State champ Imhotep Charter claims Player, Coach of the Year, in Class 5A

By Mike Gross — Media News Group

Justin Edwards of Imhotep Charter is explosive, athletic, skilled and 6-7 — all the tangible gifts you’d expect in one of the top high school basketball players in the country.

Imhotep coach Andre Noble says it’s Edwards’ intangibles that really set him apart.

FIRST TEAM
Justin Edwards	Jr.	Imhotep Charter
Rodney Gallagher	Jr.	Laurel Highlands
Thomas Sorber	Soph.	Archbishop Ryan
Mike Wells	Sr.	New Castle
Ty Burton	Soph.	Lampeter-Strasburg
Rahmir Barno	Jr.	Imhotep Charter

“It starts with his character,’’ Noble said of the Pennsylvania Sportswriters’ Class 5A Player of the Year. “We’ve talked about the key to his development being that he keeps being who he is as a person.’’

The junior led Imhotep to the Philadelphia Public League, District 12 and PIAA championships. He averaged 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds.

He also made the All-State first team a year ago; his dozens of scholarship offers include Kentucky, Villanova, Auburn, Virginia, Syracuse and Penn State.

Imhotep went 28-4 against a schedule that included national-class wins over Vashon of St. Louis, St. Francis of Baltimore and Florida’s DME Academy.

The state title was the school’s eighth. Noble is 442-96 over 18 seasons, averaging 25 wins per year. He is Coach of the Year.

Colin Payne of Exeter, who was third in Berks scoring at 18.4 points per game, is a third-team pick. He’s the Eagles’ first All-State pick in nearly 50 years. Charlie Book, in 1973, is believed to be the last.

The Panthers had three players make the All-State team: Rahmir Barno joins Edwards on the first team, Ahmad Nowell is on the second. All three are back next year.

“I don’t think we necessarily peaked at (state tournament) time,’’ said Noble. “We were really rolling in January, when we played a number of national-type teams in a row.

“We’ll have to become a great defensive team, especially with the schedule we have lined up for next year.’’

Five of the six players selected for the first teams are underclassmen; Mike Wells of New Castle is the lone senior.

Barno, a 6-foot junior guard, averaged 11.2 points, 5.3 assists and 2.1 steals. He made third-team All-State last season and has scholarship offers from Temple, LaSalle, Drexel, Hofstra, and Virginia Commonwealth.

Nowell, a 6-foot sophomore, averaged 12.5 points and made nearly 40 percent of his 3-point attempts. He has offers from Kansas, Memphis and Auburn.

Rodney Gallagher, a 6-foot junior from Laurel Highlands, is a first-team pick for the third time. One of the best pure athletes in the state, Gallagher also earned All-State honors last fall in football, the sport he is likely to play in college.

He has football offers from Penn State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Pittsburgh and West Virginia, among others, and basketball offers from Penn State, Pitt, Florida and Illinois.

Gallagher averaged 18.6 points and led Laurel Highlands to a 27-1 record, the WPIAL championship and the state quarterfinals.

Jumping from the third team to the first is Ty Burton, a 5-10 sophomore point guard from Lampeter-Strasburg. Burton averaged 21.2 points per game, shooting 56 percent from the field, 40 percent from the 3-point arc and 89 percent from the foul line. His team went 27-1, winning the Lancaster-Lebanon League and District 3 titles.

Burton has an offer from Division I Manhattan and interest from Ivy League schools.

The 6-4 Wells made the first team after leading his team to the PIAA title game. He averaged 22.4 points and scored 41 in a state tournament game. He finished a four-year career with 1,932 points. Wells is a Youngstown State football recruit.

Archbishop Ryan’s Thomas Sorber is among the state’s top sophomores and big men. He made the first team after leading the Philadelphia Catholic League in rebounds and blocked shots. He averaged 16.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.7 blocked shots. He has offers from Georgetown, Richmond and LaSalle.

Pennsylvania Sportswriters’ Class 5A All-State Team

Player of the Year: Justin Edwards, Imhotep Charter

Coach of the Year: Andre Noble, Imhotep Charter

FIRST TEAM

Justin Edwards, 6′ 7″, junior, Imhotep Charter

Rodney Gallagher, 6′, junior, Laurel Highlands

Thomas Sorber, 6′ 9″, sophomore, Archbishop Ryan

Mike Wells, 6′ 4″, senior, New Castle

Ty Burton, 5′ 10″, sophomore, Lampeter-Strasburg

Rahmir Barno, 6′, junior, Imhotep Charter

SECOND TEAM

Jalen Franklin, 6′ 1″, senior, Susquehannock

Ahmad Nowell, 6′, sophomore, Imhotep Charter

Keondre DeShields, 6′ 3″, junior, Laurel Highlands

Jackson Hicke, 6′ 4″, junior, Radnor

Anthony Smith, 6′ 7″, senior, Shippensburg Area

Elijah Hamilton, 6′ 4″, junior, Octorara

THIRD TEAM

Trey Grube, 6′, junior, Manheim Central

Larenzo Jerkins, 6′ 4″, sophomore, Chester

Jeremy Thomas, 6′ 4″, senior, Shippensburg Area

Colin Payne, 6′ 3″, senior, Exeter

Luke Boyd, 6′ 1″, senior Archbishop Ryan

Darren Williams, 6′ 4″, sophomore, Archbishop Ryan