City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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There is one specific day that sticks in the mind of member of the Archbishop Wood basketball program: January 5.

That was the day a portion of the wall in the southeast corner of the Vikings' gymnasium came tumbling down, rendering it unusable for the remainder of the year. Head coach John Mosco posted a picture of the damage on social media and was informed the team would not have anymore home games this season.

At that point, Wood knew it would be playing on the road for all of their remaining games but instead of faltering under the unfortunate circumstances, they rallied together and Mosco said it became the defining moment of his team’s season.

“When the wall went down, we settled in and stayed together. We lost to [Father] Judge then had to play [Archbishop] Ryan, which was 10-0. We didn’t even practice and had our best game,” Mosco said after his team’s 65-58 victory over Neumann-Goretti in the Philadelphia Catholic League title game,” “We just took off from there. The whole year has been up-and-down stuff and craziness.”

Mosco and Archbishop Wood’s journey to cutting down the nets in the Palestra for the program’s first PCL crown began against Ryan. Following a 68-60 loss to Judge in what would be their final home game on Jan. 3, the Vikings took down the Raiders on their home floor in commanding fashion in a 29-point win three days later.

Archbishop Wood went on to win their final 12 regular season games and clinched the top seed in the PCL playoffs.

One of those wins was an 82-73 statement against Neumann-Goretti at the same court where their run had started against the Raiders. Senior point guard and Villanova commit Collin Gillespie scored 42 points, most in a single in Wood history, against the Saints. He saw the wall coming down as an opportunity to rise up and still work on the team’s goal of claiming a PCL title.

“It made us come closer together. Our guys stuck together the entire season. I’m just so proud of them,” said Gillespie, who surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in the title game win.

From there, it was two dominant victories over Bonner-Prendergast and Ryan in the PCL playoffs before Neumann-Goretti, a team which had played in the last nine title games, came calling again in the biggest game of the year.

The Saints showed their veteran prowess, leading for the entire first half as senior Quade Green (Kentucky) scored 11 of his 16 points in the first two quarters. Wood came out a little hesitant and passive, which led to a 31-18 halftime deficit. As was a theme all year, the Vikings relished the chance of playing at a neutral site in a big game and using it to their advantage, particularly after intermission.

“We’re not going anywhere and this is our game to win. We just settled in and made shots,” Mosco said.

Wood came out with an edge hitting three three-pointers, one by senior Matt Cerruti (15 points) and two by junior Tyree Pickron (13) to begin the third quarter. Cerruti, who scored six straight points for the Vikings which helped cut the lead to 37-35 midway through the third, felt his teammates and coaches used the wall collapse as a rallying cry for what the team would accomplish later on down the road.

“I think when our gym wall fell down, we kind of came together as a team, and realized it’s either make or break at this point,” Cerruti said. “We decided to come together, due to our coaching, too. They pushed us together, we decided to play as a team, and look where we are now.”

After Gillespie and Pickron hit a combined nine free throws in the final two minutes to ice the game, the entire Archbishop Wood team, and its fans, could breathe easy as playing in all of those neutral sites had finally paid off. Gillespie exited the game with just under thirty seconds to play and the look in he and Mosco’s eyes was one of exhaustion and satisfaction. Playing the final 12 games of a league slate on the road coupled with postseason games, where the court location sometimes appeared to favor the opposition, is no easy task but the way Wood won its first-ever PCL title meant so much more because of the how they accomplished it.

Their fans turned out in masses at every road game. They felt playing in road games would better prepare them for games on bigger stages down the road such as the Palestra. Road games helped build the team’s character and winning motto. It also allowed them to not let the moment become too big, which Cerruti feels was invaluable.

“It’s just another game, whether the big stage or not, just got to play like another game, and that’s what we did, and it worked out that way,” Cerruti said. “Our coach’s biggest motto of the year was never too high, never too low. We always stayed even-keel.”