Basketball
Favorite athlete: Tracy McGrady
Favorite team: Houston Rockets
Favorite memory competing in sports: Cutting down the net after winning the league my freshman year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Walking onto the court for a game with my warm-up still on
Music on playlist: Baby Keem´s new album “The Melodic Blue” as well as many songs by J. Cole and JID
Future plans: Study biology in college and ultimately become a chiropractor
Words to live by: “Live in the moment”
One goal before turning 30: Open my own chiropractic practice
One thing people don’t know about me: I was born in Houston, Texas
By Mary Jane Souder
Evan McNeely gave early indications that basketball would be his sport of choice. After all, how many toddlers are developing their shooting skills almost as soon as they can walk.
“When I was three or four, my grandparents would set up a trash can against the door, and that would be the basket, and I would be shooting around,” the Pennsbury senior said. “Literally, I was three or four, just standing up. Pretty much ever since I could walk it’s been basketball.”
McNeely grew up watching basketball, and NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady was his favorite player.
“I don’t know – it blew my mind – I was always so impressed how they could throw a ball from 20-30 feet away and put it in a two-foot wide hoop,” McNeely said. “That was just nuts to me. I would always impersonate my favorite players growing up, I guess just wanting to be like them.”
McNeely never lost his passion for basketball. These days, he is putting the ball through the “two-foot hoop” with regularity, and those early practices taking shots into a trash can – the senior captain is reaping the benefits. A 6-2 guard, McNeely is averaging over 19 points a game in the opening month of his final high school season for a Falcon team that is off to a strong start. A versatile offensive weapon, he can burn teams from just about anywhere on the court.
“In a world of instant gratification, Evan is the opposite of a lot of people and has put work in on a consistent basis over time,” Pennsbury coach Bill Coleman said. “It takes a while to become successful and see your skill work pay off.
“Last year, he had a good year, but I think he would say it was inconsistent. So far with the start we’ve had, you can see the work he’s put in over the years starting to pay off.”
If scoring were all McNeely could do, he would have tremendous value, but he’s far more than just a scorer. That fact was underscored when Coleman – unable to attend a game in late December due a family emergency – watched the livestream of that contest.
“He is definitely a coach on the floor,” the Falcons’ coach said. “I saw that especially when I was out the other day and I was watching.
“You could hear him telling kids where to go, what to do, what play should be called next. You could hear him talking to all the guys on the floor. It was good to see. It’s not unexpected because I know he loves the game and how hard he works at it.”
It also should not be a surprise to hear McNeely explain his priorities as a captain.
“The main thing is to communicate,” he said. “A lot of kids now are very quiet, and they’re kind of timid. Obviously, on the basketball court, it’s very important to communicate with your teammates.
“That’s the main thing – leading by example. Also, keeping a cool head is a big one. Even on our team there are a couple of kids who get a little worked up as I do myself sometimes. Especially the young kids – teaching them to keep their composure and just keep themselves under control. Once you get a hot head, it’s all downhill from there.”
Coleman described McNeely as a lead-by-example type of person.
“He isn’t too vocal, but he’s more of a – ‘I’ll put the hardhat on, do the work and lead that way’ type of kid,” the Falcons’ coach said.
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McNeely competed in his share of sports over the years. Basketball just happened to be the very first and also his favorite.
“My brother (Jordan) just loved basketball, and he passed it down to me,” McNeely said. “I played a little bit of everything. I played baseball up until sixth grade, football through eighth grade, soccer through eighth grade, but it was pretty much just recreational whereas basketball has been more serious with travel leagues, AAU leagues and all of that.”
McNeely moved to Pennsylvania from Texas when he was in kindergarten. He immediately started playing basketball in the local Pennsbury Regional Basketball League (PRBL).
“In third grade, the people who ran PRBL asked me to try out for the fourth grade travel team, and I actually said no because I was so scared of getting cut,” McNeely said. “The next year in fourth grade I tried out and that’s when I started playing competitively.”
In sixth grade, McNeely joined the AAU circuit and had stints with the now defunct Lower Bucks Lightning as well as another local team, the Bensalem Chargers. More recently, he played with East Coast Power and Jersey Shore Warriors. He did not play last season because of COVID.
As a freshman at Pennsbury, McNeely was a swing player but saw very limited varsity time. It’s been a different story the last three years, and the senior guard is a key piece of this year’s squad.
“For us this year, he’s doing a lot of everything,” Coleman said. “He’s run point sometimes, he’s played off the ball sometimes. He rebounds the ball very well for us.
“When we need a steady hand to get us in our stuff, he’s that. If we need a three, he’s going to be an option for us. In a world where everyone needs instant gratification, the work that he’s put in over the years is starting to show.
“He’s not going to be just dominant on the ball even though he can do that for us. We’re going to get him coming off screens on the wing and some other things. One of the things we do with kids is we try to make them as hard as possible to guard and locate on the floor.”
And McNeely has certainly been hard to guard.
After seeing his squad battle not only its opponents but COVID his junior year, he is hoping things go a lot more smoothly this time around. The Falcons are back in action after being shut down for COVID protocols over the holiday break.
“It was hard knowing that other teams were practicing, still playing and improving,” McNeely said of the shutdown. “As long as we don’t get shut down again and everything stays good, we should be okay.
“Everyone always wants to go out on a high note, and even last year for our seniors, we did end the season strong, so that was a plus for them. This year it’s all about winning the league – that’s our goal and what everyone’s working towards. That’s been our goal the last few years.”
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The pandemic has impacted the recruiting journey for all high school athletes, and McNeely is no exception.
“My freshman year there was no COVID, but after that, it’s been a constant,” he said. “You just have to be willing to go with the flow. You don’t have much control over it. It’s hard, but you have to try and stay positive and take what you get.
“It was really hard to get noticed (by recruiters) the last couple of years. At the beginning of this year, restrictions were let up a little bit, so I’ve talked to a couple of coaches. With the COVID year, (college) players get another year of eligibility. I was talking to a (college) coach, and he said it was going to take eight years before that works itself out and is no longer affecting incoming college players.”
McNeely – who hopes to continue his basketball career at the collegiate level - brings more to the table than just outstanding basketball talent, he is also an excellent student, and he is keeping his options open.
“I want to get a good education,” he said. “It would be really cool to go to a big basketball school on an academic scholarship and get to walk on their team, so there’s lots of opportunities that open up because of academics.”
The Pennsbury senior plans to major in biology with his sights set on becoming a chiropractor.
“I don’t want a job where I’m sitting in an office all day,” he said. “I want to do something where I’m more hands on, and I also want to do something where I’m helping others.
“I go to the chiropractor myself to help with aches and pains throughout the season, and it benefits me a lot, so I feel like kind of paying it forward and benefitting others in the same way.”
Off the hardwood, McNeely is active in student life. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society, and his schedule is filled with honors classes and – this semester – AP biology. Next semester he will be taking more AP classes. He is also involved in planning the school’s Mini-THON.
For now, McNeely’s focus is on his final high school basketball season.
“He’s a program guy, he grew up in our program and has contributed ever since his freshman year,” Coleman said. “He’s gotten better every year.
“He doesn’t question anything we’ve told him or suggested to him and what to work on and what to improve on year after year, and the results show. We have kids that will work hard, buy in, and if we have enough of them, we can do some damage, and Evan’s one of them. He’s definitely upped his game this year.”
