City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Archbishop Wood trailed for the first 31 and a half minutes of Monday’s game at St. Joseph’s Prep.

Then senior guard Tyree Pickron got a pass from freshman Daeshon Shepherd and found himself open behind the 3-point arc.

“I caught it, and I saw no one was in front of me,” Pickron said. “I kind of took a second, took a deep breath, and let it fly.”

Pickron’s shot found nothing but net with about 25 seconds left on the clock, and after Prep’s final two looks missed, the Vikings pulled off a 51-49 comeback win.

After starting its season 4-6, Archbishop Wood has now won nine of its past 10 contests, including eight of its past nine Philadelphia Catholic League games. The Vikings are 13-7 overall and 7-3 in the PCL.

The Vikings tested themselves early against national powers Dematha (Md.) and Montverde (Fl.) and other tough teams. It seems to have proved effective in preparing Wood for a late season run.

“I just gave us a hard schedule and there were no easy games...I think that paid dividends,” Wood coach John Mosco said. “Guys are playing the way they should be playing, we’re starting to get on a roll. “

Archbishop Wood found itself in a big hole early. St. Joe’s Prep scored the game’s first 13 points and got up by as many as 16 points before ending the first quarter up 22-17. The Hawks had a 31-13 lead in the second quarter, but a 7-3 run by Wood before the end of the half made sure things didn’t get too out of hand.

Prep went into halftime up 34-30. Hawks’ junior Gabe Arizin had all of his 16 points in the first half, including 11 in the first quarter.

“Arizin got really hot in the first half, and a couple times you gotta tip your cap, but we weren’t playing hard enough defensively and I think that was the biggest thing,” said Wood guard Andrew Funk, who led all scorers with 20 points. “We ramped it up in the second half, which kind of propelled us.”

Prep built an 18-point lead at the beginning of the third quarter, but Wood locked down defensively, going on a 14-4 run to end the period trailing by just eight.

Funk scored an and-one midway through the fourth to bring Wood within three midway through the first. Shepherd hit two free throws with 1:11 left to pull the Vikings within one, and finally, Pickron, who finished with 15 points after scoring just five in the first half, finished off the comeback with his late three.

“You just gotta keep at it,” Funk said. “I think one stop at a time was our mindset at that point. Stop, score, stop, score.”

Archbishop Wood sits in fifth place of the PCL, a game behind Archbishop Carroll. St. Joe’s Prep (16-5, 7-4 PCL) is in sixth place, a game and a half behind Carroll.

Wood finishes out its Catholic League slate with games against Carroll on Wednesday, Roman Catholic on Friday and Lansdale Catholic on Sunday. St. Joe’s Prep plays Neumann-Goretti on Friday and then finishes its league schedule against Roman on Sunday.

Both have their eyes on a top four spot in the Catholic League, which would guarantee a home game for the PCL quarterfinals.

“It’s huge,” Funk said of home court advantage. “Once you get to the Palestra it’s anybody’s game, so getting there is the biggest thing. Home playoff games are definitely huge, and we learned that last year and we’ve learned that being here for four years. That’s definitely big for us. That’s what we’re playing for.”