By Mike Clark
A year ago, TJ Seals was playing for Johnson College Prep in front of small crowds in the Noble League and Amari Edwards was running the show for an eventual state championship Phillips team.
Now they’re teammates at Kenwood under first-year coach Joseph Mason, and they’re making quite a splash.
Before a standing-room-only crowd that included current and former NBA players at Kenwood’s tiny gym on Dec. 12, Seals and Edwards steered the Broncos to a 58-55 Red Shield win.
Seals scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Kenwood, Edwards had 12 points and Devin Cleveland finished with nine.
Lorenzo Shields led Simeon with 24 points and Julien Doyle finished with 17.
Cleveland, an emerging star as a sophomore and one of the top players back for Kenwood, had a feeling the stage wouldn’t be too big for Seals.
“I played with him one time out in AAU,” Cleveland said. “I feel like he kind of played stubborn, like he didn’t want to mess up.
“But like I told TJ, ‘We on your back.’ He put us on his back. He was the focal point, he was a leader today.”
And not just with his scoring and rebounding.
“He’s saying, ‘Man, we good,'” Cleveland said. “‘What we got our head down for?’ Because I know I had my head down after a couple missed shots, but he came and just picked me up.”
Kenwood jumped ahead 16-4 late in the first quarter and was still up 21-10 early in the second. But Simeon went on a 13-0 run to get back in the game and led 27-23 at halftime.
“We came out on the run,” Seals said. “But then we started slacking and let them come take over the run. … Simeon … is a tough team so we just had to fight as a team, not give up.”
Seals credited his teammates for helping weather the storm.
“I feel like if it wasn’t for my boys, I would have gave up because I was getting frustrated. Devin couldn’t hit a shot, Amari was off so I just felt like I had to take over.”
Aleks Alston, another Kenwood veteran, said Seals has fit right in.
“He a dog,” Alston said. “Last year, I feel like our dog was BJ (Duling). So having a new dog come in … if I’m down on the floor, I know he’s gonna make sure to help me back up. He’s just a dog and I need somebody like that next to me down there.”
The second half was back and forth, with five lead changes in the third quarter and four more in the fourth. Seals’ driving layup with 2:10 left put Kenwood ahead to stay at 51-49 and the Broncos hit just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on.
It was the first big Public League win for Mason, who took over when Mike Irvin resigned before the season.
“It’s big,” Mason said. “The Public League is a different beast, right? You’ve got to be ready mentally, physically for that battle because every night’s a battle. And our guys really responded.”
Photos by Brandon Parker/OSA
