St. Joe’s Prep shooting for ‘a taste of the Palestra’ with guard-heavy group

Olin Chamberlain Jr., the grandnephew of Wilt Chamberlain, sat in the stands at the Palestra last winter, watching others compete for something he’d worked so hard for.

It was Chamberlain’s second straight year attending the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals as a spectator, but this time cut much deeper knowing that just two weeks earlier his St. Joseph’s Prep team had defeated the eventual PCL champion Roman Catholic.

“I have this sick feeling in my stomach. I’m watching all these teams like, ‘Dang, we beat Roman,’” Chamberlain said. “‘Why are we not there?’

“I just want a taste of the Palestra.”

The plan for him and his teammates is to finally be the ones on the floor come February.

Last year, the Hawks finished 16-7 (9-4 PCL) before eventually falling to Archbishop Wood in the league quarterfinals. With all five starters returning, the Hawks are prepared to take the next step toward an even deeper playoff run this season.

However, when the PIAA ruled Fairfield-bound big man Tristen Guillouette ineligible for the year, Prep was faced with a unique challenge as it lost one of the best centers in the league.

“I was hurt,” Chamberlain said. “Many people said we’re losing one of the best big men in the state, but when I saw it I said, ‘I’m missing one of my best friends. I’m missing a leader for our team.’”

In the last two years, the team has had a stellar guard rotation, which includes Chamberlain (class of 2025), Jaron McKie (2025), Jalen Harper (2024), and Jordan Ellerbee (2025). Fourth-year head coach Jason Harrigan sees an opportunity to lean further on those key players this season.

“We have a strong group of guards,” Harrigan said. “We are going to have five guards on the court. We’re going to play a lot faster and attack weaknesses on other teams. There are some changes we have to make, but I think there’s some other elements that we will be able to expose.”

McKie holds offers from Penn, St. Joe’s, and most recently his father Aaron McKie’s alma mater Temple. The junior will shoulder even more of the offensive load after averaging a team-high 16.5 point en route to an All-PCL first-team selection last season — the only sophomore to receive such honors.

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Chamberlain, who averaged 7.4 points and 2.8 assists last season, played with McKie and Ellerbee on NJ Scholars Elite, an AAU team, this summer, which allowed the three to build on their chemistry against some of the best talent in the country on the Elite Youth Basketball League circuit.

“If my team needs me to score 20 that night, I’m going to try to go out there and get 20 for the team. But if my team needs me to get 10 and 10, that’s what I want to do for my team,” Chamberlain said. “Whatever my team needs me to do is what you’re going to see [from] me.”

Senior 6-foot-2 guard Matt Gorman (8.5 points, 2.3 assists) also started all 23 games a season ago and will once again be a key piece in what will now be a five-guard lineup.

“We call him Klay Thompson in the locker room,” Chamberlain said jokingly about Gorman. “If he’s wide-open for a three, it’s almost automatic for him.”

Sophomore 6-4 guard Will Lesovitz and senior 6-5 forward Jackson Maguire should also see more minutes, especially if the team needs added height.

“They are all brothers, it’s a family thing,” Harrigan said. “Experience is going to help us a lot. We were right there knocking on the door and now I am understanding what it takes and where we can mature. I think those things will come in handy.”

Chamberlain and the rest of the junior core are committed to making sure this season ends with a trip to the Palestra, this time as players, not fans.

“We just have to compete,” Chamberlain said. “Compete every single day in practice, every single game no matter who we’re playing. We have to have that mindset, just go out there and just destroy everybody that steps on the floor with us.”

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.