Penn Charter boys’ basketball ready to bring its ‘A’ game behind influx of new talent

Kai Shinholster wasn’t sure what the offseason was going to hold.

The Penn Charter junior knew that the Quakers’ previous four starters graduated, and on top of that, the team hired a new head coach in Brandon Williams, who’s an Abington Friends grad.

“I was very excited for the next season, but I was a little nervous for next season, too,” Shinholster said. “It would have just been me, TJ [Bryson] and Kevin [Cotton] returning, and we would have had to bring up a bunch of JV players that didn’t have any experience. I was excited [for] that challenge, but I was also nervous that it was going to be a lot.”

Fast-forward to an open gym in September, and Shinholster — a 6-foot-4 wing with offers from St. Joe’s, Temple, Mississippi State, and more — is far from the sole reason for optimism within the Quakers program.

Matt Gilhool, a 6-11 forward, reclassified this summer to the 2025 class and transferred into Penn Charter from Westtown. Junior guard Jake West, who previously attended Archbishop Carroll, also joined the Quakers this offseason, and has several mid-majors on his tail, not to mention more than 1.1 million followers on TikTok.

» READ MORE: Penn Charter’s Kai Shinholster announces himself to city basketball

That trio is why Temple, Syracuse, Penn, and Seton Hall have stopped by the Quakers’ open gyms. And Gilhool and West are not the only newcomers who will make an instant impact. Junior Jamal Hicks transferred in from Bonner-Prendergast this offseason. The athletic 6-3 combo guard could give them a scoring punch on the wing.

There’s more talent on School House Lane than there’s been in the last 20 years, when former NBA players Sean Singletary (Virginia) and Rob Kurz (Notre Dame) were seniors, and Sammy Zeglinski (Virginia) was a freshman, leading the Quakers to a perfect season and the 2003-04 Inter-Ac title, the program’s last solo title.

“It’s very exciting,” said Cotton, a 6-3 guard and the team’s only senior. “It’ll be a historic team, something that Penn Charter’s never seen, I guess — [going for a] state championship and an outright Inter-Ac title.”

Shinholster, who has been the tallest member of the rotation the last couple of years, was thrilled to hear of Gilhool’s arrival.

“It meant that I don’t have to play the ‘five′ anymore,” he laughed. “The past two years I’ve been almost the big man, me and Isaiah Grimes. It takes a huge load off me, it allows me to do more offensively and defensively now that I know someone’s going to be in there, bumping with the bigs, doing all the little things.”

The Quakers will have to replace Mark Butler (Lafayette), Grimes (Georgetown football), Kai’s older brother, Trey Shinholster, and Keith Gee (Widener). Those players were the core of Penn Charter’s rotation.

“It’s different,” Cotton said. “But I’ve learned from Mark, Trey and all the guys from before me, so I’m trying to do my own thing, and it’s going well so far.”

The last two years have ended with Penn Charter, the preseason favorites, having an 8-2 record in the Inter-Academic league, tied with Malvern Prep for the title in the six-team and round-robin conference of local private schools. It’s a finish that’s felt simultaneously triumphant and frustrating — a two-point home loss to Malvern Prep was the difference-maker this past spring.

» READ MORE: TikTok basketball star Jake West has more than 1 million followers. He showed heart at a playground event.

“I almost call it March Madness,” Shinholster said. “In the Inter-Ac, every single game matters. It’s not like the PCL where you could [lose] a few games and then you have the playoffs where you can keep going all the way. Every game matters, your record matters in the Inter-Ac. I’m trying to get them to understand that every game in the Inter-Ac is serious.”

Penn Charter might have the big names this season, but that’s only the launching point.

“That’s what I love about the league, there’s no easy wins,” Cotton said. “You’ve just got to be on your ‘A’ game every day.”

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.