at Kentucky then transferred to Washington. Green went undrafted in 2021 and has played with several G League teams.