Mighty Elephants Continue To Roam In Final State Tournament As Math, Civics, & Sciences Complete Wire-To-Wire Victory Over Columbia To Move Into PIAA-3A Quarterfinals, Ending Legacy-Filled Careers Of Crimson Tide Senior Class Who Go Out Swinging In Final Game
Written by: Andy Herr on March 14, 2024
What do we like most about the state playoffs? Is it the drama that comes part in parcel with a single-elimination format? Sure, that certainly figures to be a key element in the mix. It is it the fact that we always see matchups we likely wouldn’t any other day of the year had it not been for a bracket bringing two competitors together head-to-head from different corners of the state itself? Yeah, for basketball fiends and junkies alike, that surely helps add to the lore of it all. Maybe it’s the overarching storylines? Certainly that can’t hurt either by and large. But no matter how you personally prefer your state tournament to best be served up to your liking, you’d be hard-pressed to find a much more appetizing second-round matchup found throughout all the state, regardless of classification level, than that of Columbia going up against Math, Civics, and Science at Norristown on Wednesday night.
First, let’s get the elephant out of the room. Oy. Bad pun.
While they are called the Mighty Elephants, the fact of the matter was that these basketball-playing Elephants are currently living through their final few weeks of life. Granted, while that is technically true for any team left standing within all the state at this point considering it is mid-March and all, chances are that all others will eventually regroup and start anew next winter whether they hoist gold medals at Hershey next week or not. Not MCS unfortunately enough.
Aside from giving the state of Pennsylvania arguably the best nickname of all –and that’s not even counting the very bare bones name of what the school is built upon, Math, Civics, and Science—this public school from Philadelphia has become one of the perennial stalwarts in terms of small school boys’ basketball without fail. Hard to dispute that when you consider that MCS has been to four state titles games in its history –all of which have taken place since 2011— splitting their appearances in winning two gold trophies while at the state’s summit.
To a more local audience, MCS has wreaked havoc as well.
Remember that COVID year of 2020-21? You know, the one where we all played with masks on? Well, perhaps the defining moment of that entire year when speaking on the Lancaster-Lebanon League as a whole wasn’t a positive memory for the conference. Instead, it was arguably Nisine “Wooga” Poplar’s buzzer-beating bucket in the 3A state playoffs that knocked Lancaster Catholic out of the dance without a moment’s notice in the quarterfinal round that year in a memorable game played at Cardinal O’Hara in which the Mighty Elephants proved just mightier. Speaking of which, if we’re looking to check back in on the one who broke the Crusaders’ hearts that afternoon, Wooga Poplar can now be seen on NBA draft boards, including the mock #23 pick of the New Orleans Pelicans according to NBAdraft.net at last check.
Anyway, the reason as to why every single game that the Elephants play from here on out takes on the upmost significance can be traced back to this past fall. For it was there that the unfortunate news broke that Math, Civics, and Science would be closing its doors at the end of this current school year, meaning that any loss the rest of the way in states means the final boys’ basketball game ever played in school history. Rest assured, while it’s a journey that MCS eventually hopes to culminate in yet another state championship trophy that will eventually have to be housed somewhere, or by someone in due time it would appear given said news, the Elephants are fighting for their basketball lives. No further hyperbole being required.
That said, while the circumstances surrounding the Columbia Crimson Tide weren’t nearly as dire perhaps, it’s not as if the Tide could simply treat this as an “aw shucks” kind of deal either. Granted, while Crimson Tide boys’ basketball will remain alive and well come the start of next season, this too felt like it was a bit of a run of desperation as well from their perspective no doubt.
Easy to reconcile such a notion once you realize that Columbia boasts a roster drenched almost entirely with nothing but seniors –eight of them in fact – you can start to see the impetus as to why this was a postseason of great significance for up on “The Hill” as well. And for a team that took it on the chin and then some by nearly 40 points in the opening round of the state playoffs a year ago where they fell to eventual State Player of the Year, Budd Clark, and the rest of the West Catholic Burrs, the eventual state champions too as fate would have it, it was obvious right from the start of summer workouts that this 2023-24 edition of the Crimson Tide, complete with all the fixings of fighting against small public school enrollment numbers and all, was out to prove that they were one of the better teams situated within 3A throughout all the state after going through the fire of last season.
