City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Rich Flanagan (@RichFlanagan33)
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The Catholic League playoffs return to the Cathedral of College Basketball, as the four remaining teams in the PCL face off in the league semifinals on Wednesday night at the Palestra.

Three of the teams are returning from last year, joined by an Archbishop Wood squad that, while regular-season champions, is in very much unexplored territory for the entire roster. Expect a pair of firework-filled games as four of the best teams in the region go head-to-head over the course of about four hours.

Here’s a look at the semifinal matchups:

2) Neumann-Goretti vs. 3) Roman Catholic (6:30 PM)
Though he spent his four years of high school and two years as an assistant coach at St. Joe’s Prep, there’s something Roman Catholic coach Matt Griffin has yet to do: play or coach a game in the Palestra.

On Wednesday night, he’ll finally get that opportunity, leading the Cahillites against the Saints in the Catholic League playoffs. It’s the fourth straight year that Roman and Neumann-Goretti meet in a PCL final or semifinal.

Like any coach, Griffin took the diplomatic stance about the his first Palestra appearance, focusing on his first group as a head coach.

“I’m really looking forward to it for the kids, it’s the experience you always try to have as a player, to play in the playoffs at the Palestra,” he said. “That’s what really is a fun thing for me, is for them to experience it.”

But…

“To actually be a participant in a game at the Palestra is pretty cool,” he admitted.

Though the majority of the Roman rotation that won the last two Catholic League championships is in college or a different high school, there are a few players remaining on the roster that know what it’s going to be like on Wednesday night, with nearly 9,000 fans making one of the most legendary venues in basketball come to life.

Seniors Dak’Quan Davis and J.P Sanders were both reserves a year ago, watching mostly from the bench as Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens, Nazeer Bostick & Co. took down first Archbishop Carroll and then Neumann-Goretti to win it all. But that’s all the experience this team has: sophomore Seth Lundy didn't play in that game; senior Chris Kuhar, junior Allen Betrand and freshman Lynn Greer III weren't at the school.

“I am relying on our seniors who have been there before to kind of keep us composed, keep us poised,” Griffin said, “Whether we’re doing well or we’re doing poorly, it’s going to be very impactful, how our seniors handle that leadership responsibility, and they’ve done a great job all year long, so I’m confident that they’ll keep our guys locked in.”

The Cahillites will be taking on a Neumann-Goretti program making its ninth straight Palestra appearance under head coach Carl Arrigale, who’s looking for his first Catholic League title since 2014, the last of six in a row.

Arrigale has a high-major bound pair of seniors to rely on in Quade Green (Kentucky) and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree (Villanova) to shoulder the load -- Green, a 6-0 guard, is averaging 19.1 ppg; Cosby-Roundtree, a 6-8 forward, put up a 20-20 game in the quarterfinals against Archbishop Carroll.

Throw in a supporting cast that includes 6-4 senior wing Mike Milsip, 6-3 junior shooting guard Noah Warren, 6-9 junior Marcus Littles, 6-3 junior wing Dymir Montague, 6-2 sophomore guard Christian Ings and more, and it’s yet again Saints squad that’ll be the favorite to take home the PIAA Class 3A title.

“They will capitalize on all of your mistakes, that they play together, and they’re extremely disciplined and Quade Green and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, they’re just phenomenal players,” Griffin said. “I also learned that their role players are huge parts of their games.

“We can’t make turnovers or take bad shots if we want to take this game, and that’s what it’s going to come down to,” he added. “Taking good shots and taking care of the basketball.” -- Josh Verlin

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1) Archbishop Wood vs. 4) Archbishop Ryan (8:00 PM)
Izaiah Brockington remembers it all too well.

Playing in the Palestra for the first time in his career against the defending PIAA Class AAA champion in Neumann-Goretti was both exciting and daunting at the same time. For Brockington and the Archbishop Ryan Raiders, under first-year head coach Joe Zeglinski, just getting the opportunity to play in the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals was a major accomplishment. It was a goal the team had set at the beginning of the season but the emotional high was short-lived as the Saints rolled to an 89-55 victory last February.

The mix of emotions is something the 6-foot-4, 170-pound combo guard bound for NJIT does not want to have to deal with; he wants one emotion to encompass the entire game.

“Last year when we made it, that was the end goal. When Coach [Zeglinski] came in, he said on his first day, ‘I think we can make it to the Palestra,’” Brockington said. “We got a little too complacent and content with where we were.

“There is no complacency with us. We’re not satisfied with just getting here.”

Joining Brockington (16.8 ppg) from last season’s semifinal team are 6-7 senior forward Matiss Kulackovskis, 6-8 senior forward Fred Taylor and senior guard Chris Palantino. Even after losing veterans in Austin Slawter, Austin Chabot and Freddie Killian, this is still a senior-laden team under Zeglinski, a member of the Raiders’ 2006 PCL semifinal team.

Kulackovskis, who was recently offered by Bowling Green, is coming off a 25-point outing against Father Judge in the quarterfinals and has scored 20 or more points in three of the last four games. Taylor was a force at both ends vs the Crusaders (11 points, seven rebounds, five blocks).

These two big men had their hands against Dhamir Cosby Roundtree a year ago and feel ready for the challenge Archbishop Wood’s Seth Pinkney, all 6-11 on him, presents. Zeglinski feels these seniors having learned from last year’s disappointing end gives them added motivation.

“There’s more confidence going in this year by knowing we were there last year. Last year, you could tell there was a different feel,” Zeglinski said. “This week just has the feel of another week [this time around] and we’re ready for it.”

Perhaps the best aspect of 2017 PCL MVP Collin Gillespie’s (Villanova) game is his ability to wear down teams in the second half. He puts guards Tyree Pickron (12.7 ppg) and Matt Cerutti (11.7) in position to find a rhythm early the game then finds his way into the paint time and time again to help his team pull away.

In their 63-34 regular-season win over Ryan, the Vikings’ trio of guards combined for 44 (Gillespie 18, Cerutti 17, Pickron 9) and will look to duplicate those results in helping the team reach its first PCL title game in program history. Gillespie (22.1 ppg) will have the ball in his hands with the game on the line but if Ryan can limit the other guards’ scoring output, the PCL’s leading scorer may not be able to wear down a defense like he has continually done over the course of the year.

Brockington, who was held to a season-low nine points in that first matchup with Wood, said after watching the film from that game his team “knew that wasn’t us.”

“I think we have to stay within ourselves and do everything we’ve been taught to do. Everything starts on defense and when we looked at the film on Wood that’s where we fell short,” Brockington said.

For Zeglinski, who has helped orchestrate back-to-back semifinal appearances for the Raiders for the first time since 2001 and 2002, has instilled a sense of calm in his player’s this time around and said they’re not putting added pressure on themselves.

“[Last year,] we were coming in maybe too high and we weren’t really in the moment,” Zeglinski said. “We’re trying not to build it up too much and our guys have a lot of confidence. We’re looking at it as just another game.” -- Rich Flanagan