Shawnee basketball star Pat Kernan to miss another season with knee injury

On March 12, 2017, Pat Kernan stood outside the locker room at the Rutgers Athletic Center and gazed into the future.

He saw nothing but blue skies.

He was right.

He also was wrong.

He was so right: What Kernan imagined for the Shawnee basketball team became reality over the next year, as the Renegades rekindled memories of the program’s glory years with a triumphant return to Rutgers in March 2018 and capture of the Group 4 state crown.

He was so wrong: What Kernan, then a sophomore brimming with promise, imagined for himself never came close to fruition.

In fact, that day marked the end of his high school career, although he had no notion of that at the time.

“I’ve never heard of a high school kid missing two full years with the same injury," Shawnee coach Joe Kessler said. "It’s such a shame.”

Kernan missed his junior season with a nagging ailment of his left knee, seeing multiple doctors and trying multiple rehabilitation methods in an effort to resolve the chronic soreness that kept him off the court.

Things didn’t improve after Kernan spent the 2017-18 season sitting on the Shawnee bench, cheering for his teammates during a remarkable run to the Group 4 state crown.

“Last year was tough,” Kernan said. “But I always knew I had this year.”

For Kernan, this season is gone as well. He underwent surgery on his left knee Dec. 20, with a projected six months of recovery time, so he won’t take the court for the Renegades again.

“It’s hard because it’s my last year,” Kernan said. “I never thought I would miss two years in a row.”

Kernan was one of South Jersey’s most promising young players when he enrolled at Shawnee.

A rangy guard with a strong handle and superb court vision, Kernan started as a freshman along with four sophomores for a Shawnee team that won 16 games.

Kernan started as a sophomore with four juniors for a team that won 29 games, captured the South Jersey Group 4 title, and pushed North Jersey power Linden to the limit in the state final.

“We learned we can play with anybody,” Kernan said that afternoon, after scoring seven points.

Kernan put together a strong summer and probably was Shawnee’s top player in fall-league action in 2017. His game was ideal for the Renegades’ spread-the-floor, share-the-ball system.

“He was going to be right up there with all the great players we’ve had here," Kessler said. “He was like the perfect Shawnee player. He always seemed to make the right play at the right time.”

Kessler said that if Kernan were healthy this season, “he would be one of the top two-three players in South Jersey.”

Kernan went through a frustrating process in which the cause of his ailment remained a mystery.

“First they thought it was tendinitis,” Kernan said. “Then they said stress fracture. Then they said cartilage damage.

“This was with like five different doctors in all different states.”

Three times after last season, Kernan thought he was healthy enough to take the court again. He began workouts, believing he was well along the road to recovery, only to be forced to the sidelines again with soreness.

“That was the worst,” Kernan said.

Finally , a slight misalignment of his leg bones as related to his knees was diagnosed, a condition that created stress with strenuous exercise.

“It was just body mechanics and rigorous overwork from playing all the time,” Kernan said.

On Dec. 20 Kernan underwent a tibia tubercle osteotomy, a surgical procedure to improve alignment of the patella. He said that his prognosis is good and that he should be able to play again in around six months.

Kernan isn’t sure of his basketball future. Two years ago, he was confident he would be a college player, probably as a scholarship athlete.

Now, he’s not sure if he should enroll in a college and try to walk on to a team, or perhaps attend a prep school to show college coaches that he is healthy.

One thing is clear: That afternoon in Piscataway, when he was a sophomore with his best days seemingly ahead of him, marked the last game of his high school career.

“It’s changed me a lot,” Kernan said. “I’ve realized there’s more to life than basketball. I’ve tried to find joy in other things, cheering for my teammates, spending time with my friends.

“But I miss basketball so much.”