As a future Ivy League finance major, it’s safe to say Courtney Wallace Jr. is good with numbers.
That was true on the basketball court this winter, where the Neighborhood Academy senior is averaging a triple-double for a team headed Thursday to the state finals. A 6-foot-2½ point guard committed to Yale, Wallace averages 22.7 points, 13 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game.
It’s that last number that Wallace likes most.
“I pay attention to assists more than anything, especially this year,” Wallace said. “Points? I couldn’t tell you my game-high or my game-low. I know my assists high and my assists low. In the second game of the year, I had four assists. That was my lowest. My highest was 13.”
He knows his passion for passing can earn him playing time in college, but it’s also one reason why Neighborhood Academy won its first WPIAL title and is headed to the state finals. Teammates Kedron Gilmore (14 ppg), Syncere Nicholson (13.3) and Shamar Simpson (10.3) are also double-digit scorers.
“My ninth-grade year, scoring was what I was focused on,” Wallace said. “But I knew that we couldn’t win — that I couldn’t be as good as I could be — unless I could make people around me better. I started liking that more.”
Neighborhood Academy (28-1) faces Sankofa Freedom Academy (19-11) in the PIAA Class A boys final at 2 p.m. Thursday at Giant Center in Hershey. The Philadelphia school won a state title in 2019.
This is Neighborhood Academy’s first appearance.
Coach Jordan Marks calls Wallace the best-kept secret in WPIAL basketball despite his talents. In part, that’s probably because he plays in Class A for a school that’s largely unknown to most high school basketball fans.
“What this team has done and what this kid has done, you have to see him to truly appreciate it,” said Marks, a fourth-year coach. “It’s the best story nobody has talked much about. … I truly believe he’s one of the best guards coming out of this area in the last 10 years.
“He may be the best.”
Followers of college basketball will recognize the name Courtney Wallace. His father was a City League basketball standout who later starred at Duquesne in 1998-2001.
His father’s name still appears often in the Dukes’ record book where he ranks ninth in career assists (364), 17th in points (1,394) and 10th in 3-pointers made (140). He also grabbed 509 rebounds as a 6-4, 210-pound guard.
Comparisons are natural since they share a name.
“A lot of people say I’m a lot more athletic than my dad, and my dad was a lot tougher,” Wallace said. “He was a super tough player and bigger than me.”
Neighborhood Academy is a private school in Pittsburgh’s Stanton Heights neighborhood that joined WPIAL basketball only five seasons ago. Wallace, who lives in nearby Garfield, has attended the school since sixth grade.
He said people often have questions.
“They always ask, ‘Where’s it at?’” Wallace said with a laugh. “And then they ask, ‘Where all the kids from?’ They think we have kids from all over the state. They think we recruit. … I just let them know that a lot of us have been part of the basketball program for years.”
He said his drive to school takes “three minutes.”
Neighborhood Academy has a 79-22 record in Marks’ four seasons as coach, which coincides with Wallace’s four years as a starter.
Marks was hired when this year’s seniors were freshmen, following coaching stints at Sto-Rox and Winchester Thurston. It helped him that he’d already known Wallace’s father since before Courtney was born.
The coach points to a call from the Wallaces last winter as the moment he knew they’d be winning titles. It was when his phone rang after a section loss to Imani Christian.
“I heard basketballs bouncing in the background,” Marks said. “It was 10:30 or 11 o’clock at night. I said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m in the gym with my dad. We’re getting shots up.’”
Wallace had some ideas to share.
“I was sitting on my couch thinking, ‘We’re definitely going to win this thing,’” Marks said. “It’s only a matter of time with an attitude like that and a work ethic like that.”
In the WPIAL finals, Wallace posted a double-double in 69-46 victory over Serra Catholic on Feb. 27. He finished with 21 points on 9 of 16 shooting, 18 rebounds and five assists.
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His coach takes offense with anyone who tries to discredit Wallace’s season-long triple-double.
“I heard the grumblings that it’s because he’s in Single-A,” Marks said. “It’s a shame. He almost had a triple-double against Allderdice. I think he had one against McKeesport. He almost had one against Fox Chapel. He didn’t even play the fourth quarter six or seven times this year.”
As his coach, Marks said he hopes this postseason run to the state finals will bring Wallace the notoriety he deserves. But for Wallace’s part, he says he’s not too worried about whether he’ll garner more individual accolades.
“I definitely appreciate it and cherish it, but that was never really important to me,” Wallace said. “Working out as a kid, that’s never what I was hoping for – to get credit for anything
“And it still isn’t, as crazy as that is to say.”