Imhotep turns aside Comm Tech, reaches PIAA AA final

ERIK COPES expects to receive substantial minutes early in the college portion of his basketball career.

Not because his uncle, Roland Houston, is an assistant where he's headed, George Washington University. Not even because he boasts some kind of superiority complex and figures there's no way someone could actually keep him off the court.

No, his reasoning goes much deeper. And, damn, it's refreshing in this it's-all-about-me era.

"My role at GW is going to be the same one I have here," said Copes, a 6-8 (maybe 6-9), 230-pound senior center at Imhotep Charter. "Grab rebounds. Be the tough guy. The dirty man. Clean up everything.

"What I like to do, everybody doesn't. Guys don't always want to rebound. Don't want to be the tough guy. Me? Hey, I'll do that."

Copes spoke Wednesday night at Southern High after a game that, though intense, was also profoundly ugly.

The occasion was an all-Pub PIAA Class AA semifinal and the Panthers outlasted Communications Tech, 49-38, thanks to a 9-0 run over the final 3 minutes, 58 seconds.

Next, at 2 p.m. Saturday at Penn State, will be the state championship game vs. Greensburg Central Catholic, a 64-61 winner over Monessen.

Copes finished with six points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots, and was at his carom-consuming best down the stretch.

In case you're wondering, he attempted only two - count 'em, two - shots from the floor, hitting both. His launching grand total in the middle two periods? None. As in zero.

"Did I realize that? Actually, no. Until you just told me," Copes said, laughing.

Imagine that. You're big and strong and headed for an Atlantic 10 school and you go at least 16 minutes without receiving a convertible entry pass.

Copes doesn't even go the slow-burn route, let alone erupt with rage.

"It's never about how many points I can get," he said. "That's never important to me. It's about getting wins for Brother Andre [Noble, head coach] and my school and teammates.

"I stay satisfied by rebounding the basketball. And blocking shots. That's my enjoyment. A couple times a game, they usually set me up for dunks. If it doesn't happen . . . It is what it is. I don't worry about it."

State semis had not been kind to the Panthers. They entered this one with a 1-3 mark, with a win in 2009 (captured state title) and losses in '07 (to Prep Charter), '08 and '10 (both to Strawberry Mansion). They lost a second-round game in '06 (to Trinity).

Perhaps this messy performance, lowlighted by 16-for-45 shooting from the floor and 15-for-31 at the line, could be understood. After all, Imhotep, winner of three consecutive Pub titles, had crunched CT, 67-40, during the regular season.

The Phoenix had its own problems, mostly sloppy ballhandling and passing. Point guard Gameel "Pepsi" Strange was unavailable because of what coach Lou Biester said was a family issue. Biester wound up encountering one also, though indirectly. Before the game, his daughter, Catie, put her car keys in a basket at the entrance, next to a metal detector, then somehow wound up with another person's keys.

Several announcements about the mixup were made during the game. Finally, an Imhotep assistant checked his pockets and realized, hey, these keys aren't mine.

Playingwise, CT's night was goofy right off the tap. After getting a steal, Rich "Eggy" Hoskins zoomed in for a layup. He missed. And the ball became wedged against the side of the rim.

At game's end, after seeing his team go 17-for-48, Biester muttered, "You gotta make shots. Gotta make shots."

Imhotep was also subpar in a quarterfinal win over Roberts Vaux.

"I think it's fatigue. It's a long season," Copes explained. "We're just in one of those [funks]. Comm Tech played hard. They were beating us to the glass - too many offensive rebounds and put-backs - and coming after us, overall."

Though Comm Tech had a decent number of chances to tie or go ahead in the second half, it never managed that feat.

Copes made two big plays at the start of the late surge. First, he notched a follow off a missed three-ball by Ameen Tanksley (Niagara) to make it 42-38. He then claimed a defensive rebound and started a fastbreak that produced Terrell Johnson's dipsy-doodle layup. David Appolon (Robert Morris) added the final five points with free throws.

By going 9-for-15 at the line, Appolon (nine) managed to lead the Panthers in scoring. Seven other guys tallied four to eight. Appolon (assists) and Terrell Johnson (steals) topped the other main stat categories with four apiece.

No one scored in double figures for CT, either. The Parker twins, Tony and Terrell, notched eight points apiece; that same number was posted by Terrence Brown. Terrell Parker and Chris Burney halved 16 rebounds, while Hoskins hustled for five assists and three steals.

Copes, who lives near 56th and Jefferson, in West Philadelphia, guesses he'll major in criminal justice. And, yes, he realizes it would be criminal for the Panthers to again play sloppily Saturday afternoon.

"We've got one game left and we're going to pull it together," Copes said. "We're going to pick it up in [today's] practice. As a captain with 'Redz' [Tyhiem Perrin] and David [Appolon], I feel responsible. We have to go out there and play the best we ever played. State title on the line."

Dirty work to be done by Erik Copes. Willingly.