Father Judge has become a top basketball team in the area and looks ‘to win everything’
After falling in last year’s PCL semifinal, the Crusaders enter this season with loads of talent and new confidence, which led to a recent win over Imhotep Charter.
Father Judge point guard Kevair Kennedy has been somewhat like a pitcher who relies exclusively on a dominant fastball.
Such pitchers don’t usually last long in Major League Baseball because batters eventually learn to gauge velocity.
Fittingly, the 6-foot-2 Kennedy, who earned first-team All-Catholic League honors the last two seasons, spent the offseason learning how to hit the brakes.
It paid early dividends last week when Judge’s burgeoning bunch knocked off Public League powerhouse Imhotep Charter, 53-51, at Arcadia University.
“That was a statement game to show everybody on the outside that we’re serious,” Kennedy said at a Judge practice this week. “And that we’re looking to win everything this year.”
The growth of Judge’s basketball program, which played in the Catholic League semifinals at the Palestra last season for the first time since 1999, mirrors Kennedy’s evolution.
The Merrimack-bound senior once was a quiet kid who let the more experienced take the lead.
Judge coach Chris Roantree, however, says that time is over.
“He has really matured in the offseason, in terms of his leadership,” Roantree said. “Definitely more vocal. Focused on winning. I also think [he’s] one of the top players in the city. He might just be underrated …”
Kennedy’s offseason work included shooting, but also learning how to vary speeds.
“I was just a one-pace type of guy,” he said. “I only had a fast pace. Now that I can change speeds, it helps because it improves my reads. I can anticipate things better and see things before they happen more often.”
» READ MORE: Westtown’s star-studded girls’ basketball team has learned to share the load: ‘Everybody will eat’
That vision should concern PCL opponents.
Last year, Kennedy finished tied for 10th in points per game (17.3), second in assists (6.0), and sixth in steals (2.0) during league play.
After last week’s win against Imhotep, it’s also clear that he won’t have to carry the load alone.
“It gave my teammates confidence for them to believe in themselves and know that we are actually good,” Kennedy said of the win. “We don’t have to worry about teams; teams have to worry about us.”
Roantree, now in his fourth year, said depth is his team’s strength this season. The Crusaders return several players from last year’s team that knocked off Roman Catholic during the regular season.
“Tough to focus on just one guy,” Roantree said. “We have some guys that stepped up [against Imhotep]. Rocco Westfield made a huge shot, and Max Moshinski as well.”
Roantree also is getting quality interior play from Everett Barnes, a 6-9, 235-pound center.
Add all of that to Kennedy’s conversion to a slower pace, sprinkle in some disappointment from last year’s bitter PCL semifinal loss to eventual-champ Roman, and the Crusaders’ recipe appears to have them on the verge of being among the teams to beat in the city.
“I think it helped a lot,” Kennedy said of last year’s loss at the Palestra. “We all experienced some pain. That made us all more hungry over the summer. Everybody on the team looks different from when we did it at the Palestra. Everybody’s body changed. We’ve been in the weight room. We’ve been working harder.”
» READ MORE: St. Joe’s Prep running back Khyan Billups reached a milestone last achieved by D’Andre Swift
Don’t forget one final ingredient, perhaps the most critical of all: confidence.
“That’s actually important,” Kennedy said of the confidence that comes from beating Imhotep. “That was an important milestone because my freshman year, we wouldn’t even have gotten a game against Imhotep. And for us to have gotten that game and won it, that means that Father Judge is taking the right steps forward.”