City of Basketball Love

Ari Glazier (@AriGlazier)
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Archbishop Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk had a clear strategy going into Sunday’s matchup against Archbishop Ryan.

Get the ball to Keyon Butler.

“We already knew coming into the game that we had a size advantage,” Butler said, “so coach made it an option to get it into me early, and my teammates helped him on that.”

Butler made his presence felt early, scoring 12 points in the first quarter, using his size and power to bully his way to baskets in traffic, and his speed and athleticism to get out in transition.

The senior forward didn’t take his foot off the gas pedal, finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two assists in Carroll’s 68-55 win.

“We’re a team that shoots the ball pretty well from the perimeter, but Keyon gives us that inside presence of someone that you need to respect inside,” said Romanczuk.  “He’s got a lot of quickness and energy, and a lot of it’s just a relentlessness about himself that he possesses. He plays with limitless energy and that’s what makes him such a good basketball player.

Butler was far from the only contributor. Sophomore guard A.J. Hoggard put up 13 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. Senior guard Justin Anderson had points to go along with five boards, and junior wing Luke House notched 10 points.

We all can step up on any given night,” Hoggard said. “it’s not just one person that we’re relying on. We’re not a one horse team, so everybody can go off on any given night.

“It’s great when you have a team that has 5 starters that can all put the ball in the basket,” Romanczuk said. “We have four of them averaging double figures, so when coaches have to game plan for our team it’s not like they say ‘we’re just gonna take this guy out’ we’ve got multiple weapons and that makes it easier for me.

Despite Butler’s early scoring, Ryan didn’t allow Carroll to put the game away. Carroll came into the second quarter leading 27-21, and immediately went on an 18-4 run. From there it was smooth sailing for the Patriots.

“I just said to keep getting the ball to Keyon,” Romanczuk said. “So we came out in the second half and ran something for him, got the ball to him and got a bucket. That’s really important when you can go out of halftime and get a bucket. We didn’t do that in the Roman game and then they went on a run. So it was nice that very first possession to put two points up on the board.”

Taleeq Robbins lead the Raiders with 20 points, as well as four rebounds and four assists. Amin Bryant went just 1-5 from the field, but grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists. Colin Reed and Kevin Lezin scored 12 and eight, respectively.

Shutting down Reed, a sharpshooting 6-4 junior, was a point of emphasis defensively for Carroll.

“I think we did a good job of limiting Colin Reed’s opportunities from three,” Romanczuk said. “We know that he’s a very very good shooter. I thought we could have contained the ball a little bit better, but I think for the most part we did a decent job of guarding the three point line against a pretty good shooting team.”

Carroll effectively got into transition after steals and rebounds, and made the correct passes that allowed for Butler, Hoggard and Anderson to get easy looks around the rim.

Last year’s loss to Archbishop Ryan came in the middle of a four game losing streak. They ended up finishing seventh in the Catholic League and getting bounced in the first round of the PCL playoffs by Neumann Goretti. The win Sunday puts them at 6-2 in Catholic League play, and the Patriots have their eyes firmly set on a top-four finish.

“You want to try to get one of those top-four spots in order to get a home quarter final game if you can,” Romanczuk said. “It was nice after a tough loss against a good Roman team on friday, to bounce back and get a win against a good Ryan team. We’ve been more resilient this year, so when things don’t go well we don’t let it snowball as much.

Carroll's next game comes at Father Judge on Friday. Archbishop Ryan (now 5-4 in the league) matches up at second-place Neumann Goretti on Friday.