With help of his brother, Bonner-Prendie’s Deuce Ketner has become a force in the Catholic League

Touari “Deuce” Ketner didn’t always enjoy the pick-up games with his older brother Tairi.

Every time he tried to score, Tairi knew how to stop him. When he was on defense, he had no chance, getting bullied down low by an older brother, who’s four years older, with an advantage in size and strength.

The backyard lessons weren’t always fun, but they stuck with Deuce. It helped him become another basketball standout in the family who is now dishing out the punishment he used to take from his big brother in the Catholic League.

Deuce, a 6-foot-7 senior at Bonner-Prendergast, is leading the Friars in scoring (18.1 points) and rebounding (8.7 rebounds) in his final season, and Tairi is still a major influence on his game.

“I call him literally almost every game, that’s if my mom doesn’t beat me to it,” Deuce said. “She calls him and tells him how I played before the game even ends. He tells me everything. Same thing that I’m going through, he’s going through. The only thing is he’s already been there, so he knows what to do. I have to take it in, listen, and apply.”

The Ketner brothers and their younger sister, Triniti, are the children of Lari and Tyshaun Ketner. Tairi explained Triniti, who’s in the seventh grade, is a dancer and uninterested in following her older brothers onto the hardwood, though she is trying volleyball.

The late Lari Ketner was a standout at Roman Catholic and UMass before playing in the NBA as a 6-foot-9 power forward for the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Indiana Pacers from 1999-2001. He died at age 37 in October 2014 after a year-long battle with colon cancer. Deuce was 8. Tairi was 13.

“I felt like I had to be there for him, and really the family,” said Tairi, who’s a junior at Holy Family. “Speaking for him, I had to pick up that burden, help him carry it because he was so little. He really didn’t know what was going on and what was going to be next. I was just there for him, talking to him.”

He made sure Deuce still found a way to stay connected to Lari.

“When my dad passed, I kind of didn’t understand,” Deuce said. “I didn’t get to see him a lot because he was always in the hospital. It was just me and my brother and that was about it. He would remind me of my dad. I didn’t really get to see my dad play. ... He would find clips and send them to me, ‘This is how dad used to play.’”

Tairi’s game is similar to Lari’s. He’s a 6-foot-8, 265-pound bruiser in the post. He was a third team All-Catholic League selection as a senior at Archbishop Carroll. He did a prep year at Woodstock Academy (Mass.), walked-on at Albany, and is now close to home at Holy Family.

Deuce’s game is different. He didn’t have the size to compete inside with Tairi growing up, so he developed a three-point shot to stay competitive in those backyard games.

» READ MORE: Former Archbishop Carroll forward Tairi Ketner proudly carries his famous father’s basketball legacy

Growing up, Deuce wore the jersey No. 2 for his nickname as the second son. In middle school — around the time Tairi was finishing his career at Carroll — Deuce hit a growth spurt and had to start wearing No. 10. Suddenly with some added height, he had the complete package; can drive to the basket with both hands, shoot from the outside, and battle in the post.

“He’s 6-7, long, athletic. He’s strong,” said Bonner second-year coach Billy Cassidy. “He can guard 1 through 5. He can get to the basket. He can knock down a three. He can slam one like nobody else. He always seems to have a ridiculous block every game, like off the backboard. He’s one of those kids that always seems to do something new every game.”

Tairi started to notice Deuce’s game change during his sophomore year. Deuce made 10 starts, averaging 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds under former coach Kevin Funston in the 2021-22 season.

Cassidy knew the Ketner family name and also knew Deuce from coaching him at a summer camp when he was in eighth grade. Cassidy’s first call he made when he got the Bonner job in April 2022 was to Deuce.

Last season, Deuce took another step forward on a re-worked Bonner roster, averaging 13.0 points and 5.4 rebounds. He carried that into the summer with K-Low Elite.

“It was just all about confidence,” Deuce said. “If you don’t have confidence in yourself, you’re not going to do it. You’re going to pass up on big shots. Then you’re not scoring, so you’re kind of not playing because you just have no confidence.”

He’s gone from good to great as a senior, taking over on both ends of the floor. Deuce had three games with 20-or-more points last season, two of them coming in the team’s final two playoff losses against Cardinal O’Hara (22 points) and Dobbins Tech (20).

He’s eclipsed that feat seven times this season. He set a new career-high with 30 points in a win over Devon Prep on Jan. 21 while also adding nine rebounds, three steals, three blocks, and a couple of highlight dunks.

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“The biggest challenge for him is his maturity, wanting to dominate, because he has that ability in his game to dominate the game unlike any other high school kid on both sides of the floor,” Cassidy said. “He’s been tremendous this year. He’s taken huge strides for us, and we’re going to continue to need him to do even more. I always tell him to never be satisfied and always do more, and he’s always down for the challenge.

“He’s one of the best kids, one of the best teammates. He’s so coachable and loves working hard. He’s who you want as a coach.”

Tairi and Deuce still work out together in the offseasons. They usually conclude with a best-of-five or best-of-seven series in their one-on-one games.

Back closer to home at Holy Family this season, Tairi has had the chance to watch Deuce play at Bonner in person for the first time since he started high school.

“He has a little bit of a post game, but not as good as mine,” Tairi said. “But he makes up for it with his outside shooting. His three ball’s a lot better. He’s more athletic than me, I will say that.

“He’s gotten extremely better, so much better from when I’ve last seen him. Coming in, he looks a lot more confident, stronger, just overall better. To me, it’s good to see.”

Deuce has had Division I coaches express interest throughout the past two seasons, even a handful of schools offering scholarships.

Cassidy said Manhattan and Wagner are programs that have reached out as of recently. Deuce also said some Division II programs are looking at him, like East Stroudsburg. Holy Family has also offered him a scholarship, opening up the possibility of teaming with Tairi.

The recruiting process can be difficult nowadays with extra eligibility and the transfer portal complicating roster construction. Deuce has been through it, he said, seeing texts from interested coaches trail off.

He’s shrugged it off, though, and is confident in his ability to play at the next level. Deuce is focused on his final games at Bonner, trying to continue an All-Catholic League-type season by carrying the Friars, along with senior Kevin Rucker and others, deeper than last season’s first round PCL exit.

“I’m trying to enjoy it as much as possible,” Deuce said. “I know there’s coaches calling me, texting me. I’m fine. They always told me that they liked me but they never really offered me. … I just want to enjoy this. I want to go far here. If I think about college, I’m not going to do well here because I’m thinking about it. If I just let it rock and play with my guys, play hard we’re going to get an offer. We’re all going to get to the next level.”

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His brother concurs that Deuce will find the right landing spot on his own terms.

“His game will be able to fit in really well with today’s game,” Tairi said. “I feel like a lot of people have that spacing ‘5′ or even spacing ‘4′ who can shoot, put the ball on the floor, defend, rebound at a high level, and I think he does all those things. I think he’ll be able to fit with whatever team is lucky to have him.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.