Wait, work pay off for GA’s Longino
Senior gets one more chance to play under Fenerty in All-Star Labor Classic
PHILADELPHIA >> On top of his team’s goals for the season, Germantown Academy senior EvanEric Longino had a couple personal things he wanted to accomplish.
The first was to stay healthy through the entire season, something that he hadn’t been able to do the first three years of his career. The second would build on the first. If he stayed healthy, then he could show he was capable of playing at the next level and find himself a home.
Longino stayed healthy and turned in a fantastic senior season, helped GA win its fifth straight Inter-Ac title and as a result, found the right place to continue his career at West Chester.
“It was interesting, I didn’t think of West Chester until a week or two before I made my decision,” Longino said. “They called me up and they gave me a great opportunity. They were going to give me the opportunity to play point guard there and really try to improve my game at that position.”
Sunday, Longino and GA teammate Kyle McCloskey were part of the Suburban team that beat City 85-67 in the All-Star Labor Classic at Philadelphia University. Longino scored four points with three rebounds and an assist in the not-so-serious contest while McCloskey had seven points and five rebounds playing together for the last time
under GA coach Jim Fenerty, who headed the Suburban team.
Injuries defined Longino’s early career at GA. In his four years, the senior had two knee surgeries, an arm surgery and numerous other minor setbacks that all added up to a lot of time lost on the court. It was definitely frustrating and at one point last season, Longino started to question if basketball was going to be in his future.
So he spent the end of last year up to the start of the season reshaping himself to handle the grind of a long season and combat injuries before they even happened.
“I got my legs stronger, I
ran a lot, I did cross country, I swam with the swim team, took spinning classes and even did yoga to keep my body in shape,” Longino said. “I lost 25 pounds so I wouldn’t have so much weight on my legs. I did a lot of things to keep my body strong, I did a lot of stretching, lifted and worked out to keep myself right.”
It paid off. Longino scored 29 in his first game of the season to eclipse the 1,000-point mark then had a 40-point night to beat Lansdale Catholic early in the campaign. Things looked bleak for GA midseason after the Patriots dropped their first two Inter-Ac contests.
But behind Longino and McCloskey, they fought back and won out in the league to take a split with Episcopal Academy. GA’s season
ended in the PAISAA semifinals against Westtown, but Longino was able to score and hang with the Moose’s collection of top-level Divison I players.
His strong final season drew plenty of interest, but most schools saw Longino playing the 3 or 4 positions where he’s most comfortable as a guard with the ball in his hands. West Chester came along a little later, but it was worth the wait.
“I ended up where I should be ending up,” Longino said. “It set up a great path for me and I’m looking forward to the opportunity and the experience. I’m very happy with the way our season went and the fact I stayed with it was like the theme of how our season went. We had a couple miracles happen and it accompanied all the work I did.”