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Carroll downs Croswell-less Prep for fifth straight PCL win

01/22/2018, 10:45pm EST
By Graham Foley

A.J. Hoggard (above) and Archbishop Carroll won their fifth straight PCL game on Monday afternoon. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Graham Foley (@graham_foley3)
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Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk believes his team has turned a corner.

The Patriots suffered early season losses to Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Constitution and Our Savior Lutheran (N.Y.) in non-league matchups.

They then started Philadelphia Catholic League play with a crushing, 17-point defeat at home to Neumann-Goretti on Jan. 2. For a team that has 12 upperclassmen on its 15-man roster and starts three seniors, it was a disappointing start.

Since then, Carroll has won five straight PCL games, including a 70-59 victory at St. Joseph’s Prep on Monday afternoon. It was a tough road victory that can help give momentum to a team vying for the top spot in the Catholic League.

“To be able to come down here and get a win on their court is something really special and something you need to cherish,” Romanczuk said. “We took advantage of a good opportunity today and got a really big win.”

The opportunity was a short-handed St. Joe’s Prep (13-3, 5-2) team playing without 6-7 senior forward and La Salle commit Ed Croswell, who missed his second-straight game with a concussion.

Prep coach Speedy Morris said Croswell’s injury occurred against Father Judge on Jan. 16, and based on his comments and it seems likely Croswell will miss another game or two before he returns.

Romanczuk said he knew Croswell had missed his previous game but prepared his guys to play against him just in case.

“He means a lot to them both in the offensive end of the court and the defensive end of the court with just his presence in there,” Romanczuk said. “I’m sure he was definitely missed by them today and we were able to come away with a really big win.”

Carroll’s leaders seized the opportunity.

Senior forward Keyon Butler led the way against Prep with 24 points, seven rebounds and a block. He played physically all day, driving to the hoop and drawing fouls on five occasions, two of which came with a made basket.

“Coach just wanted us to keep pounding the inside because it was working,” Butler said. “We got their big into foul trouble early so that helped us too. And we just kept pounding.”

Butler took over the game in the second quarter. He scored 10 points in a furious spree that ended with a two-handed dunk and a monster block on the following defensive possession.

“After I saw my first basket go in, I saw that they were undersized so my teammates and my coach did a great job getting me the ball inside so I could make some baskets,” Butler said.

Senior Justin Anderson finished with 17 points and four rebounds. The 6-2 guard’s seven points in the fourth quarter were crucial in holding Carroll’s lead. Sophomore A.J. Hoggard, another 6-2 guard, added 16 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Butler said as a senior and leader on the team, he likes to take control of games. But it’s nice to have teammates to that can lessen the load.

“It’s big, actually, because it’s just knowing that they have my back and having these teammates to rely on so that’s a good thing,” Butler said. “Everyone, starters and our bench players, everyone is ready.”

Senior Devon Ferrero, another starting forward at 6-5, certainly made an impact on the offensive end despite taking just three shots.

When St. Joe’s Prep cut Carroll’s lead to three early in the third quarter, Ferrero nailed a 3-point shot out of the timeout that sparked a 7-0 run and turned the tide of the game. He added another 3-pointer later in the quarter, and also made his other shot, a two-point bucket in the second quarter.

“Devon is someone that doesn’t always get a ton of shots, and sometimes those shots don’t fall, but he still battles, he still plays hard defensively and gets rebounds,” Romanczuk said. “He’s your prototypical senior leader and he went and got that opportunity so that was great to see and I was really happy for him.”

Romanczuk credited the balance of his team for tough, road victories like this one and he believes it will help them down the stretch.  

“We have five guys that can easily score in double figures, and we have four that are averaging in double figures,” Romanczuk said. “That’s a lot for a high school basketball team to have four, five great options so defenses can’t go and key on one specific guy, two specific guys. We’re harder to guard when we have that balanced scoring.”

Without Croswell, 6-foot senior guard Darius Kinnel, who scored his 1000th point for Prep on Jan. 12, led the Hawks with 15 points. He added four offensive boards and two assists.

Two sophomores stood out for Prep as well. Trevor Wall, a 6-2 guard, had 12 points, four assists and shot 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Chris Arizin, a 6-2 sophomore guard who's been seeing an increased role this season, scored eight points -- all in the second quarter -- and added a steal.

But Croswell’s absence was noticeable in a tough Catholic League game.

Kyle Thompson, a 6-foot senior guard who finished with nine points, five rebound and five assists for Prep on Monday, said their adjustments were not enough.

“We definitely lose some presence in the post and their post game was what really drove them today,” Thompson said. “Our guards and our wings, we gotta step up and get more rebounds. That was a big part of our game plan today. But Ed is a big part of our offense and defense so missing him right now hurts.”

The Hawks will face Cardinal O’Hara (8-6, 2-4) on the road on Jan. 24 without Croswell before possibly having him back for a road game at Bishop McDevitt on Jan. 28.

Meanwhile, the Patriots (11-4, 5-1) will try to continue the recent winning streak into a difficult pair of games against Roman Catholic on Jan. 26 and Archbishop Ryan on Jan. 28.

After a shaky start, they are looking to ride the momentum of this victory.

“We were pretty down after our first league loss to Neumann-Goretti, we thought we could’ve played better,” Romanczuk said. “But now we’ve gone and won five straight. We still need to be humble, obviously nothing is easy in this league, but I feel really good going into a really tough stretch of the season.”


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