Ahmad Nowell helps Imhotep boys to third straight state title with win over Franklin Regional

Ahmad Nowell made the time for the Imhotep boys’ basketball team to breathe his air, enter his orbit, and think as he does.

He taught a young, inexperienced team his language of winning, and what it took to get there. There were moments of frustration, as there always are in a learning process, but they followed.

Nowell, the powerful 6-foot-1, 180-pound senior point guard, made sure they followed. They had no choice, if they wanted to win their third consecutive PIAA Class 5A state championship.

On Friday, the captain did it again with another amazing fourth quarter to lead the Panthers to a 59-48 victory over District 7 runner-up Franklin Regional in the state final at Hershey’s Giant Center.

The UConn-bound Nowell led all scorers with 20 points, 10 coming in the fourth quarter, when he also picked up a crucial steal off an Imhotep miss with 4:41 to play that he converted into a layup and a 46-40 Imhotep lead.

It’s not the first time Nowell has swung to the rescue in the fourth quarter. He claims it is not by design, though it looks like it. Against Archbishop Wood early in the season, the Panthers were struggling to create some distance, it was Nowell who saved them in the last quarter. In the state semifinals on Monday, it was Nowell who scored the Panthers’ last seven points against Archbishop Ryan to advance to the state finals.

Against Franklin Regional, he scored 10 of Imhotep’s 18 fourth-quarter points, including the critical steal-and-score when Franklin got within four.

“I know it might look like that’s the plan in the fourth quarter, but I just have a saying, ‘Call 0 for the win,’ and when the fourth quarter begins, it’s in my mind that triggers it to get it done,” said Nowell, who will wear his high school No. 0 at UConn. “I knew my young guys fought for a long time. I had to put the game away. I tell myself ‘We have to win and it’s time to get it done.’ This feels amazing to show how good of a leader I can be. That’s important to me. This season stamped that, being the main guy.”

The state championship was Panthers’ coach Andre Noble’s 10th. Imhotep (29-3) is undefeated in state championships, and currently has the longest streak of state championship runs on the boys’ side (Archbishop Wood will be going for its fourth-straight state title on the girls’ side on Saturday).

The Panthers are 10-0 in state title games, winning three 2A titles (2009, 2011, 2012 under the Class 4A system), one 3A championship (2013 under 4A system), three 4A crowns (2017, 2018 and 2019 under the 6A system), and now three 5A titles (2022, 2023 and 2024).

» READ MORE: Soundtrack to greatness: Imhotep’s Ahmad Nowell finds an edge through morning practices

This one, as Noble had rightfully warned, would not come easy.

Every time it seemed Imhotep would run away, Franklin Regional scratched back. Imhotep bolted out to an 8-0 lead, and then it got a little interesting. With 5:31 remaining in the half, Franklin Regional’s Cooper Rankin nailed a jumper that knotted the score at 19 apiece. Imhotep’s largest lead was 39-24 with 2:46 left in the third quarter.

But after a Rankin layup with 5:15 to play, Franklin Regional (27-4) had whittled that edge to 44-40.

That’s when Nowell arrived.

“We watched a lot of film on them, and we didn’t overpressure them, because they handle it well,” Noble said. “They moved the ball well and we saw them play well against teams like us. We knew they were a good basketball team. Ahmad Nowell has been special his whole time here. He is one of the best players to ever wear an Imhotep jersey.

“I was confident in our guys winning. I knew Franklin Regional was a good team, but I also knew they did not have number ‘0′ and we did.”

Regardless of what Franklin Regional tried to do against Nowell, they were unable to stop him.

“Ahmad has a purpose and comes to practice every day with a mindset that runs off of everybody else,” said Albany-bound senior Makye Taylor, who was wearing each one of his three state championship gold medals. “I talked about this very moment with Ahmad since the beginning of the season, and to get here to win another one these medals feels amazing. Ahmad has a purpose — that purpose is to win with all of us together.”

Mission accomplished for Agent 0.

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.