City of Basketball Love

Dan Wilson (@dan_wilson4)
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Roman Catholic came into the PIAA 6A District 12 championship with the goal of winning its fifth district championship in a row.

Two hours, 127 total points and 49 combined fouls later, they accomplished that goal, defeating Abraham Lincoln High School 68-59, in a game that aged everyone in South Philadelphia High School’s gym ten years on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played in a game that sloppy and long,” senior Chris Kuhar said. “It was definitely different.”

In fact, the last time Roman Catholic didn’t win its respective class District 12 championship, in 2012, it was won by St. Joe's Prep -- the same school that rookie head coach Matt Griffin spent his high school years, plus the previous two seasons as an assistant.

“I’ve never been a part of a team to win District 12,” Griffin said. “I’m just happy that we were able to keep the streak this program has going alive.”

Both Roman Catholic and Lincoln will return to the court next Saturday in the opening round of the PIAA state playoffs.

Lincoln will take on Conestoga, who qualified as the sixth seed coming out of District 1.

As for Roman, the quest to win their third consecutive state title will begin with a matchup against Perkiomen Valley, who entered the District 1 6A tournament as its top seed but finished as the eighth out of 10 qualifiers heading into states.

“We’re going to take this one game at a time,” Griffin said. “I’m very proud of this team and everything they’ve accomplished this year and we’re all excited for the opportunity to compete for another state championship.”

“A lot of people don’t think we can make it back to the championship,” said senior guard Dak’Quan Davis, who led his team with 19 points. “We work so hard in practice with the goal of making it there, so if we don’t win the state title then that’s a disappointment.”

Sophomore wing Seth Lundy added 16 for the Cahillites, while senior J.P. Sanders and junior Allen Betrand added a dozen apiece.

Notably missing from Roman’s lineup on Saturday was freshman standout Lynn Greer III, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after injuring his right knee in the Cahillites Catholic League semifinal game against Neumann Goretti.

In a game that was expected by many to be an easy win for the Cahillites, the first-year coach found his team in a game tied at 31 at halftime.

Following a first half full of turnovers and lead changes, the halftime message Griffin had for his team was simple.

“I told my team as bad as it was, its only tied,” Griffin said. “Lincoln is a 23-4 team for a reason; they’re athletic, the play hard and they’re well coached. I thought we could’ve played a lot better in the first half, and the entire game, but ultimately I knew they were a good team.”

Whatever motivation the Cahillites needed, they got it in the talk at halftime.

Roman come out running in the second half, controlling the game at a much faster pace than Lincoln had seen in the first 16 minutes. Leading the way was Davis, who had all 11 points of an 11-0 run to begin the 3rd quarter.

Davis left no one questioning his ability to attack and finish at the rim, completing two different and-1 plays in the opening minutes of the second half.

With just 1:34 coming off the second half clock, Roman Catholic led Lincoln 42-31, and would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the game.

“We’re a team that can play all guards on the court at one time,” Davis said. “We’re a fast-paced team that likes to get out and run in the open floor and our team and myself personally were able to have success once we were able to do that.”

However, the fast pace that Roman came out with to begin the half was short-lived. Both teams found themselves in the double bonus before the conclusion of a third quarter that nearly took 30 minutes.

At the end of the day, Lincoln’s 9-for-22 free throw performance compared to Roman’s 23-of-34 from the line was the difference in a game ultimately decided by nine points.

Two players entered doubles figures for Lincoln; junior Khalif Mears and senior Shikeir Morrison both finished the game with 17 points.

With Greer III out of the lineup for the state playoffs, Roman will look to guys like Kuhar, who contributed eight points on 8-of-9 foul shooting, in addition to a handful of assists.

“Everyone has to step up a little bit more now with Lynn out,” Kuhar said. “For me, I just like to set other people up for scoring opportunities as much as possible.”

“Chris is a floor general and mentally he’s a tough kid,” Griffin said. “He always finds the right guys and he always knows where he’s supposed to be.”