West Philly hopes to make program history; Imhotep Charter heads to another Public League Final

West Philadelphia freshman Jayden Mckie and senior Elijah Hester walked out of the locker room with smiles on their faces.

They just helped their team defeat Constitution High School, 58-52, in the Public League semifinal doubleheader on Tuesday at the Liacouras Center, advancing West Philly to a final appearance for the first time since 1988 with a chance to win a title for the first time in more than 44 years.

“I owe it all to these kids,” West Philly coach Adrian Burke said. “They worked hard all year long. We played a tough schedule. We played everybody.”

But it won’t be easy as the Speedboys will take on defending champion Imhotep (23-3, 11-0 Public League), which features the nation’s top-ranked recruit, forward Justin Edwards, who has committed to Kentucky. (The Panthers beat Dobbins Tech, 69-51, in the second game of the doubleheader.)

ESPN’s No. 1 recruit in the 2023 class, Edwards scored a team-high 18 points by attacking the glass.

“I feel when I attack the rim first, I feel like it opens up the whole game for me and my teammates, which it did [with] extra passes,” Edwards said.

After losing to Imhotep by 18 points on Jan. 12, West Philly has won nine consecutive games, including Tuesday’s win.

The Speedboys (15-10, 9-2) started the season 3-7, but a road trip to Pittsburgh in December turned things around.

“They just started bonding together,” Burke said about the impact of the Pittsburgh trip. “Things started to be different. They started to trust each other. Once they started trusting each other, that’s when things started to get real, real easy.”

The Panthers, though, look poised to win again. Imhotep has won two straight Public League finals with Edwards, and coach Andre Noble also led the program to three consecutive titles in the Public League from 2009-11.

“We are on the cusp of one of our goals,” Noble said. “Our goal is to be one of the best teams in the country. We can’t control that always, but the next one [to accomplish] is winning the Public [League], city, and state titles.”

Here are a few takeaways from the semifinals.

In the fourth quarter, Imhotep Charter fans rose to their feet to celebrate senior guard Rahmir Barno eclipsing 1,000 career points, part of a 15-point performance.

“It felt good,” Barno said. “It’s a really big accomplishment of course, especially just missing some games throughout the COVID year, which kind of slowed down and took away from getting those 1,000 points. So it was a little tougher for the guys like us.”

Mckie and Hester were defensive standouts.

Late in the fourth quarter, McKie snagged two consecutive steals to put away the Generals. McKie, a 5-foot-7 guard, also scored 14 points.

“He [is] a dog,” Burke said. “Once you put him in, I can’t take him out. He’s just got a knack for the ball.”

Hester scored a team-high 15 points, and his defensive impact made things difficult on his opponents.