Kelly assists as Prep routs Bartram

THERE'S ONE way for a basketball player to assure his scoring average has no chance of rising.

For verification, check with P.J. Kelly.

Though his first/middle names are Patrick James, the initials might as well stand for Pretty Judicious.

The occasion Thursday night at Southern High was a game to decide District 12's third seed in the Class AAAA portion of the upcoming PIAA state playoffs. Between treys and regulars, Kelly accounted for roughly 20 points.

And that's a rather difficult accomplishment for someone who declines to take a shot.

That's right. For the second time this season, never once did Kelly, a 5-11, 170-pound senior point guard, launch the ball toward the basket. Fact is, he barely even looked in that direction.

Ah, but he registered eight assists and ran the offense in mostly flawless fashion as St. Joseph's Prep thumped John Bartram, 70-42, thus ending the Braves' season because D-12 now gets just three AAAA state entrants as opposed to the previous four.

Kelly said he scored as many as 15 points in one game during the JV portion of his Prep career. But once he became a varsity starter last season, in a lineup featuring talented now-seniors Stephen Vasturia (Notre Dame) and Miles Overton (Wake Forest), everything changed.

"I mean, if I have a shot I'll take it, but it's not like it's necessary for me to score," Kelly said. "Sometimes I'll hear my teammates saying, 'Set up P.J. for a shot.' It's not important. Getting no points, that doesn't phase me. I'm out there to win.

"I have Stephen and Miles, and Kyle [Thompson] and Chris [Clover], to pass to. I guess you could say I make them look good. But they make me look good, too, by hitting their shots.

"My job is to take care of the ball and distribute it. Coach [William 'Speedy' Morris] tells me all the time that I'm more than a role player. And I believe him. I do make important contributions. I just do it in my own way."

Wednesday night, in a AAA seeding game, Philadelphia Electrical & Technology Charter got the best of Archbishop Carroll.

If Bartram had serious hopes of repping the Pub by pulling off another upset, they were dashed quite early. The Prep stormed to the first 10 points by going 3-for-3 from the floor (two treys) and 2-for-2 at the line.

The score after one quarter was 21-9. The Braves scrambled within 39-27 by halftime, but did not return to the gym until 10 seconds before the start of the third quarter and their shooting was ice cold through that session.

Of course, this has been a difficult week for the Prep. Monday night at the Palestra, in the Catholic League final, it was dealt a 60-42 gut-punch by Ss. Neumann-Goretti.

"After losing to Neumann in last year's final, we were really excited about getting even with them," Kelly said. "And our fans were so pumped, too. To lose to them again . . . Everyone was sad and depressed, especially since it was our last Catholic League game.

"School [stunk] the next day. No one really wanted to be there. We just had to fight through that feeling and move forward. In practice we go gray team for the starters and white team for the subs. Those guys really push us and it always helps."

Nevertheless, Wednesday's practice was iffy and even Thursday's shootaround, held at Prep before the journey to Southern, was flat.

"The captains all got together and gave a little talk," he noted. "We just said, 'It can't end like this.' . . . We want to play hard every game, but the fact that this was an elimination game made us play even harder."

There was one blip along the way. Early, Overton made some unwise decisions and was yanked by Morris. While sitting on the bench, he was uninvolved and, finally, a man climbed down out of the stands, walked the length of the gym and stopped at a spot across the court from the Prep's bench.

"Yo, cheer for your team!" he semi-yelled toward Miles.

It was his father, Doug, the former NBA guard who's now a Brooklyn Nets assistant.

Overton was reinserted 2:11 into the third quarter. Almost immediately, he whipped a nifty pass to Vasturia for a bucket and later made one even twice as nice to Thompson.

"He does lead our team in assists," Morris pointed out.

Vasturia shot 12-for-17 (three treys) and 5-for-5 for 32 points. Overton (12) and Clover (10) also reached double digits and Thompson (nine) just missed. Overton (nine) and Vasturia (seven) led in rebounds. James Suber (14, seven rebounds) and Terrieck Williams (12) topped Bartram while Malik Noel dealt four assists.

Kelly, who lives in Blue Bell, is the exact opposite of his brother, Ryan.

"Actually, he went to La Salle," P.J. said, laughing. "And he's not into sports at all. His thing is music."

P.J. figures he'll become an athletic trainer and the schools on his list include Scranton, Susquehanna and Catholic University, though he could decide to attend High Point, in North Carolina, and try to make the team as a walk-on.

Can't you just hear him at tryouts?

"Hey, coach, I don't really shoot the ball too much, but I promise to make everyone better."

Roster spot worthy.