Basketball
Favorite athlete: Kobe Bryant
Favorite team: Philadelphia 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Scoring my thousandth point versus Cheltenham
Music on mobile device: J. Cole and Bob Marley
Future plans: Study business and play basketball at Penn
Words to live by: “You are what you repeatedly do” ~ Aristotle
One goal before turning 30: Travel to multiple countries
Something people don’t know about me: I’m very superstitious I have a dozen things I must do before each game.
By Ed Morrone
Lucas Monroe lists versatility as his biggest strength.
For someone who name drops Aristotle and Pistol Pete Maravich over the course of a relatively brief conversation, it’s unquestionable that this well-roundedness extends on and off the basketball court.
Monroe, a 6-foot-6 senior on the Abington basketball team that has won 26 of its 27 games played this season, can play guard or forward, depending on the flow of the game and what his team needs him to do in order to win. Along with stud teammate and Villanova recruit Eric Dixon, Monroe can be counted on to score (he’s in the Abington top-10 for career points) if necessary, but he’s also just as comfortable being a facilitator (ranked second in school history in assists).
On a team attempting to win its third consecutive District 1 Class 6A championship and fourth in five years, the Galloping Ghost players have checked any and all egos at the door in favor of building a high school basketball dynasty.
“It doesn’t get old,” Monroe said. “Nobody on this team cares whose name is in the paper; if anything, I love seeing when other guys that don’t get the attention get some shine. There’s been no issues or jealousy. Me and Eric were just talking about how lucky we are and how important the other guys have been in all this.
“Maurice (Henry) saved our butts multiple times this season. Manir (Waller) and Darious (Brown) saved us against Pennridge in the SOL title game when I had one of my worst games of the season. Seeing Jack (Moynihan) hit a big three against Cheltenham and having 3,000 people erupt, that makes me happy to see how happy it makes him, because he doesn’t get to experience it a lot. We want to see each other succeed.”
Of course, everyone wants to ask Monroe about being the “other guy” on Abington, the Robin to Dixon’s Batman, an unnecessary narrative to create but one that exists anyway, to the point where Monroe struggled with it earlier this season. It wasn’t until he swept all the outside noise under the rug where he — and Abington — really hit his stride.
“It was hard sometimes, like a little confidence killer,” Monroe admitted. “Even if I had a good game and Eric didn’t, everybody still wanted to talk about him playing bad as opposed to me playing good. But what helps is how unselfish Eric is. He’s like a brother to me. I’d never be jealous of him and I always root for the best for him. He’s not someone who brags about how many points he scores. I’m probably more cocky than he is.
“One time we were both interviewed and the guy referred to me as Eric’s sidekick, and he said, ‘No, he’s my superhero.’ It’s never caused any issues. We hang out all the time off the court. To me, he’s by far the best player in the state and I think he’s one of the best on the East Coast and in the entire country. If he gets a lot of attention, it’s because he deserves it. It affected me a little bit early in the season, but I got used to it. When we’re winning, I don’t care how many points I score, and neither does he.”
To classify Monroe as anything but Dixon’s equal is unwise, both for fans and opposing teams alike. He can beat you in a variety of different ways, and he’s stepped into the void left with the graduation of Robbie Heath, one of the best scorers in program history. Monroe’s hard work and perseverance have paid off, as last summer, he announced his commitment to play college basketball at the University of Pennsylvania, where he and Dixon will be adversaries when Penn plays Villanova next season and attempts to defend its Big 5 crown.
Monroe was asked if he seized the opportunity to tease Dixon after Penn knocked off Villanova in a stunning upset at the Palestra earlier this season.
“Well, they have won two national championships so he can still talk trash, but when we beat them I was running my mouth telling him we’re coming for them,” Monroe said with a laugh. “We laugh about it, nothing too serious yet. When we do step on the court it will be a nice battle. All the friend stuff will go out the window for 40 minutes, then win or lose, we’ll hug it out as brothers. It’s going to be fun.”
What sets Monroe apart from other players being on a team with someone of Dixon’s caliber is his maturity, according to Abington head coach Charles Grasty. Grasty spoke about how Monroe will come into the coach’s classroom during free period and just talk about life.
“It’s through the roof, to the point I feel like I’m talking to a grown man,” Grasty said. “It was tough for him in the beginning of the year. He’s a high school kid and he wants people to recognize him. We went out to Pittsburgh and he scored 23 points, and their local paper obviously talked about Eric and said Lucas ‘chipped in’ with 23. You get tired of seeing that, but he doesn’t care. By the middle of the season he was like, ‘You know what? That stuff doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.’
“He just wants to win and enjoy his last season before going to college. He’s coming in the gym and just playing great. He’s handling the ball for us, he’s rebounding. He’s the other guy and he understands it, even if it could be frustrating. He’s in the gym at 5 a.m. improving himself, and his work ethic and basketball IQ are off the charts.”
One of the craziest parts of Monroe’s saga is that he didn’t really even start playing organized competitive basketball until he was around 10 years old. A former soccer player, Monroe eventually gravitated toward hoops due to the fact that his father, Eugene, and older brother, Jordan both loved and played the game.
Monroe, a voracious reader, began doing his homework on players like Maravich, Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird before attempting to emulate them. To mimic Maravich, Monroe would dribble a ball in his left hand on the walk to school before switching to his right on his way home. He also said he slept with a basketball, as excelling on the court became his literal dream.
Monroe’s versatility extends beyond the basketball court as well. After all, you don’t earn a scholarship to a school like Penn if you’re not pulling your weight in the classroom. Grasty said that Monroe is so smart that he could be a Rhodes Scholar, and his thoughtfulness and eloquence in conversation backs that fact up. When asked about his motivation to ace his classes, Monroe cited the Aristotle quote “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” In other words, he’s not your average high school senior.
“I read that quote when I was 9 or 10 and I remember it to this day,” he said. “If you repeatedly put forth the effort to be a good person, to be good and kind to others, you’ll get success from that. I’ve always liked to read anything I could get my hands on to the point where there are pictures of me with a basketball in my hand and a book in my pocket. That embodies Lucas Monroe.”
Monroe said he has an interest in studying business at Penn, and expressed a desire to be an NBA general manager or owner after his basketball playing days are over. When asked why Penn won out over other schools on his tail, Monroe matter of factly said, “I can’t play basketball forever, so if I can go to school for free, why not go to one of the best ones in the world?”
But before that, Monroe, Dixon and company have a few more final feathers to place inside Abington’s dynastic hat: a district three-peat followed by a hopefully deep run in the PIAA state tournament.
Before each game, Monroe will go through his dozen or so pregame superstitions, the same ritual he repeats before every game. He’s got four more years of local basketball in his future with a chance to add even more to his basketball legacy, but until then, there’s business to take care of. And just like always, Monroe will be ready to play whatever part his team needs, as his multi-faceted attack will test the will and determination of a Coatesville team that will enter the district title contest as underdogs.
“My favorite aspect of this whole journey has been how the Abington community has embraced us,” Monroe said. “It’s fun, we’ll have little kids asking us for autographs after the game, or people I don’t even know will stop me in the school hallway or at Wawa to tell me great game and see how I’m doing. To me, it’s a good feeling to help bring people together through basketball.
“Abington is a small, tight-knit community, and they embrace and love all of the sports teams. People just appreciate each other and push you to do well. There’s no jealousy at all. We all want what’s best for each other and to see everybody succeed, which is what I love most about Abington.”
