Kevair Kennedy (holding trophy) scored 10 points and hit four clutch free throws in the final minute to lead Father Judge to a 41-34 victory over Roman Catholic in the Philadelphia Catholic League title game on Sunday.
By AARON BRACY
February 23, 2025
PHILADELPHIA – Kevair Kennedy did not grow up dreaming of winning championships for Father Judge. But he will grow old never forgetting the title he helped the school win.
And neither will anyone else wearing the baby blue at the Palestra on Sunday, or holding a diploma from the Solly Avenue school, forget Kennedy, who came to Judge for one, simple reason:
No one else wanted him.
And he will leave Judge with one, simple memento:
A piece of the Palestra net.
Kennedy scissored the same twine he swished four clutch free throws through in the tense, closing minute of the Philadelphia Catholic League final against perennial league power Roman Catholic, finishing with a team-high 10 points to lead Judge to a 41-34 victory over the two-time defending champion Cahillites.
It has been a fairy-tale journey for Kennedy–and for Judge.
Let’s start with the young man whose name everyone now knows. It was his name that area coaches, apparently, crossed off their recruitment list when they saw him play at Esperanza Middle School.
“I didn’t have any options,” Kennedy, a senior, said.
Luckily for him, new Judge coach Chris Roantree was looking for players. And Roantree, a veteran of the PCL, needed more than just teenagers who put up statistics. So, when Kennedy got into an altercation during a tryout, Roantree didn’t throw him out of the gym like might be expected. Rather, he shook his hand and welcomed him to the team.
“I knew I had a tough dude,” Roantree said.
Grateful for the opportunity, Kennedy got to work…and work…and work.
“They’re gym rats,” Roantree said of Kennedy and all of his players. “You can’t keep them out of the gym.”
Kennedy knew all of that work would pay off, even long before it did. When he stepped foot in the Palestra as a ninth-grader, his only thought was, “We’re Palestra-bound.”
“I knew we were going to be good,” he said. “I’m a hard worker.”
Sunday’s finale was a perfect game for a worker. It was a game that offensive gurus would laugh off as galling to the game. Ah, but Philly knows better. We know blue collar. We know effort. We know hard work. It ain’t always pretty here.
But even saying that, Judge’s first quarter made you want to look away, a nightmarish start in the opening eight minutes that–look away if you want–looked like this: 0 for 11 from the field, including 0 for 5 from beyond the arc, four turnovers.
Oof.
“I think we set the offensive world back,” Roantree said.
Good news for Judge was Roantree has workers like Kennedy. Amazingly, especially for teenagers, they didn’t hang their heads as they tried to build a new Palestra in the opening period with–I’m thinking this and think it’s OK to say after a win but hope I’m not sounding too harsh– all of those bricks; rather, they hunkered down on defense and forced Roman to miss 12 of 16 shots. So, it was only a 10-2 spread entering the second quarter.
“If the ball’s not going in,” Nazir Tyler said, “we have to stop the other team from scoring.”
Sounds pretty simple, sure, but you try to stay mentally engaged with 8,722 (allegedly) screaming fans (more like 10,000 if you count those seated in the aisles and standing high above the bleachers beyond the last row) packing the beautiful, old gym for a Sunday treat, the boys final following Neumann-Goretti’s 50-43 victory over Archbishop Carroll in the girls title match.
But focused they stayed; slowly, steadily getting back into the contest. Judge pulled even early in the third quarter on Derrick Morton-Rivera’s three-pointer and took its first lead later in the period on Tyler’s follow shot. The game stayed close from that point, with the Crusaders clinging to a 35-34 advantage when Kennedy stepped to the free throw line for a pair of foul shots with 56.9 seconds left.
Tough, as the Merrimack-bound Kennedy is, can help you get stops, help you get to the rim, help you have the fortitude to overcome a horrific start. Kennedy needed that last point big-time now after missing six of his previous nine attempts from the charity stripe dating to Wednesday’s semifinal win over St. Joseph’s Prep.
He took a few deep breaths and swished a clutch pair, bumping Judge’s advantage to three. After a Roman turnover, Kennedy was fouled again, put both feet a little farther behind the line than you normally see and drained two more with 35.1 seconds to play.
Goodbye, one-point lead. Hello, five-point advantage.
“I was too much off emotions,” Kennedy said of his struggles from the line leading up to the final minute in a one-point game of the league championship with thousands watching your every move. You’d think this would be the time where emotions would be hard to contain. Apparently, not. “I had to breathe through it.”
Kennedy found a way. That’s what tough dudes like him do.
Roantree knew it right away, knew Kennedy’s toughness would pay off, when he first set eyes on him four years ago.
Back then, no one wanted him. And now, everyone will remember him.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages. His book on the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team is expected to be published on March 1, 2025. Read a summary and preorder it by clicking HERE. Contact him at aaron@big5hoops.com.