Miami star Isaiah Wong made his chops in the Philadelphia Catholic League, winning league MVP twice at Bonner-Prendergrast. Now he's in the NCAA Tournament.
There were some games during Isaiah Wong’s junior year of high school when, based on talent, the Bonner-Prendergast coaching staff knew a win was coming.Bonner coach Kevin Funston said he would try, unsuccessfully at times, to motivate Wong using the typical rah-rah stuff. He got to know Wong a little better, and found out what made him tick.It was simple, really. Just give Wong a checklist or task. Easy opponent? OK, go get a triple-double.
The 10th-seeded Hurricanes, in the tournament for the first time since 2018, play seventh-seeded Southern California on Friday at 3:10 p.m. in Greenville, S.C. Wong, alongside Charlie Moore and Kameron McGusty, is part of a potent three-guard attack for Jim Larrañaga’s team. He is averaging 15.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game for the Hurricanes, down slightly from 17.1 and 4.8 last year, a season that ended with him testing the NBA draft waters..
Having that goal-setting process helped instill a relentless work ethic in Wong. Students at Bonner-Prendergast had a free period some days. They weren’t supposed to use it for gym time, but Wong would go to the athletic director’s office and grab a basketball and ask for the gym to be opened. He wanted to get shots up, and his free period was the last period of the day, so in the gym he went.
Miami also wasn’t new to recruiting the Catholic League. The league’s all-time leading scorer, Ja’Quan Newton , played for the Hurricanes from 2014-18. But the most impressive performance of this season, Larrañaga said, was in a game that didn’t count, an exhibition vs. run-and-gun Nova Southeastern, the No. 1 team in Division II at 30-0. Wong scored 40 points behind eight made triples. He grabbed seven rebounds, made all 10 of his free throws, and also had three steals and three blocks.
“Every game is going to be good competition and sometimes you’re going to have back-to-back games where you play two of the top teams in the conference,” Wong said. “It really prepared me for that.”
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