Jan 7, 2026 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

JEFFERSON – The Jefferson-Morgan boys basketball team finds itself on a very short list.

The Rockets are one of only four unbeaten teams remaining across the entire WPIAL.

The others are perennial powers. New Castle, Sewickley Academy and Clairton, who has only played seven games after an extended playoff run for the football team.

Then there’s the Rockets, who haven’t won a playoff game since 2000 when they beat Serra Catholic in the WPIAL quarterfinals.

But the current group isn’t worried about the past.

They’d rather focus on making history.

They are 11-0 and believe the sky is the limit.

“Our entire starting lineup are seniors, and we’ve been waiting for this,” Rockets forward Dayten Marion said. “We knew that we could be the team to beat and we’re probably doing better than anyone expected at 11-0. It feels good and I take pride in it.”

That senior-laden starting lineup includes Brayden Ellsworth, Jaymison Robinson, Jeremiah Robertson, Marion and John Woodward, who’s currently injured.

Triton Farabee, a junior, took Woodward’s place in the starting five when Jefferson-Morgan kept its undefeated season going by beating Class 2A Section 3 rival Fort Cherry 42-37 on Tuesday.

The Rockets rallied from a six-point halftime deficit, which coach Brandon Lawless said was the latest example of his team smiling in the face of adversity.

Jefferson-Morgan has had a couple other close wins, 43-37 over Avella and 38-33 against Bentworth.

“When you get punched, you have to punch back and our guys have done a good job of getting through adversity and fighting back when they get punched,” Lawless said.

The Fort Cherry game also highlighted a couple of other traits that have made the Rockets successful.

They clamped down on defense and held the Rangers to one field goal and three points in the third quarter and 12 total points in the second half.

Jefferson-Morgan will deploy a pressure, trapping style of defense that thrives on turnovers and quick transition points most of the time. They also can switch into a zone defense to give opponents a different look, which is what they did in the second half against Fort Cherry.

Regardless of the style, the Rockets take pride in frustrating opponents. They’ve allowed only 32 points per game, which is the second fewest in Class 2A behind Sewickley Academy.

“We’ve been great defensively and been able to pressure teams to get them out of their rhythm,” Marion said. “Offensively we’ve been doing what we needed to do, but defense has been our killer.”

Another area of improvement has come at the free-throw line. The Rockets were 8-for-12 from the foul line in their win over Fort Cherry.

Lawless said foul shooting was a weak point last year and something they knew needed to be an emphasis.

“That’s one thing we’ve really been mindful of in practice is as a team letting them know how important free throws are in the game of basketball,” Lawless said. “We have been really practicing them, especially after how we were last year. As a team I think we shot around 50 percent. We’ve really checked the box on improving that this year.”

Jefferson-Morgan qualified for the playoffs last year and lost a first-round game at home to Springdale.

They’ll have another big test when they host defending section champion Chartiers-Houston next Tuesday. Both teams are 4-0 in section play.

It remains to be seen how long the Rockets can stay unbeaten, but they believe they have the ingredients to break their now 26-year drought without a playoff win.

“A lot of it has been our seniors with their leadership and chemistry with each other,” Lawless said. “They’ve been playing for each other rather than individually. When you play the game as a team sport you can have a lot of success.”