City of Basketball Love

Matt Chandik (@MChandik26)
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READING — The game hadn’t been in question for the last 12 or so minutes of game time. Archbishop Carroll was putting the finishing touches on what ended as a 77-41 dismantling of District Three No. 6 seed Palmyra in the second round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament. Patriots coach Paul Romanczuk was starting to sub out his starters one at a time, but Jesse McPherson had plans for one final exclamation point.

Carroll freshman point guard A.J. Hoggard took the ball to the hoop, but his shot dangled off the rim and into the air. McPherson didn’t mind. The senior center skied through the air and rocked the rebound home, an emphatic finish that highlighted a monster game from McPherson.

He poured in 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting - making his last seven attempts - to go with 11 rebounds and three blocks.

All in a day’s work to send the Patriots to the quarterfinals, where they’ll face Northeastern (York) at a date, time and place to be determined.

“It’s just aggressiveness and confidence,” McPherson said. “This year, over the summer with my recruitment going, my confidence was going up and up. Me being aggressive just comes along with it. For four years, Coach Paul has talked about working on my motor and just keeping it moving. I’m not the type of player that needs the ball, though. If somebody else is scoring, good. If you’re going to dish it off, you got it. If you’re hot, I got you. I feel like we play well as a team when nobody is saying, ‘make sure he takes the shots.’ That’s when we’re best as a team when everyone is involved.”

“When he’s going, we’re all going,” Hoggard offered. “He’s our big man, so he’s the center of everything. When he’s playing well, I think we’re all playing well. It’s contagious and it makes everything much better.”

It worked out for everyone in the white jerseys. Carroll had 10 players score a basket, including late-game cameos from Shawn Johnson and Jimmy Lake. Patriot coaches lamented that Johnson didn’t dunk a layup, while Lake’s open 3-pointer got Carroll’s starters fired up on the bench. It’s a pretty good night when that happens.

Of course, it took some doing to get there. Hoggard was superb yet again, putting up a silly-good 17-point, six-steal, four-assist, three-rebound effort, and Colin Daly netted 13 points. The Patriots went into the half with a nine-point lead, whittled down by six straight points by Isaac Blatt to end the half.

They walked out with a 37-point blowout.

“They were attacking us and getting us in foul trouble so they could get to the foul line,” Hoggard said. “We kind of had to adapt to their style of play and continue to play hard defense and not foul as much as we were.”

Adversity in big games is something that Carroll (20-8) has frequently seen with its daunting Catholic League schedule, so when the pressure turns up, the Patriots don’t wilt.

“I don’t really feel pressure,” Hoggard said. “I am more comfortable now. When you’ve got McDonald’s All-Americans in your league, ‘Nova commits, it’s kind of easier to adapt when you’re playing teams outside of your league.”

Palmyra (22-6) struggled offensively from the onset, clanking its first nine shots and not scoring a bucket until the 1:35 mark of the first quarter. Blatt finished with a team-best 13 points, Bryant Willis tacked on nine more and Jake Wagner connected on a pair of 3-pointers to finish with six points. The Cougars couldn’t quite match the Patriots’ second-half defensive intensity, either.

For Carroll, it’s back to the state quarterfinals, which means a short turnaround for Romanczuk and company.

“Upper Merion, we know a little bit about because they’re in the Philadelphia area, but I don’t know much,” said the longtime Patriots coach. “I’ll get right to work and get film on whoever wins. I have someone there scouting the game, but this is definitely March Madness with the quick turnaround.”

If all goes well, there will be another quick turnaround, but the Patriots would be just fine with that.