City of Basketball Love

Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)
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(Ed. Note: This story is the latest in CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2021-22 season preview coverage. As we publish more, the complete list of schools previewed will be found here.)

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Bishop Shanahan boys basketball started on a tear last season and was on its way to competing for a Ches-Mont title. The Eagles started the year with seven straight wins — five coming in the Ches-Mont League National Division — until Downingtown West and COVID reared their ugly heads.

The Eagles lost twice to the Whippets in three days in mid-February, spoiling the undefeated start and putting the chance to play for an unofficial league championship in doubt; the Ches-Mont decided there would not be an official champion with the uncertainty of the pandemic. Those two losses, followed by a third-straight league loss to Coatesville in the following game, complicated matters even further.

But Bishop Shanahan rebounded, beating Avon Grove by 27 and West Chester Henderson by 14 to end the regular season at 9-3 with a 7-3 league record. It was the most wins the program has had since 2018, when it won the league for the first time in 15 years, went to the district championship and won a game in states for the first time since 1985.

Unfortunately, that was only good enough for third in the National behind West Chester East and Downingtown West, and East went on to win the year-affected-by-a-pandemic crown over West Chester Rustin in the “unofficial” Ches-Mont championship.

“We want to compete in Ches-Monts again,” returning senior Zane Domsohn said. “Last year we were one win away from being in first place. We want to win that this season.”

That doesn’t mean the season was a failure by any means; the Eagles went a combined 13-31 the two years prior. If seven varsity players didn’t have to sit out due to COVID contact tracing, they would’ve had a better shot at beating Rustin in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs.

“In my opinion, we probably would’ve played Chester in the district final,” Shanahan head coach John Dougherty said. “We played a game toward the end of the season and an opposing player tested positive. We weren’t allowed to play three or four games at the end even though we were all negative. Those games would’ve helped us.”

Fifth-seeded Bishop Shanahan ended up losing to No. 4 Rustin 60-46 in districts, but the Eagles won against the Golden Knights 74-62 at full strength in the regular season.

Rustin went on to lose 62-46 to Chester in the district final, and Chester headed to the state tournament as the lone representative from District 1 Class 5A. There were no playback games in the 2020-21 season, and only district champions made it to the state tournament, so Bishop Shanahan was on the outside looking in.

The Eagles return Domsohn and fellow senior leader Will O’Loughlin to a balanced team that hopes to make it even further and capitalize on opportunities in a regular season that isn’t too affected by COVID.

“We’re trying to repeat what we did last year,” O’Loughlin said. “Last year we got cut short in districts because of COVID complications. So hopefully we can win districts and go deep in states this year.”

O’Loughlin stands at 6-foot-4, 190 pounds and can play any position from the ‘3’ to the ‘5.’ At the West Chester Big 64 event in September, he showed he’s a heady player that his team relies upon to make the right pass, grab a timely rebound, make a clutch bucket or create a turnover on defense, as well as serve as a calming presence on the court, with teammates looking to him in important moments. He averaged 12 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists per game last season.

Domsohn, a 6-1, 150-pound shooting guard who also plays soccer for Shanahan, does exactly what his job description requires: shoot. He has a pure stroke and knocked down four 3s, none of which touched the rim, across two games at the Big 64 event, not playing his typical amount as Dougherty experimented with his less-experienced players on the floor. Domsohn averaged 17 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists last season and said he’s been in talks with some D-III’s.

Domsohn and O’Loughlin will be supported by four multi-sport seniors and some former JV players that will head to the varsity ranks after getting experience on the district stage last year.

“We’re a school where our kids play multiple sports,” Dougherty said. “We’re a little rusty but we’re going to get there. I’m excited. We lost four seniors from last year but have everyone else back. We have a good core of kids that are going to step up and fill those roles.”

The athleticism that comes from having multi-sport athletes is evident with the Eagles, especially on the defensive side, with swarming defenders causing mental offensive errors and turnovers. Players also don’t get too fatigued as Dougherty can distribute playing time efficiently.

The other seniors in the mix for starting roles are Brandon Choi, Evan Kapczynski and Wesseh Jordan, all of whom play football, and Anthony D’Addezio, who plays soccer.

Juniors Logan Kapcyznski and Ben Rodner-Tims and sophomore Kevin Scaggs will compete for minutes. Roman Alexander and Paul Ziegler, two JV players that played well after being thrown into district playoff action last season, are also expected to compete for varsity spots.

Needless to say, the rotation will be deep this season.

Dougherty will be working on getting a concrete lineup decided upon. Then the work begins to build chemistry and get Bishop Shanahan back to where it started last season, and beyond where it finished.

“I just want to see my team win,” O’Loughlin said. “Individual goals don’t really matter much to me. If the team is winning, I’m happy.”