Several Parkland High School boys basketball coaches and former players were eating dinner together in August when Davidson men’s basketball coach Matt McKillop texted Nick Coval.
Davidson, an NCAA Division I program where Coval is a redshirt freshman, was struggling to find an opponent for its 2025-26 home opener. McKillop had an idea but wanted to check with Coval before pursuing it.
When Coval read McKillop’s proposal — Davidson wanted to open the season by playing against Nick’s dad, Scott Coval, and Division III DeSales University — Nick fired back a response.
“I said, ‘Of course!’” Nick Coval recalled during a recent phone interview. “I was really excited.”
The DeSales-Davidson matchup came to fruition after a few days of discussions between the schools. It will arrive Monday and serve as the season opener for Davidson’s 2025-26 campaign.
The game will be an exhibition for DeSales and not count toward its season record.
It will also serve as the college debut for Nick Coval, Parkland’s all-time leading scorer and a two-time Morning Call boys basketball player of the year. It will not only give him the chance to compete against his dad — Scott is in his 33rd season coaching at DeSales — but also several former Parkland teammates, including close friend Jayden Thomas.
Thomas, a DeSales sophomore, was eating dinner with Nick Coval, Parkland boys basketball coach Eddie Ohlson Jr., Parkland assistant coach Austin Beidelman and former Parkland star Sam Iorio when that first text from McKillop arrived on Nick’s phone in August.
“I was in shock,” Thomas said. “I had no words. I was thinking, ‘This would be so cool if it gets confirmed.’ It did, so now I’m super excited.”
Thomas and Nick Coval participate in a large group chat with former and current Parkland players and coaches. The chat has featured friendly trash talk since the Davidson-DeSales game was confirmed.
Thomas and Coval hope to spend some time matched up against one another Monday. Thomas already has ample college experience. He started 24 of 25 games as a freshman last season and finished second on the Bulldogs in scoring at 14.4 points per game. He also averaged 4.9 rebounds while playing 29.7 minutes per game.
Coval spent last season taking a planned redshirt year with Davidson. He has added about 10 pounds of muscle since joining the Wildcats. That has allowed him to improve his paint finishing, a must for a 6-2 guard who has to challenge taller plays at the D-I level.
Coval isn’t sure what role he will have with the Wildcats yet. McKillop said Coval will be part of the rotation.
“He’s the lone backcourt player on our roster who has experience at Davidson for a year or more,” McKillop said. “We have other guards who are new, and Nick knows our offense cold. He didn’t obviously get in-game reps [last year], but he is smart. He really understands what our coaches value. I’m sure that has a lot to do with growing up in a gym and having a father as a coach.
“But there are things that just come so natural and so easy to him because he really tries to do everything we ask. He tries to be disciplined and detailed with everything he does. His role can be whatever he can make of it. There’s going to be nights, and maybe even that first night against DeSales, where we put the ball in his hands and we rely on him to be the one who carries us to where we want to go.”
Jane Therese/Special to The Morning Call
Parkland’s Nick Coval, center, stands with parents Kaye Coval and Scott Coval after Nick scored his 2,000th career point on Feb. 28, 2024. (Jane Therese/Special to The Morning Call)
Nick and Scott Coval haven’t talked much with one another about the Davidson-DeSales meeting. Nick said basketball consumes so much of their lives that they tend to talk about anything but the sport when they chat.
That hasn’t stopped the rest of the Coval clan from chiming in. Nick’s two sisters, Keeley and Mia, have told him repeatedly “the Bulldogs are going to go down and start the season 1-0.” Keeley, Mia, and Kaye Coval, Scott’s wife and Nick’s mom, are all flying to North Carolina to attend Monday’s game.
Despite what his daughters have said to Nick, Scott doesn’t expect anyone from hisfamily to be rooting for him and DeSales come tipoff. He’s OK with that.
His primary concern is the logistics of the trip. DeSales will drive the 8 or so hours to Davidson on Sunday, with a stop halfway for lunch. They should arrive at Davidson around 5 p.m. and practice at 7 p.m.
Monday will include a morning walkthrough before the game tips off at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs will then spend the night in North Carolina before returning to the Lehigh Valley by Tuesday evening.
It’s a long and challenging trip for DeSales. But it’s one that should be memorable for allinvolved.
“I really think it’s going to be good for our team, just to be in the hotel together, eat meals together,” Scott Coval said. “That time together is invaluable. So that I think is really going to help our team.”
Season openers
DeSales — (Nov. 3 at Davidson – exhibition) Nov. 7 vs. Neumann
East Stroudsburg University — Nov. 14 vs. Winston-Salem State
Kutztown — Nov. 19 vs. PSU-Schuylkill
Lafayette — Nov. 3 at Saint Joseph’s University
Lehigh — Nov. 3 at Houston
Moravian — Nov. 8 at Muhlenberg
Muhlenberg — Nov. 8 vs. Moravian
Where are they now?
(Please send additions to this list to samiller57@gmail.com)
Division I
Colorado State
Jevin Muniz, senior, Executive Education
AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz
Colorado State’s Jevin Muniz, 55, a former Executive Education star, controls the ball against Creighton’s Nik Graves during an exhibition game Saturday, Oct. 25, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)
Davidson
Nick Coval, redshirt freshman, Parkland
VCU
Christian Fermin, senior, Pocono Mountain West
Former Pocono Mountain West star Christian Fermin, right, of Virginia Commonwealth, defends Brigham Young’s Fousseyni Traore during an NCAA Tournament game on March 20, 2025 at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo. (Photo by Aaron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Division II
Clarion
Zaire Smaltz, freshman, Parkland
East Stroudsburg
Adrian Brito, freshman, Pocono Mountain West
Kutztown
Andrew Hoadley, sophomore, Easton
Mansfield
Juju Pagan, junior, Pocono Mountain West
Millersville
Keith Jackson, freshman, Allen
Division III
DeSales
Dom Bojko, sophomore, Notre Dame-ES
Brendan Boyle, senior, Notre Dame-Green Pond
Stephanie Graffin/DeSales Athletics
Notre Dame-Green Pond graduate Brendan Boyle is one of DeSales’ top 3-point shooters. (Stephanie Graffin/DeSales Athletics)
Ryan Glassmacher, senior, Bethlehem Catholic
Luke Keppel, sophomore, Whitehall
Will Meeker, senior, Parkland
Zach Rodgers, junior, Notre Dame-Green Pond
Robbie Ruisch, sophomore, Parkland
Jayden Thomas, sophomore, Parkland
Emory
Tyson Thomas, senior, Allentown Central Catholic
Moravian
Chad Kratzer, senior, Allentown Central Catholic
JJ Kolumber, sophomore, Northampton
Nico Pulari, freshman, Allentown Central Catholic
Marc Jacket, freshman, Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg
Marquis Ratcliff, senior, Nativity BVM
Muhlenberg
Colin Boyle, sophomore, Notre Dame-Green Pond
Randolph-Macon
Liam Joyce, senior, Allentown Central Catholic
Ursinus
Lucas Mushrush, freshman, Allentown Central Catholic
Wilkes
Lucas Lesko, senior, Northampton
Stephen Miller is a freelance writer.