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Carroll survives Penn Wood in overtime battle of Patriots

12/18/2016, 12:15am EST
By Josh Verlin

Devin Ferrero (above, left) came up with a crucial block to help Carroll survive Penn Wood in OT. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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As Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk tried to protect a one-point lead with only seconds left in overtime, he had one reminder for his team: nothing easy inside.

For a split-second, it looked like Romanczuk’s words fell on deaf ears, as Penn Wood’s Pernell Ghee got free on an inbounds pass and looked headed for a wide-open layup.

Until Devon Ferrero, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, came over from the weak side, sending the ball flying out of bounds with a definitive swat.

“I just saw he had a wide-open layup, and we’re on our home court, we can not lose on this court,” he did. “So I went up to try to block it, and I did.”

“I would love to say that I was prescient and saw that he was going to go and save the day for us and have a great block,” Romanczuk said. “But we wanted his size and defensive ability down there, so that’s why we put him in and he went and made a great play for us.”

Ferrero’s block, part of a staunch defensive stand by Carroll, helped the Patriots escape with a 67-65 win in overtime.

Down a point with 17.5 seconds left in the extra session, Penn Wood had multiple opportunities on the Carroll half of the court. Vincent Smalls’ jumper was no good, but went out-of-bounds off a Carroll player with 8.8 seconds left. Another inbounds attempt from under the bucket hit off a Carroll player and went out, taking less than a second off the clock. And another, leaving 6.5 ticks to play.

That was when Ferrero came up with his rejection, a play that caught just about everybody in the gym off-guard from a forward who usually makes his mark not in highlight plays but by doing the little things for the Patriots.

“I was really surprised,” junior guard Justin Anderson said. “Devon’s never done that before.”

Penn Wood still got one more opportunity, but the Carroll defense was too fired up, forcing a five-second call and a turnover. Anderson hit one foul shot on the other end, and a desperation heave at the buzzer was off.

Close games are becoming routine for Carroll (4-1), which has played four games within five points; only in a 76-37 blowout win over Pittsburgh Central Catholic could Romanczuk breathe easily before it was over.

“This team is not making it easy,” he said. “But I half-expected it, with as many new faces as we’re dealing with, as many inexperienced guys, got some mental mistakes at times, some carelessness at times. I’ve got to live with it -- I’m going to learn more, this year, than I have in my 13 years before that.

“But I’m really proud of how our guys played in the second half, I thought they showed some toughness and resiliency,” he added. “That’s what a non-league should be about, us finding ways to win games where we maybe don’t have our best stuff.”


Justin Anderson (above) scored 20 of his game-high 28 points in the second half and overtime. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Anderson, a 6-3 shooting guard with several Division I offers from the likes of St. Joe’s and La Salle, led all scorers with 28 points, scoring 20 of those after halftime.

He scored the game-winning bucket, scooping up his own miss and knocking down a mid-range jumper with 45 seconds left to put Carroll up on top by a point and set up the final stand. But he was also instrumental in helping Carroll come from down nine points at halftime to first tie things up with three minutes to go in the third, and again with a minute to go in regulation on a terrific cutting layup after Penn Wood had built its lead back up to five with 2:27 to play.

“Ideally, four or five guys are balanced scorers, and that’s how it’s been, but Justin really stepped up and I’d like to say that’s the start of something for us, I really hope so,” Romanczuk said. “He played really, really well down the stretch for us, he’s starting to embrace the defensive end just a little bit more.”

Six other Carroll players added five or more: seniors Khari Williams and Jesse McPhearson (8 boards, 4 blocks) had seven apiece, senior Colin Daly and freshman A.J. Hoggard had six and Ferrero and sophomore Mark Bradshaw had five.

Penn Wood (2-2) was led by senior guard Kairi Jones’ 19 points. The 5-9 senior guard had it going early with three first-quarter 3-pointers, including one from the right corner as he was fouled for a four-point play.

A switch at halftime put Carroll junior guard Jahmir Williams on Jones defensively, which seemed to work as Jones was held to five points in the second half and not a single 3-point attempt.

Williams, along with Hoggard, Ferrero, Bradshaw and several others, are new varsity contributors this season, and the learning curve is still very much on for the whole program.

“I thought Jamier did a good job, I think we’ve got some guys on that bench there that can defend and embrace that aspect, it’d be nice to mix the both,” Romanczuk said. “I feel like I’ve got a good offensive lineup and a good defensive lineup, so there’s a lot of mixing and matching right now.

“I feel like I’m learning with them as to how to coach this team.”


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