City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Coming into the last two games of the regular season, Bonner-Prendergast’s road was clear.

Two games back of 10th-place West Catholic, holders of the final Catholic League playoff spot, the Friars had to win win both games--and get some help--or their season would be over.

Bonner got the help needed earlier in the weekend, beating winless Bishop McDevitt as West was downed by La Salle on Friday to move within a game of the Burrs. That set up a Sunday showdown with West Catholic, to keep the season going for one more game.

Buoyed by the energy of senior day, the four Friars whose high school careers are winding down didn’t want to say goodbye just yet, leading the way in a 75-60 win over the Burrs.

Keith Washington led the way with 18 points, while forward John Hargraves (11), wing Mike Mercanti (7) and point guard Ryan Germany (4) all chipped in for Bonner in their final home game.

“We really just wanted to get the win one game at a time,” said Washington, a 6-1 shooting guard. “If we’d lost this game, our season would have been over. Senior night, all the seniors had to step up today.”

For their effort, Bonner gets another date with West in two days’ time.

Per Catholic League regulations, the final spot in the league playoffs can’t be decided by tiebreaker, only a play-in game. So West Catholic (4-16, 4-9) and Bonner-Prendie (11-11, 4-9) will face off again at 5 PM on Tuesday at La Salle College HS for the final spot in Wednesday’s opening round, with Conwell-Egan awaiting the winner.

That’s sure to be an intense affair after the two teams played a back-and-forth, whistle-heavy game that saw four technical fouls called on West Catholic including a double-tech on freshman guard Imere Harris with 6:03 left in the third quarter.

The four foul shots by Christian Lane after that put Bonner up 19 points, and the Friars led by as many as 21 early in the fourth.

West Catholic didn't roll over and wait for Tuesday, fighting back to close the gap to as few as 12 with four minutes left thanks to the attacking play of senior guard John Herndon, who had 10 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter.

But Burrs head coach Jasmine "Jazz" Williams is well past the point of moral victories, especially given his team had a chance to earn its first postseason bid in two years.

“We need to bring that energy and intensity from the start of the game,” Williams said. “We talk about it all the time, and it just needs to happen right from the beginning. Because it just shows that we’re capable when we start that early in the game and not have to wait until we’re down 15 or 20.”

Early on it was Lane, the only non-senior in the starting lineup, who had things clicking for the Friars. The 5-9 guard’s eight first-quarter points helped Bonner out to a 21-8 lead late in the first quarter, and it was a 36-24 halftime advantage.

Everybody was hitting shots for the Friars; Washington had three tough pull-up jumpers in the first half, Lane was getting into the lane almost at will and junior wing Dylan Higgins came off the bench to score seven of his 11 points before halftime.

“I was proud of the kids they way they came out, we had a good start," Concannon said. "That’s been our problem, the first three-four minutes of games have been real bad. We had a good first quarter, makes the game a little bit easier.”

Though the margin was safely in the Friar's favor, they know that it's far from assured to be the same way again on Tuesday. Aside from the opening seven minutes, West Catholic played Bonner within two points the rest of the way, and there won't be the emotions of senior day or a home crowd to back Bonner next time.

"They’re going to come back stronger, try to get the win," Washington said. "We’re going to have to work hard at practice tomorrow, play more physical than today’s game was.”