<body><div>Zak Wolf (@ZakWolf22)(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2026-27 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 1. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)~~James Lewis knows what it takes to get to the Palestra. At least how to get there as a player. Lewis played for legendary Roman Catholic coach Dennis Seddon from in the early 90s and won three-straight PCL titles from 1990-92. Playing in the Palestra was second nature to him, but the magnitude of a game never passed him by.He was always enamored by the bright lights of the “Cathedral of College Basketball.” It ended up being one of the main factors bringing him back to coaching. Lewis coached at Philly Electric Technology and Del-Val Charter for over a decade, but took a few years off prior to joining Miguel Bocachia’s staff in 2024. Bocachia left West at the end of that year and suddenly Lewis was hired, giving him the responsibility of bringing the hubcap back to West Philly for the first time since 1959.“[It takes] hard work, team Chemistry, playing together and gelling at the right time and these are some of the things that were instilled in me,” Lewis said. “It’s not easy getting there, whether you’re the best team or the fifth best team or the sixth best team. It’s just playing the best basketball at the right time in mid-January, early February."<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4OS6EL_1GwjqxMm00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4OS6EL_1GwjqxMm00" width="1500" height="752" ></figure>In recent memory, West Catholic has come close to breaking its near 70-year drought. The Burrs made back-to-back semifinals in 2022 and 2023 under Bocachia, but fell just short in each contest. In Lewis’ first season in charge, the Burrs finished 5-8 in the PCL, earning the ninth seed in the playoffs. West won its play-in game versus St. Joseph’s Prep, but fell to top-seeded Archbishop Wood in the quarterfinals. “We're aspiring to get into that Palestra conversation, but it takes time,” Lewis said. “The kids are working hard, doing the right things at this moment. Right now, the league is tough on the top. We're right, probably right below there, but we have a lot of talent, so we're moving in the right direction.”The Burrs will be without a lot of its top players from last season. Leading scorer Kingston Wheatley (16.4ppg), graduated and is playing at Florida Gulf Coast, while Jayden Ortiz-Muhammad and Nyiere Farlow transferred to Minnesota Preparation Academy and the Shipley School respectively. Rakim Johnson also left for Samuel Fels. The four of them combined for 38.8 of West’s 52.8 points per game last season, which puts a lot of responsibility on returning senior guards like Xavier Fountroy and Yasai Rozier. Fountroy is a four-year varsity player, who can light it up from 3-point range, despite having a rough shooting year, hitting just 25% of his triples in 23 games. Lewis said the 6-foot-4 senior has added athleticism and gotten better as a finisher since last year. Rozier was West’s second-leading scorer as a junior (9.8 ppg) and provides it with stable ball handling at point guard. Sophomore wing forward Mekai Graves will also have an increased role after contributing off the bench as a freshman. Lewis said Graves does a lot of dirty work for West by helping out on the glass and guarding the opponents’ best player, with the head coach saying he’s one of the best defenders in the area. “I think everybody's for each other this year,” Fountroy said. “Everybody's accepting the role. Everybody knows what needs to be done to win games.” That includes playing “West Catholic Basketball,” which as described by Lewis means playing tough, sharing the ball and not backing down on defense so the Burrs can play fast. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3g5ZmN_1GwjqxMm00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3g5ZmN_1GwjqxMm00" width="1500" height="801" ></figure>Transfers like 6-6 junior combo guard Ayden Lewis and 6-3 junior Chayce Bonner will help that. Lewis was Lansdale Catholic’s second-leading scorer last season (13.1 ppg) and at 6-foot-6, he provides the Burrs with a scoring punch on the wing. Bonner, who previously played for Engineering &amp; Science, is a 6-2 combo guard who shoots it well from the outside and can slash as well. An X-factor for the Burrs will be freshman Savoy Winfield. Lewis has been impressed with 6-4 guard’s intensity on defense and his athleticism, adding that he’ll play significant minutes this season. “We're talented, but we’re just young,” Lewis said. “So we're gonna go through a bunch of bruises, but we're getting better as we move forward towards the season.”Whether West has enough to compete in the PCL remains to be seen. Even if the Burrs aren’t in contention for the hubcap, it won’t be a lost season. They’re still hoping to avenge their three-point defeat to Trinity in the PIAA 3A state championship last season. Fountroy says he thinks about the defeat every morning when he wakes up and is still hurt that last year’s seniors couldn’t go out on top.That was last year though and West is turning the page on a new chapter. Lewis has been happy with his team’s effort in the preseason, but the regular season’s a completely different animal and the Burrs will find out pretty early what they're made of. Lewis scheduled three non-conference games against high-level programs from the DMV, including Archbishop Carroll (Md.), — West’s season-opener — DeMatha Catholic (Md.) and Boys Latin (Md.). West also takes on Eagle Academy (N.Y.) and one of the best teams from North Carolina later on. It might be a lot for a young team to handle, but Lewis wants his team to be competitive in the PCL and one way to do that is taking some early season punches and coming back stronger as a result.“A lot of kids when adversity hits, they're looking to go the other way,” Lewis said. “I'm teaching my kids when adversity hits, we need to embrace it full head of steam and in that moment, we need to thrive in it.”</div></body>

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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2026-27 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 1. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.) ~~. James Lewis knows what...

Prepping for Preps '26-27: West Catholic (Boys)

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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2026-27 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 1. 

Prepping for Preps '26-27: West Catholic (Boys)

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