Looking for proof? Short of undertaking an extensive research project that chronicles the entire state in totality that almost no one would have any time to complete, how many teams within the Commonwealth likely have victories against competitors that run the gamut from 6A all the way down through the 1A ranks? Well, Columbia does for starters at least. Then again, when you look at the arduous schedule in which head coach Kerry Glover rolled out for his troops this season –as he tends to do on an annual basis—it probably was no shock to the system in seeing that factoid eventually be born into life. Oh yeah, if you want even more “sweeps” of sorts that Columbia has been able to make good on this season, how making it in to all three postseason tournaments available to them in respect to the Lancaster-Lebanon League, District 3, and now PIAA state fields? And while the Tide came up short of winning L-L gold, they were nonetheless able to knock off one of their primary local adversaries, the Trinity Shamrocks, in this year’s District 3-3A title tilt up at the Giant Center for a victory which gave Columbia their ninth such crown in program history, two of which have taken place within the last three years alone.
But again, for a Crimson Tide bunch in which six of their top seven scorers are slated to be alums of the school within the next few months, the timing was equally paramount for Columbia just as it was for MCS when these two butted heads at Norristown High School on Wednesday in the state’s second round of the 3A bracket. Suffice to say, the stakes could not be any higher for either side with one roster set to receive a major overhaul that will have it look almost unrecognizable next year, while the other simply won’t have a roster that exists at all whatsoever come next winter.
And after Wednesday night, that roster, the Mighty Elephants’ roster, would be the ones continuing onward for at least the next couple of days guaranteed.
Right from the jump in fact, that certainly seemed to be little in the way of debate.
After jumping out of the gates en route to a quick 9-0 start behind a rather proficient showing against the Crimson Tide’s zone defense being employed where the ball was being peppered around without getting stuck in one place, MCS would prove to be equally as potent on the defensive end of the floor as well. Sure enough, had it not been for a Brelon Miller bucket within the paint for Columbia’s first points of the evening which made it a 9-2 affair, the Crimson Tide were quickly flirting with being held scoreless for nearly half of the opening frame had it not been for Miller deuce’s which came with 4:30 left showing on the first quarter clock.
Yet a nine-point bulge wouldn’t even be the worst when it came to the Elephants’ early punch.
In that regard, following a kick-out trifecta knocked down by way of MCS’ 6’2 junior guard, Alantay Dawson, the Math, Civics, & Sciences cushion had ballooned up to double figures at a 14-4 count with roughly two minutes left remaining before the second frame would then get underway. From there, that MCS lead would only grow in size and stature following their very next trip down the floor as a timely bucket inside tallied by Elephants’ 6’5 senior forward, Azeem Murphy, saw the Philly Public League outfit make it a comfortable dozen in terms of separation with time winding down in the opening stanza.
Suffice to say, what could go wrong largely had gone wrong from Columbia’s perspective out of the chute in this one. With Math, Civics, & Sciences continuing to feast on the offensive end in the opening frame, the Tide’s cold shooting from the field certainly didn’t help matters in that regard either. That said, the Crimson Tide had to consider themselves fortunate to only be down by a much more modest eight points following a buzzer-beating triple splashed down by 5’10 junior wing, LD Miller, as one of the few underclassmen receiving minutes in the Columbia rotation made it an 19-11 ballgame following an opening eight minutes which the Mighty Elephants looked, well, mighty.
But all that MCS impressiveness perhaps shaded in a bit of initial intimidation seemed to wear off once the second quarter got underway however.
Case in point, for as slowly as Columbia had been in getting out of the gates a quarter previous, this second quarter version of the Crimson Tide looked altogether different. So much so in fact that following a Jordan Poole bucket in transition that was later followed suit by yet another LD Miller bomb from beyond the arc, the heavily partisan Columbia crowd was understandably overjoyed to see their team climb back within a pair, 19-17, with Math, Civics, & Sciences head coach, Lonnie Diggs, forced to burn an early timeout amid the surge with 6:40 still left to play before half.
In short, Diggs’ stoppage in the action seemed to work wonders for his Elephants’ crew.
Yes, while the subsequent push to move Columbia away at least initially proved to be rather tenuous –something best exemplified by an traditional three-point play compiled by way of Crimson Tide 6’0 senior guard, Jesiah Griffy, which made it a 23-20 contest just past halfway mark of the second period – Math, Civics, & Sciences finally got the extension they had been hoping for in trying to calm the waters that allowed them to exhale somewhat.
