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Neumann-Goretti closes strong at La Salle to stay unbeaten in PCL

01/23/2018, 1:00am EST
By Josh Verlin

Christian Ings (above) and Neumann-Goretti stayed unbeaten in PCL play after beating La Salle on the road. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Neumann-Goretti has had to learn how to win a new way this season.

Last year, the Saints’ talented cast of juniors and sophomores could just give the ball over to senior guard Quade Green, and let the current Kentucky guard work his magic. On the defensive end, they could rely on current Villanova freshman Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree to protect the rim and erase any defensive mistakes up front.

In any close game, Neumann-Goretti could turn to those two to get it done.

This year, a group of seniors and juniors are figuring out how to do it themselves.

Led by seniors Noah Warren and Dymir Montague plus junior Chris Ings, the Saints showed they’ve learned well from their predecessors, fighting off a scrappy effort from La Salle and closing hard for a 55-47 win.

Win the win, Neumann-Goretti (11-3, 6-0) maintains its positioning as one of two unbeatens left in the Catholic League, along with Bonner-Prendergast (13-2, 6-0).

The Saints and Friars will meet this Sunday at Bonner, two days after Neumann-Goretti hosts defending champion Archbishop Wood at home in South Philly.

“We’ve got a tough weekend, so we’ll see where we are at the end of the weekend, hopefully we can handle it,” Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale said. “We’re building up to some things.”

Though the Saints never once trailed the host Explorers (10-5, 3-3) thanks in large part to an 11-0 opening four minutes, it was far from an easy victory.

La Salle put up a fight, clawing back to tie the game at 19 late in the first half before Neumann-Goretti re-established a four-point advantage at the break. The Saints grew the lead back up to as many as eight late in the third quarter, but again the Explorers responded, getting to within 37-35 with five minutes left in regulation.

That’s when Neumann-Goretti put its foot down, going on an 8-0 run to re-establish a 10-point advantage that was too much for La Salle to overcome.

“When they came back and had it to a two-point game, we never got rattled,” Ings said. “We came together and told ourselves that we’re going to start this on defense, that’s how we start our breaks and start our offense.”

Nobody on this current Neumann squad can score it quite at the consistent level as Green, who averaged an easy 20.6 ppg during his senior campaign, going for 30-plus points four times in PCL play and once again in the state playoffs. This year, it’s been the three guards plus senior forward Marcus Littles who have spread the scoring around; other than a 22-point game from Ings against Roman and 20-point game from Montague in the win over Carroll, nobody else on the team has gone for that number or more.

Warren, a 6-1 guard normally known for his 3-point shooting abilities -- he knocked down three from distance in the win -- led the way offensively with 17 points against La Salle, including nine in the final frame. Ings had 10 points, five assists and three rebounds, going 5-of-6 from the line in the game’s final three minutes. Montague added 10, including a steal-and-layup to push the advantage to 11, its largest, with 2:20 to play.

Sophomore point guard Hakim Byrd played his part in the late run, hitting two foul shots and dishing an assist to Warren to help kick-start the push.


Carl Arrigale (above) and Neumann-Goretti are looking for their first PCL title in four years. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“Dymir and Noah and Chris have been really solid, and Byrd really gave us some good minutes late,” Arrigale said. “Can’t say we’re young because Noah and (Dymir) and those guys are seniors, but this is the first time they’re closing games out without having Quade or [Towson sophomore] Zane [Martin] or someone like that out on the floor with them. So it’s good to see when something like that happens and they can work their way through it.”

Without the shot-blocking presence of Cosby-Roundtree patrolling the paint, Neumann-Goretti’s defensive focus has shifted out to the perimeter. Ings, an athletic 6-1 guard, serves as the point man for a Saints defense that forced 18 La Salle turnovers on Monday night.

“he’s been the best on-ball defender in the league from day one,” Arrigale said. “We don’t have Dhamir blocking shots anymore, we’ve got to be good at the top of our defense, and Chris has really made a conscious effort to be that guy.”

Neumann-Goretti had its own turnover issues, giving it up 14 times. But Arrigale has plenty of bad memories at La Salle -- the Explorers spoiled the Saints’ 73-game PCL win streak in that gym in 2013 -- and so he was happy to get out with a win.

“We had too many unforced turnovers tonight -- in a game like this where they want to play a game that’s not a high-possessions game, we can’t waste possessions,” he said. “But this is always a tough one, to come here on a Monday night; it’s a long ride for us, tripleheader...I never look forward to this one.”

La Salle was led by 11 points off the bench from junior guard Titus Beard, who had two separate 3-point plays. Starting point guard Allen Powell, another junior, also had 10 points to go along with five rebounds.

The Explorers were without the services of junior wing Konrad Kiszka, a usual starter, to an undisclosed injury; Neumann-Goretti was without freshman Ta’Quan Woodley, a valuable reserve, due to illness.

As good as the first half of league play has been for Neumann-Goretti, the Saints know there’s still a ways to go to do something no Saints team has done in four years -- win a Catholic League championship. Roman Catholic took the 2015 and 2016 titles and Wood won it all last year, each time against Neumann-Goretti in the championship game.

For the first time in a long time, Arrigale doesn’t have a player on the roster who was part of a PCl championship team.

“[The start] means a lot but at the same time, it’s not enough,” Ings said. “We’re trying to prove that we didn’t fall off just because Quade and (Dhamir) aren’t here anymore. But at the same time, we’ve got bigger goals than being 6-0, we want to get to the Palestra and win this year.”


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