Miami signee SG Jalil Bethea aiming for state tournament berth

Miami signee Jalil Bethea is looking to lead Warminster (Pa.) Archbishop Wood to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association 6A state tournament for the fourth consecutive year.

WARMINSTER, Pa. — Miami signee Jalil Bethea is looking to lead Warminster (Pa.) Archbishop Wood to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association 6A state tournament for the fourth consecutive year.

Bethea, who is averaging 23 points per game and the school’s all-time leading scorer, and the Vikings are playing in a District XII play-in game on Tuesday (6:00 p.m.) against Philadelphia (Pa.) Northeast at La Salle College High School with the winner earning the third and final berth to represent the district at the PIAA tournament.

“If winning easy, everybody would do it,” Archbishop Wood head coach John Mosco told his team at practice last month. “You can have one bad quarter, a clunker, and lose. It’s hard for 32 minutes of being on the same page. … I can’t be the only one to believe we’re the best team in the state. You guys have got to believe it. There’s not three or four guards–they don’t have players that we have when we play together.”

Bethea is considered a five-star prospect and the No. 6 overall player in the 2024 class according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He became the sixth future Hurricane to be selected to the McDonald’s All-American game and the first since 2017. He was named co-MVP of the PCL along with Georgetown signee and former Miami target Thomas Sorber.

Archbishop Wood (15-8) finished the Philadelphia Catholic League in a three-way tie for first place with Roman Catholic and Neumann-Goretti, but fell to Father Judge in the PCL quarterfinals on Feb. 10, snapping a 10-game winning streak.

Archbishop Wood also features point guard Josh Reed (Drexel signee), small forward Tahir Howell, 2025 guard Deuce Maxey, 2025 guard Milan Dean, 2025 guard Michael Green and 2027 power forward Jaydn Jenkins.

Northeast (19-5), which is led by point guard Darrius Gaeta, also lost in the quarterfinals of their tournament, the Philadelphia Public League, to put them in the play-in game.

Last year, Archbishop Wood advanced to the 6A state semifinals in the 32-team tournament before falling 66-56 to Roman Catholic, who also ended the Vikings’ season the year before in the state title game.

Roman Catholic, which is led by 2025 power forward Shareef Jackson, beat Archbishop Wood 67-49 on Jan. 5 and has earned one of the three District XII berths along with Philadelphia (Pa.) Lincoln.