City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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RADNOR — In nearly 20 years of coaching, Francis Bowe has never had a team quite like this one.

His Archbishop Carroll team is not short on talent, the Patriots laden with some of the area’s top underclassmen. However, the Patriots are short on experience, Carroll laden only with some of the area’s top underclassmen on a roster made entirely of freshmen and sophomores.

That experience might be catching up, Carroll downing West Catholic 57-45 on Wednesday for its fourth win in the last five games.

“They really are playing for each other, and they’re still learning,” Bowe said. “The one thing we had to say early in the year was ‘play for each other, have each other’s backs,’ and that takes time, especially with youth.

“Right now, we’re still like a half-step away, I’m not fully satisfied but what I am seeing tells me we’re almost there.”

Wednesday’s win improved Carroll to 7-5 in the PCL ahead of Friday’s regular season finale against Father Judge. The Patriots are currently sitting seventh in the league table, so at worst they’ll be hosting a first round play-in game next week but there is still an opportunity for them to get up to the sixth seed.

Considering that Carroll’s PCL campaign started, the group’s ability to recover and secure a better than .500 league record is a sign of their growth. Still, it wasn’t a guarantee it was all going to come together.

“We took a nice little whooping toward the end of December and it didn’t help that it led into three early, really tough games in the Catholic League,” Bowe said. “We’re on a five game losing streak and you want to talk about the hardest thing to do with young talent, it’s convincing them that it’s going to be OK.”

While Bowe doesn’t have the luxury of a veteran player or senior leaders to fall back on, his locker room found those voices on its own. The Patriots coach cited a pair of sophomore guards in Ian Williams and Nate Rusike as the players who took that leading role.

Williams, a starter, had a terrific all-around game on Wednesday with a team-high 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. The sophomore is a chatterbox on the court, he’ll talk to teammates, he’ll talk to opponents, he’ll talk to the officials and he’ll even talk to people in the seats so it’s not surprising he was willing to speak up behind closed doors.

Rusike, who came off the bench Wednesday in spot minutes, may not have as pronounced a role as some of his teammates but what he says carries weight. 

“What’s made me comfortable is my teammates,” Rusike said. “They’re cool, they made me feel like we’re a family, so I could speak out and say anything I needed to say.”

The coaches could harp on their mantras as much as they want, but if it wasn’t being echoed by the team leaders, it may not have led anywhere. With Rusike and Williams taking that responsibility and keeping it heard when the coaches weren’t around, it opened a lane for the team to come together.

“They’re constantly in this locker room when we’re not,” Bowe said of Williams and Rusike. “They’re talking about playing for each other and having each other’s back. Whether or not our guys are sick and tired of hearing it from our coaching staff, it’s really nice that our guys are being accountable to each other and that’s what’s helped with this process.”

West Catholic desperately needed the win Wednesday, the Burrs entering in a cluster of three teams battling for the 10th and final playoff spot. The Burrs, led by 15 from Kingston Wheatley, rallied from a slow start in the first quarter and again after halftime, coming back to tie the game 29-29 in the third.

Williams took over from there, finding Drew Corrao for a corner three, scoring on an outlet from Darrell Davis and finishing a 7-0 run with a layup. West Catholic got a three to snap the run, but the Patriots ran a patient final set, keeping calm when the Burrs came out to pressure the ball, ending with Williams finding Nasir Ralls for a corner three ahead of the horn.

Rusike said the sequence is something he expects from his classmate and why the Patriots follow his lead.

“Ian’s a good leader and the whole team looks up to him,” Rusike said. “Skill-wise, we all look up to him. He’s taught me how to make the team want to do the same thing, so I think we bring good energy, we bring good confidence to our teammates, all we want is for them to try their best and do their best.”

Carroll’s two freshmen starters in Davis and Munir Greg are electric individual talents. Neither had a huge game Wednesday, each scoring six, and the Patriots still won by 12 because they don’t have to do it all by themselves.

Ralls came off the bench to score 12, the sophomore having filled in as a starter when Greg was out injured early last month. Sophomore Luca Foster scored 11 points with seven rebounds and Corrao netted eight points while also factoring on defense with a couple steals and several powerful blocks.

“We knew we were going to be like this, we’re dogs,” Rusike said. “We just play hard. We’re young, but to us, we don’t seem young. We’re just dogs compared to every other team.”

Rusike said he’s seen the team grow most in a collective sense. At the beginning of the season, the players on the team all knew they were individually talented and at times, it led to selfish basketball.

The more they’ve played together, the more they’ve come together. 

“I don’t think anyone on this team has ever been scared to play anybody,” Rusike said. “We play kids who are older or bigger, but we’re just as intense with it

“It came naturally, but it also came from playing with each other and learning our teammates aren’t afraid to go out and do anything, it started to build confidence.”

The Patriots feel like they’re playing their best basketball of the season at the moment. They’ll be in the PCL playoffs and could have a chance to show someone in the league just how much they’ve grown together.

“We’re just looking to win and get better as a team,” Rusike said.

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By Quarter
AC: 13 | 12 | 15 | 17 || 57
WC: 12 | 7 | 13 | 13 || 45

Scoring
AC: Ian Williams 14, Nasir Ralls 12, Luca Foster 11, Drew Corrao 8, Darrell Davis 6, Munir Greg 6

WC: Kingston Wheatley 15, Ja Sabb 8, Micah Waters 7,  Saaid Lee 4, Tariq Jennings 3, Jayvon Byrd 3, Xavier Fauntro 3, Nyerere Farlow 2