For this later second quarter spurt, while ignited by an acrobatic layup at the tin put home by 6’1 sophomore guard, Zion Robinson, that put MCS back on the verge of making the gap climb back upwards of ten, an Elephants’ 3-ball splashed in by Dawson, one of four Math, Civics, & Sciences players who would chip in double figure scoring marks to aid in the MCS effort, helped to send the Elephants into the dressing room with another impossible to ignore jolt of momentum with their leading stand firm at a dozen, 37-25, with the Mighty Elephants successfully putting the finishing touches on a timely 7-2 charge over the final two minutes and change found inside the opening half.
Yet if there was some sort of silver lining in which Columbia could take with them once the third quarter rolled around on Wednesday night at Norristown, it was undoubtedly the fact that they had been able to climb out of sizable holes before, such as they were able to accomplish after spotting an early first quarter run out of MCS to begin the contest. However, at least as far as the third quarter was concerned in particular, that narrative would unfortunately not hold water for the Crimson Tide.
While essentially continuing to be kept at arm’s length, Columbia continued to scratch and claw their way back into at least single digits if nothing else as the third quarter clock kept churning. Speaking of scratching and clawing, those same efforts would be demonstrated by way of Columbia’s 6’2 senior forward, Nate Moreta, as the Tide’s frontline piece tallied two consecutive buckets inside to help trim that Elephants’ lead back into a more manageable nine-point deficit, 39-30, with roughly two minutes having gone by following the start of this brand-new half of play.
And that was largely where the margin remained from there on out in the third.
Sure, there was the pair of free throws knocked down by way of MCS’ incredibly talented 6’3 sophomore guard, Milak Myatt, who figures to receive plenty of courtship from college scouts over the course of the next few years, made it a 43-32 Mighty Elephants’ cushion as Myatt was already well on his way towards posting an 11-point evening alongside Alantay Dawson in the MCS starting backcourt. Beyond that, while another triple knocked down by Dawson would later push the Elephants’ lead back upwards to a dozen at 46-34, an LD Miller 3-ball of his own, also en route to an 11-point in his own regard, sliced the gap back to nine on the Tide’s ensuing trip down the floor with inside of a minute left to play in the third. Then, come the end of those final few seconds left remaining in the frame, nine points would indeed prove to be the difference with the final quarter getting set to commence with Math, Civics, & Sciences holding serve at 47-38.
But if there was an added element to this game that cannot be overstated, it was the undeniable and unavoidable aspect of just so many fouls being racked up by either team throughout, seemingly in bunches. And for a pair of rosters already juggling not exactly the deepest of benches as it were without the added difficulty of navigating against foul issues, these persistent whistles figured to be prove a key cog in this game’s overall wheel. Well, unfortunately for Columbia’s perspective, those chickens did indeed come home to roost with a shade over three minutes remaining in the third quarter as arguably their most calming and settling influence out of the floor, Artie Poindexter, was forced to sit for the remainder of the contest following his fifth personal foul which obviously made Columbia’s task all the more harder being now devoid of their 5’10 senior table-setter and his litany of services.
Nonetheless though, in quintessential Columbia form of course, the Crimson Tide would offer up one final retort when it came to trying to take down these Elephants.
Maybe it was just the fact that Columbia needed to perform best when the quarters were even numbered? Regardless of what it was exactly, the Tide roared out of the chute to begin the final act, eerily reminiscent of the way they started off strong from the onset of the second quarter as well.
In fact, following a Jordan Poole 3-ball knocked down with just 1:45 having been expired from the fourth quarter clock, the Tide had found themselves back within five at 49-44 with momentum starting to tilt back in their favor with plenty of time still left at their disposal to boot.
Yet regardless of who Columbia had out on the floor, whether their hand was forced due to their pool of foul issues plaguing them or something else, the Tide seemed to have no match for the likes of Math, Civics & Sciences’ Azeem Murphy inside no matter who was in the contest.
Aside from the 6’5 220lb senior forward’s physical tools, Murphy’s best tool in the kit, his incredibly high motor, seemed to just take the air out of the Columbia sails at the most back-breaking of times, not the least seemed to occur the most down the homeward stretch on Wednesday night. Never did that appear more evident than with Murphy proceeding to chip in six straight Mighty Elephants’ points by sheer force inside that came in claiming nearly every rebound in sight while also continuing to maintain the narrative of the Tide being held at bay as true as it ever was at any point considering the current gap standing at a touchdown, 57-50, with time quickly winding down on a Crimson Tide comeback push. And as far as the Elephants’ leading scorer on the night as a whole was concerned, all 15 of Azeem Murphy’s points throughout Wednesday night’s 32 minutes of play were just as critical now as they had been all the way back in the opening frame as well.
