PIAA champ Devon Prep lands three players on Class 3A All-State team

By Mike Gross — Lancaster Media Group

There was no better barometer of the depth and quality of the Philadelphia Catholic League this season than Devon Prep, which won the PIAA Class 3A championship and placed one player each on the first, second and third teams of the Pennsylvania Sports Writers 3A All-State team.

FIRST TEAM
Saraj Ali	Sr.	Loyalsock
Brendan Boyle	Sr.	Notre Dame-Green Pond
IV Pettit	Sr.	Devon Prep
Ty Barrett	Sr.	Troy Area
Patrick Haigh	Jr.	Bishop Guilfoyle
Makhai Valentine	Jr.	Steel Valley

The Tide, which joined the PCL four seasons ago, was beaten seven times in league play. It went undefeated against everyone else, including a 75-71 win over a short-handed Reading High team in the Reading Holiday Tournament championship game. 

In the state playoffs Prep beat powerful PCL rival West Catholic and had dramatic come-from-behind wins over Columbia, the otherwise twice-beaten District 3 champ, and District 2 champ Holy Redeemer in overtime in the state semifinals.

Devon Prep Jason Fisher is Coach of the Year. He is the school’s athletic director and made the decision to join the PCL four years ago.

“We’ve come a long way from where we were in the Bicentennial League,” Fisher told Rich Flanagan of Philadelphia Sports Digest.  “Jumping into the Catholic League was a contributing factor to to this.’’

So was IV Pettit, a 6-2 senior who made the first team after averaging 15.3 points and 6.8 rebounds and making 89 percent of his free throws. Pettit made the third team a year ago.

Teammate Lucas Orchard made the second team. A 6-4 junior, Orchard averaged 14.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.

Prep’s third-teamer is Jacen Holloway, a 6-3 junior who averaged 13.7 points and 5.8 rebounds and went for 16 and 10 in his team’s defeat of Aliquippa in the state final.

The Class 3A Player of the Year is Saraj Ali of Loyalsock, one of the state’s most successful programs. 

Loyalsock’s Ron Insinger is the winningest coach in Pennsylvania boys basketball history, with a career record of 1090-207 (including 77-8 over the past three years), 24 district championships and a staggering 39 20-win seasons.

Ali, a 6-5 senior, averaged 21 points, 13 rebounds, 6.5 assists and four steals per game for a team that lost to West Catholic in the second round of the state playoffs. Loyalsock won the PIAA Class 3A title in 2021, when Ali was first-team All-State and his brother, Idris, was the Player of the Year.

Also repeating on the first team is Kutztown University recruit Brendan Boyle of Notre Dame-Green Pond. Boyle averaged 23.6 points, 6.6 assists and 3.8 steals per game. He scored over 1,900 career points and led his team to the state playoffs.

Troy Area, Loyalsock’s District 4 rival, placed 6-foot senior guard Troy Barrett on the first team. One of the state’s best shooters, Barrett averaged 26.6 points and six assists, making 40 percent of his three-point attempts, 55 percent of two-point tries and 85 percent of his free throws.

Barrett finished just under the 2,000 career-point mark and led his team to the District 4 final and state playoffs.

Two more big scorers round out the first team: Makhai Valentine of Steel Valley and Patrick Haigh of Bishop Guilfoyle. Valentine, a 6-3 junior, averaged 29.9 points per game. Haigh averaged 25.8 per game as Guilfoyle made the District 6 final and PIAA quarterfinals.

Pennsylvania Sportswriters’ Class 3A All-State Team

Player of the Year: Saraj Ali, Loyalsock Township

Coach of the Year: Jason Fisher, Devon Prep

FIRST TEAM

Saraj Ali, 6′ 5″, senior, Loyalsock Township

Brendan Boyle, 5′ 11″, senior, Notre Dame-Green Pond

IV Pettit, 6′ 2″, senior, Devon Prep

Ty Barrett, 6′ senior, Troy Area

Patrick Haigh, 6′ 2″, junior, Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic

Makhai Valentine, 6′ 3″, junior, Steel Valley

SECOND TEAM

Zion Stanford, 6′ 5″, junior, West Catholic

Easton Fulmer, 6′ 1″, senior, Franklin

Justice Shoats, 6′, senior, Holy Redeemer

Lucas Orchard, 6′ 4″, junior, Devon Prep

Kobe Magee, 6′ 5″, senior, Executive Education Academy Charter

Khalif Crawley Jr., 6′ 8″, senior, Math Civics and Sciences Charter

THIRD TEAM

Bryce Epps, 5′ 11″, junior, South Allegheny

Adam “Budd” Clark, 5′ 9″, junior, West Catholic

Joseph Roth, 6′ 5″, senior, Ellwood City

Donovan Walker, 6′ 1″, junior, Aliquippa

Jacen Holloway, 6′ 3″, junior, Devon Prep

Shemar Wilbanks-Acqui, 6′ 3″, junior, West Catholic