(Leeds By Example, sponsored by Leeds Builders of Margate, highlights some of the best athletes in South Jersey who go above and beyond to lead their teams by the example they set.)
By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
By the time the horn sounded ending the Non-Public A boys basketball state championship game at Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena, Camden Catholic senior do-it-all guard Luke Kennevan was wearing some kid’s junior varsity uniform.
That’s because his normal No. 12 jersey, and matching shorts, were spotted with blood and had to be switched out in the second half.
The phrase “blood, sweat and tears” gets tossed around a lot when describing an athlete’s effort in a particular game, or season, but in Kennevan’s case it couldn’t be more true. He gave everything he had to try to get the Irish a state championship, but in the end his team came up three points short against North Jersey powerhouse Bergen Catholic. Kennevan stood near the bench, drenched in sweat, bloodied, beat up, a black eye — exhausted from the punishment he took during an inspiring state playoff run that featured back-to-back double-overtime wins over two of the best teams in the state in Paul VI and St. Peter’s Prep.
There was nothing left to give, except respect to the Crusaders, who rallied from a nine-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to stun the upset-minded Irish and deny them their shot at glory.
But it won’t take a state championship trophy for Kennevan to be remembered at Camden Catholic. He’ll probably be in the school’s hall of fame before he buys his first house. He was that good during his four-year career, and that valuable when it came to putting Camden Catholic basketball on the map as one of the best teams in the state.
“We’re blessed to have had him for four years and we’re definitely going to miss him. He gave his heart and soul every game, on every play, and did that for four years straight,” said Irish coach Matt Crawford. “He did it in practice every day, too. He was great to have around. He just plays with so much effort and wants to win. He’s a good teammate, and when you play hard like that good things end up happening. He can score the basketball, obviously, but he does so many other things — passing, rebounding, playing defense and just being a leader out there. Luke was the guy who made us go. He had the most experience, but he trusted his teammates — he wasn’t selfish at all. At the end of the day, he was our leader and our best player.
“Kids who play right away as freshmen are pretty rare. We weren’t sure (what he would be), but he was in a nice situation where we were a little bit of a young team so he got on the court and played well,” he continued. “A couple of guys graduated and transferred and he went from being the fifth guy, a role player, to the main guy. He took that role and did well with it.”
“My mom went to Camden Catholic, my grandfather, aunts and uncles, my great-grandfather. So it’s kind of a family tradition. My dad used to be the coach, so I always went to the camps and visited there. And I really liked coach Crawford, so I decided to go there. I grew up going to games there,” said Kennevan, a Shamong resident and third-team all-state selection. “When I came in as a freshman, I really didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t starting at first, I had to work my way up. But I just wanted to play and have fun. I had some goals, but I just wanted to play basketball and hopefully good things would happen. I didn’t envision (scoring that many points), but I worked really hard.”
Kennevan finished his career as the second-leading scorer in school history with 1,694 points — but he was so much more than just a scorer. He hit 129 threes, had more than 700 rebounds, added nearly 350 assists and shot 85 percent from the foul line for his career. And he was the guy the Irish turned to when things got really tough in the state playoffs. He scored 27 points in a win over Union Catholic in the sectional quarterfinals, then had 16 points and 14 rebounds as the Irish overcame a 13-point deficit in the final three minutes to force overtime, and then beat, a Paul VI team that had beaten Camden Catholic three times during the regular season. As an encore, all he did was record a triple-double in a win over St. Peter’s Prep, the No. 1 team in the state, in the sectional championship.
“He’s all about giving it everything you have. He gave everything he had, all the time. At times he almost played too hard, you know? There were times in the playoffs where it almost looked like he was hyperventilating because he was playing so hard. We preach that you have to be on your game every day and you can’t let up, no days off, stuff like that. And the way he plays, he holds himself to that standard — he never takes a play off. There were times when we had to tell him to calm down a little bit, but we never had to tell him to play harder, that’s for sure,” Crawford said. “The guys leaned on him. The other players played their roles great, but it helps when Luke gets a lot of the attention. That does free up other guys to do some things. And the other guys knew they didn’t have to try to do too much because they could rely on Luke to carry the load. They just had to play as hard as they could.”
“I always try to think of it like any day could be my last day playing basketball, so I might as well leave everything I have on the court. And, personally, I hate losing and I’m super competitive. I’ve always been that way. So it’s a combination of hating to lose and just thinking of it like playing every game like it’s my last,” Kennevan said of his approach to th game. “I always tell the younger guys to understand their role, but also have confidence in themselves. I knew (before the season) that we had the potential to be one of the best, if not THE best, team in South Jersey. We just had to trust in each other and work really hard. It started in the summer with me and Sean (Welde) and open gym workouts.”
Kennevan admitted he thought his career was over when the Irish trailed Paul VI by 13 points with just three minutes to play. But Camden Catholic turned up the defensive pressure and kept getting steals and scoring, eventually sending the game into two overtimes.
“At the start of the fourth quarter, I was like, ‘well, this might be my last quarter of high school basketball.’ But then we started getting closer and closer, and I’m like, ‘oh, this might happen!’ I credit coach Crawford a lot because he kept telling us to just keep playing hard and good things would happen. That’s what he always tells us. Whether you are up 20 or down 20, just play hard. He believed and he put that confidence in us, and good things started to happen,” he said. “Paul VI was ranked higher than us and they beat us three times in a row. So they had all the confidence in the world that they could beat us again. They came into that game with everything to lose, where we kind of had nothing to lose. I think, mentally, that helped a lot, and we somehow found a way to win that game. That 13-point comeback gave us so much confidence. It was like, ‘OK, if we beat Paul VI, we can beat anyone.’ And we ended up beating St. Peter’s Prep and coming up just short against Bergen Catholic.”
Like any great leader, Kennevan laments not being able to lift his team to victory in the state championship game. He scored 10 points and had four rebounds, two assists and two steals against perhaps the best team the Irish played all year, but he felt it still wasn’t enough. Still, though, he knows he and his teammates left their mark with what they were able to accomplish against some pretty stacked odds.
“I feel like I should have done more in that game. Obviously, they are great defenders who are super athletic. We were up by nine, and you can look back — I’ve watched the game (replay) a ton of times and you can blame this play or that play,” Kennevan said. “But they just ended up making more plays than us, so I’m not going to dwell on it. Initially, it hurt. Being a senior leader, I always feel like if we lose the game I didn’t do enough, personally, and I wish I could have done more. But I’m also proud of everything we accomplished as a team.
“That playoff run really put us on the map of South Jersey, and even the state. It felt like Seamus (Bieg) shot 75 percent from three, Bryce (Clark) was amazing, Azyris (Richmond) was great defensively. Everyone kind of rode that high we were on during the playoffs.”
“He represents himself and his family very well, and represents our school and basketball program so well. We’re very proud of him,” Crawford said. “That loss hurt a lot and we’ll think about it for a while, but if you look at the big picture I think our kids were very pleased with the outcome of everything. We gave everything we had, and that’s all you can ask. It was almost enough.”
Kennevan said he hopes that 20 years from now he’s remembered for how he played the game, not the stats or the final scores.
“I just hope people look back and remember, not the wins or losses or stats, but how hard I played and the respect I had for the game. And I hope people remember that I was a good teammate, because it’s not about me, it’s about the team. My individual success came because the team had success. That’s what I want people to remember.”
