A packed gym. Short time on the clock. Kabrien Goss hits a buzzer-beater, and the fans go wild. It may sound like something you would see at Montclair State University’s Panzer Athletic Center, but it’s exactly what happened in the 2024 Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) title game at the historic Palestra arena. Goss hit the game-winner for Roman Catholic High School.
When it comes to high school basketball, the Philadelphia Catholic League is about as good as it gets. The players are no strangers to high-intensity basketball with plenty on the line. For Goss, the experience he gained in the PCL prepared him well for collegiate basketball.
Kabrien Goss hit the game-winning jumpshot in the 2024 PCL Championship in his senior season at Roman Catholic. In 2026, he is slated to be the lead returning scorer for Montclair State. Elian Saldivar | The Montclarion
“Playing in front of 10,000 people is pretty crazy,” Goss said. “Looking up and not being able to hear your coach, not being able to hear your teammates when they’re right next to you, is kind of wild. Those moments just prepared me for this moment here at D-3 in Montclair.”
Goss isn’t the only Red Hawk who is a PCL alumnus. Kevin Beck and Mason Thear competed for Father Judge and Devon Prep, respectively. Beck won the tournament in 2025, en route to a state championship as well. Both title-clinching victories came over Goss’s former school.
At Father Judge, a connection to the Montclair State coaching staff helped lead Beck to become a Red Hawk.
“One of my assistants over at Father Judge played for Coach Potts and Coach Rossi at Moravian [University],” Beck said. “My assistant at Judge was always telling me this was the place to be. I would have fun up here, I would love my coaches. Once I heard him saying that, I felt like it kind of made sense for me to come here too.”
Judge was always telling me [Montclair State] was the place to be," said Red Hawk forward Kevin Beck. "Once I heard him saying that, I felt like it kind of made sense for me to come here too.” Photo courtesy of Montclair State Athletics” align=”aligncenter” id=”attachment_89516″ width=”1707″]![“My assistant at [Father] Judge was always telling me [Montclair State] was the place to be," said Red Hawk forward Kevin Beck. "Once I heard him saying that, I felt like it kind of made sense for me to come here too.” Photo courtesy of Montclair State Athletics](https://themontclarion.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/3T8A4847-scaled.jpg)
In Thear’s case, the PCL experience came late in his high school career. He transferred to Devon Prep in his junior year, coming from Perkiomen Valley High School, a public school in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.
“Playing in the Palestra really prepared not just me but all three of us. It’s a whole other environment,” Thear said. “Just coming from a public school, even, it’s not the same.”
Despite coming from three different schools and taking different paths to Montclair State, the experiences Goss, Beck and Thear gained in the PCL helped shape them into the players they are today.
In fact, Beck and Thear even faced off against each other during a regular-season matchup in the 2024-25 season.
Mason Thear, who played for Devon Prep last winter, took home the Week One NJAC Rookie of the Week in the 2025-26 season. Owen Klasey | The Montclarion
“We beat Kev Beck, Father Judge, we took it to them,” Thear said. “Actually, our student section rushed the court, which was something unexpected. I don’t know why we did that. But you know, that’s something you live for.”
Now teammates at Montclair State, the PCL crew has carried the same competitive edge they gained in high school. Goss was second on the team in points for Montclair State in the 2025-26 season and led the team in assists. As freshmen, Thear and Beck combined for 546 minutes this season and look to be a big part of the team’s future coming off a historic season.