But if there was to be one last Columbia counterargument, their stars needed to have their fingerprints all over the final few minutes. Well, as if to be right on cue, Columbia’s latest star in a line of many in the program’s history, Brelon Miller, came away with a much-needed bucket from point-blank range that sliced the margin down to five, 57-52, with exactly 1:30 left remaining and more than a puncher’s chance still remaining from the Tide’s perspective seeing as how Math, Civics, & Sciences was feeling rather courteous when it came to leaving a boatload of unfulfilled points left standing at the charity stripe. Yet while the 6’3 senior forward’s bucket was important in the here and now, it was important in all totality as Miller’s most recent field goal, a two-point addition into what would be a game-high 18-point outburst once the dust had settled, allowed Brelon Miller to become the newest member in a long, long line of Crimson Tide greats over the years who have eclipsed the 1,000-point career milestone while donning the Columbia uniform in this, Miller’s final swan song.
However, that would prove to be all the closer Columbia would get from there on out as for when the game was still anything but an eventual formality.
As far as the final member of the Mighty Elephants’ merry band of four who would hit double figures in scoring against Columbia in this second-round affair, it was now his turn to step up to the plate and deliver. And deliver he would as MCS’ 6’4 senior wing, Aiden Brown, came away with two massive freebies at the charity stripe with his fellow Elephants largely having been unable to say the same for themselves with said opportunity, as Brown’s two-point swing not only helped him finish with a 14-point night’s worth of work, but it also saw Math, Civics, & Sciences increase its lead back up to seven at 59-52 with all of 57 seconds left to be played.
And while Columbia would hit one final shot right before the buzzer rang out from just beyond halfcourt, the eventual 63-60 final verdict that would be tallied in MCS’ favor would prove to be a game in which the Mighty Elephants never trailed at any time throughout the game’s entire lifespan. For that, while you can’t exactly call them a “Cinderella” of sorts purely based upon the level of talent in which they have at their disposal –albeit with the sacrifices coming due to the PIAA transfer protocol and all – it’s not every day you get to see a team try to claim one final achievement despite already knowing that they school they call home will have its doors soon close for good. But whether you want to consider them a Cinderella or not, this is certainly a storybook run of sorts regardless in which the Math, Civics, & Sciences Mighty Elephants currently find themselves in the middle of. It’s a ride that is now just three victories shy of being cemented as one of the all-time great stories ever told.
Unfortunately, as with any good story, there must be an opposing side to it. On Wednesday night, it just so happened to be Columbia’s inopportune time in coming away a mere three points shy once the clock ran out and hit all zeroes. That’s certainly something that will continue to burn in the immediate future to say the least.
“I’ve said it all year. It’s a resilient group. They are ‘Columbia tough.’ It’s that Columbia pride they play with,” Crimson Tide head coach, Kerry Glover, said after addressing his bunch one last time before the final bus ride home. “I’m obviously not okay with the end result, but the way they competed, the way they finished the game out, I have no issues with,” he remarked of his squad.
“Two years ago, it ended the same way. Second round loss by three. Then, Devon Prep goes on and wins the whole freaking thing,” Glover said harkening back to a similar experience against a similar team in another state tournament appearance that seem to happen so frequently for Columbia these days that they all appear to just blend and blur together in memory given how often the Crimson Tide playing in states has seemed to become. “It stinks because those are the ones where you’re like, ‘Ugh. A couple free throws here, or a couple layups there… If the ball just bounces our way once or twice.’ Those winnable games, those are the ones that are tougher to move on from.”
And while that hurt and angst will eventually subside in due time, there’s more to this story. For this story, the story of the 2023-24 Columbia Crimson Tide, it all can really be traced back almost 365 days ago to the exact day when they were simply overmatched in every possible way against last year’s eventual 3A state champ, Philadelphia West Catholic, in the opening round. It was there, in a nearly 30-minute-long postgame message to his team after getting mercy-ruled that seemed to annoy the last of the remaining game staff still there that they couldn’t yet go home, a message delivered to a team with many of their pieces slated to return, did Glover offer up a man-sized challenge. Now, looking back on those last twelve months, Glover himself could not be any prouder of the overall ownership this senior class took of the program throughout this season.
