Playing for its final Public League title, Math, Civics and Sciences has a chance to leave a legacy

For one last time, Math, Civics and Sciences will play for a Public League championship.

With the charter school along North Broad slated to close at the end of the year, the Mighty Elephants are playing this season under the assumption it will be their final one — while still holding out hope that things change in the next few months.

If this indeed is the last Public League game for MC&S, it’s got a chance to go out on top.

Behind a big-time performance from senior Sair Alsbrooks, MC&S took care of business against rival Constitution High School in a 55-47 win Tuesday afternoon at Temple’s Liacouras Center.

Now, it’s returning to the Public League championship on Saturday.

Alsbrooks, who’s in his first season at MC&S, had one of his strongest games of the year against Constitution, finishing with 23 points, and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot-4 wing forward, who transferred from Frankford this offseason, added three blocks, three steals, and two assists.

Constitution will be in the PIAA Class 2A bracket this year, MC&S in 3A for its final state championship run. First for the Mighty Elephants will be a District 12 championship game against Devon Prep on March 1 at West Philadelphia High School.

“It’s the last year of MC&S, just trying to [make] a statement for the last year, before we close,” Alsbrooks said. “It’s like a sense of urgency because it’s everybody’s last year, even the underclassmen.”

To end its Public League run with a trophy, the Mighty Elephants will need to take down three-time defending champ Imhotep, which dispatched Lincoln High, 75-57, in the second semifinal. The Panthers beat the Mighty Elephants, 55-34, on Feb. 1 in their only regular-season matchup.

It’s only the second Public League championship game in program history for Math, Civics and Sciences, which has routinely made runs deep into the Pub tournament but has a long list of semifinal and quarterfinal losses. The program’s previous title game appearance, in 2020, ended with a win over Simon Gratz powered by current Miami standout Nisine “Wooga” Poplar.

“It means a lot,” head coach Lonnie Diggs said. “Just for all the guys that came through the program through the past almost 20 years ... we want to go out on top.”

Constitution head coach Rob Moore said the potential last meeting between his Generals and the Mighty Elephants was “bittersweet.” The two have been division rivals in the Public League for more than a decade but also met regularly in the state playoffs before the PIAA went to a six-classification layout ahead of the 2016-17 season.

“There’s a ton of competitive juices flowing between the two teams, but I’m happy for them,” Moore said. “I’m like, hopefully, they can go on and finish out their season and play well against Imhotep, I know that’s always going to be a tough task.”

Andre Noble wasn’t exactly in a joyous mood after his Imhotep squad beat Lincoln 75-57 to make it to its fourth straight Public League championship game.

“I was not thrilled, no,” the longtime Panthers coach said. “We left a lot of points out there, shot poorly from the free-throw line, missed a bunch of layups. I don’t think we played great offensively or defensively today.”

But that’s the reality of the program Noble has put together: even on an off day, Imhotep still is a force to be reckoned with. Even on a day when they go 13-of-24 from the foul line, when star guard Ahmad Nowell goes an uncharacteristic 6-of-19 from the floor, when the rest of the team goes 0-for-11 from deep, and when they gave up a few too many offensive rebounds — the Panthers still come out on top.

Nowell finished with a team-high 20 points and was supported by freshman forward Zion Green (12 points), sophomore Latief Lorenzano-White (11 points), and a 10-point, 12-rebound effort from senior Jeremiah White.

Senior guard Aldonis Martin led Lincoln with 16 points and eight rebounds.

There’s a substantial gap between Noble’s program — which features several Division I prospects, including committed seniors Nowell (UConn) and Makye Taylor (Albany) — and any other team in the Pub.

Even still, keeping his team focused even after dispatching all league opponents by double digits can be the biggest challenge.

“That’s always one of the things,” he said, “but we talk to them about [how] this league is tricky. I’ve seen it on the positive and negative side; we’ve won games when we weren’t the best team in our league, and we’ve lost a couple in playoffs that we were supposed to win.”

Now, against MC&S, the Panthers go for their fourth straight Public League title, which would make them the first program to win more than three in a row since West Philly, which won five straight from 1974-78.

“If you’re guarding and playing the way you’re supposed to every possession, those things are what’s important,” he said. “What other people are going through, how much motivation they have, it can be whatever the circumstances, they shouldn’t have any more motivation than we have.”

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.