skip navigation

Byrd fills in as Neumann-Goretti tops St. Joe's Prep

02/09/2018, 11:30pm EST
By Owen McCue

Sophomore guard Hakim Byrd got his first career start on Friday against St. Joe's Prep. (Photo: Tommy Smith/CoBL)

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
--
Hakim Byrd
has played some critical minutes for Neumann-Goretti this season, but Friday's game at St. Joe's Prep the sophomore guard did something he had yet to do early in his varsity career.

With junior guard Chris Ings out until the playoffs as he deals with a toothache,  Byrd got his first varsity start for the Saints.

Neumann-Goretti head coach Carl Arrigale didn’t think the moment would get to Byrd. Arrigale’s advice to his young guard was to relax and have fun.

Byrd finished with eight points, three steals and three assists, making several key plays down the stretch on both sides of the ball to help Neumann-Goretti (16-5, 10-1 Philadelphia Catholic League) seal a 71-67 win at St Joe’s Prep (15-6, 7-5 PCL) on Friday.

“I feel like this is my opportunity to prove to the coaches, prove to everybody else that I can play in this league,” Byrd said.

With Ings out, it was the Noah Warren show early. The senior guard scored Neumann’s first eight points, finished with 14 in the first half and led the Saints with 19 in the game.

Warren’s hot start helped Neumann-Goretti get up by nine early in the first quarter, but Prep rallied back to tie the game at the end of the first and take a 30-29 lead into halftime.

On Senior Day, Prep’s trio of seniors Darius Kinnel, Kyle Thompson and Ed Croswell scored all but two of the Hawks’ points in the first half.

“In the first half, we were a little passive,” said Neumann-Goretti senior guard Dymir Montague, who finished with 14 points and nine assists. “They sat us down in the locker room and let us know that we had to be more aggressive and share the ball…That’s what we came out and did in the third quarter.”

The two teams exchanged baskets early in the third, but a 25-5 run by the Saints, which included a personal 9-0 run by junior forward Ja’Cor Smith, gave Neumann-Goretti a 55-40 lead heading into the fourth. Smith finished behind Warren with 18 points, 11 of which came in the third quarter.

“We struggled heading into halftime, so getting that push helped the team out a lot,” Smith said.

Fuled by Kinnel, who scored 13 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter, St. Joe’s Prep made a run to get back into the game. The Hawks held Neumann-Goretti to just one basket through the first four and a half minutes of the fourth to get back within four.

Croswell, who added 17 points and 14 rebounds, made it a one possession with 1:52 left. After two free throws by Saints’ freshman Chris Evans, Kinnel cut the lead back to three, 63-60, with about a minute and a half remaining.

That was as close as Prep would get. Byrd made a tough drive on Neumann-Goretti’s next possession to put the Saints up by five and got a steal to help put make it a seven-point game with less than a minute left.

Byrd and Evans each knocked down a pair of free throws in the game’s final minute to help make sure Prep didn’t have another chance to tie the game.

“Maybe we got a little bit deeper today,”Arrigale said. “I don’t know we’ll see.”

Both teams have one Philadelphia Catholic League game left on their schedules. St. Joe’s Prep sits tied for sixth place with La Salle who it beat earlier this year.

Neumann-Goretti is tied with Bonner-Prendergast for first place, but the Saints will need a Friars loss to win the regular season title after losing to the Friars two weeks ago.

“We’re kind of in a good spot,” Arrigale said. “I don’t know how good we are, but we control our own destiny. The worst we can finish is one or two now…Hopefully we get a little help and maybe we can steal first place.”


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Owen McCue  Catholic League (B)  Neumann-Goretti  St. Joe's Prep