“The growth that these guys gave from last year to this year has been tremendous,” the L-L Section Four Coach of Year as voted on by his peers remarked. “Last year, they were basketball players that could hoop. But the missing piece was understanding things like time and situation. Understanding the flow of the game and when to go. When to push the pace. When to slow down and call a set. Giving up a good shot for a great shot. The work they put in over the offseason, they understood all that. That’s what was missing last season. We were either way too high or way too low. This year, they did a way better job of staying even keeled,” Glover said of this team whose season had now been over for all of 20 minutes at the time. “We had some high moments, but we never got too high to where if we started seeing a couple shots not go in, we never felt like we had to keep jacking up more shots to try and make that up. This year, it was ‘Let’s settle down. Remember, you guys are seniors. Lead, lead, lead. Lead by example.’”
In short, the message and task Glover instilled on his team over this past year appears to have been received loud and clear considering they once again made it back to the state tournament. But, as has also become an all too familiar theme, especially for a small public school the likes of what Columbia is, there is simply no escaping the city of Philadelphia and its utterly dominant brand of basketball that inevitably is looming at some point in the state tourney. Just as the Crimson Tide and you’ll learn all about it.
In fact, in bowing out to Math, Civics, & Sciences this year, it now becomes the third year in Columbia’s last four excursions to the postseason–with the lone exception being the COVID year in 2021 where Lancaster Catholic beat Columbia in the District 3-3A title game to capture the lone spot that was there to be had – that Columbia has fallen victim to either a Philadelphia Catholic or Public League squad. And as he tries so adamantly to do when it comes to scheduling up –sometimes way up above their weight class– during the regular season knowing that these types of beasts are coming down the pike, it’d be easy to understand as to why this is even more hard to swallow from Kerry Glover’s perspective if he felt scorned yet again by this same familiar story. Frustrating? Sure. Afraid? No chance.
“Honestly, for me, when I come in and watch film for every game, I feel like we have a chance in every game that we play. Obviously, we know that for a small school like us, we need the depth that we just can’t create over a summer,” Glover candidly shared of the difficulties involved when trying to take a team deep on a state run. “It took some time for the program to get back on top and be relevant. My first couple of years, we were grinding. Even though we had some success those early years, it was hard as hell trying to lay the foundation in the way that I wanted the program to look,” he continued. “But these guys, the young guys, have this program in a really, really good spot. We have an incoming freshmen group that has the kind of numbers that the program needs. Like, 15-16 incoming freshmen that were really, really good at the junior high level. But it takes environments like this for those guys coming up to say, ‘We can play with teams like that.’ Early on, that wasn’t the case.”
Mindset change required from the outside as well.
“We get to the district playoffs, or we get to a district championship game, and you hear the fans yelling, ‘We’re still the top 3A public school!’ I worked my hardest to get that mentality out of my guys’ heads,” Glover made mention of both the figurative and literal outside noise. “At the end of the day, we play who we play. We never want to make any excuses on that. Does it stink? Yeah. But it is what it is. You have to get out there and you have to compete. So, I don’t look at it like we’re one of the best 3A public schools. I look at it like we’re one of the 3A teams in the state and that’s how I approach every season. That’s what I shoot for. That’s what I plan for. We want to be one of the best teams in the state.”
“Devon Prep, lose to them by three points, they go win it all. West Catholic last year, lose to them. They whipped our tails, but they go win it all. Hopefully, I’ll feel a little bit better if (Math, Civics, & Sciences) goes and wins it all,” Glover then said with a chuckle. “It’ll make it like, ‘Damn. Okay. Well, I can move on a little easier.’”
Yet regardless of whomever eventually goes on and wins in the boys’ 3A state championship game next Saturday afternoon up at the Giant Center, if nothing else, Glover can at least rest easy knowing what he has built on The Hill during his tenure. Sure, maybe Philadelphia will always get way at some point along the journey. But while others may bicker, fight, and cry foul that it’s an impossible assignment to ever pass, that’s simply not Columbia. Rather than laying down and accepting finality without much in way of a fight, that’s just not how the town itself is wired. If you need proof of that in action, simply look no further than this game and that aforementioned loss to Devon Prep combined together two of these last three seasons. There, just a measly total of six points separates the Tide from overcoming a team hailing from the state’s largest city. Are they there yet? No. Not quite. But with more reinforcements on the way as their head man alluded to, albeit while seeing an instrumental senior class exit out the door this year that will obviously come part in parcel with some initial growing pains, Columbia appears to be positioned for more successes heading into the future here nonetheless. If nothing else, the Crimson Tide can certainly fall back on the foundation they’ve built over the last several years in particular. For that, any team, regardless of what city or town they happen to call their home, would be envious to have all their own.
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