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St. Joe's Prep keeps season alive with win against Bishop McDevitt

02/14/2018, 10:30pm EST
By Owen McCue

Ed Croswell (above) had a double-double as St. Joe's Prep beat Bishop McDevitt. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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During his two seasons at St. Joe’s Prep, senior forward Ed Croswell said he’s gained two brothers.

Since Croswell transferred from Math, Civics & Sciences last season, he and fellow seniors Kyle Thompson and Darius Kinnel have been pretty much inseparable, constantly spending time together even when they are away from the court.

The bond the three share has Croswell hoping this season won’t end anytime soon.

“Other teams they might not have the same things as us,” Croswell said. “We’ve got a bond going on me, Kyle and Darius. It’s something special, and I want to keep playing with these guys as long as possible.”

After losing its last three regular season games to Archbishop Wood, Roman Catholic and Neumann-Goretti, St. Joe’s Prep fell to the No. 7 seed in the Philadelphia Catholic League standings and also lost some ground to La Salle in the race for the PCL’s second state Class 6A spot.

That meant the Hawks’ matchup with No. 10 Bishop McDevitt on Wednesday night in a play-in game was a must win, not only to advance to the next round of the PCL playoffs, but also to keep their season alive.

In a game with little aesthetic value, a truly grind-it-out affair—the Hawks shot 44 free throws--St. Joe’s Prep held off a last-minute McDevitt comeback effort and pulled out a 57-51 victory to advance to the PCL quarterfinals, where it will play Neumann-Goretti on Friday night. Kinnel led the way with 18 points and four assists. Croswell had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Thompson added 10 points of his own.

“Knowing that it’s a playoff atmosphere and being through it the past three years, you know you gotta come out and play and hard and tough,” said Croswell, who played in the Public League and state playoffs at MCS before coming to Prep last year. “You might not get some calls that you get during the regular season, and you just gotta play really hard.”

Prep led by 28-23 at the end of the first half and continued to keep McDevitt at bay through three quarters, leading 37-28 entering the fourth. With 1:21 left in the game, Thompson knocked down two free throws to put Prep back up by nine. The Hawks looked in control, ready to seal the game as long as they continued to hit their foul shots down the stretch.

McDevitt, making its first PCL playoff appearance since current West Chester star Tyrell Long led the team to the quarterfinals in 2014, had other ideas though. The Lancers won just one PCL game in 2016-17 and after winning their last two games of the regular season, weren’t ready to lay down just yet. That’s not their style.

They won their last two games of the regular season just to sneak in as the last team in the playoffs.

“This is a testament to all the kids we have,” Bishop McDevitt coach Will Chavis said. “They bought in to what we’re trying to do here as a coaching staff and they’ve just been working hard, fighting until the end. You saw that today also. We fought until the end. We came up short, but we fight. That’s what we do.”

Junior guard Seneca Willoughby led the charge. He knocked down a three, and then took the ball to the hoop for two free throws to bring the Lancers within four.

Willoughby later stole the ball and dribbled it up court where he found McDevitt sophomore guard Robert Smith, who led McDevitt with 16 points, for a three to make it 52-51 with 40.6 seconds left. The Lancers forced a turnover with a five-second count, but missed out on their opportunity to tie or take the lead.

After a foul and free throw, McDevitt had the ball once again. This time down 53-51 with 15 seconds left. The Lancers never got another shot to win the game as Prep locked down defensively and forced a five-second count. Kinnel sealed the game with four free throws in the final seconds.

“A little bit of luck,” Thompson said of the five-second count. “We just went into our man defense and denied the ball from everybody. Kudos to my teammates for denying them from getting the ball in, but that’s pretty much what we did.”

Chavis said McDevitt will continue its season in the Class 3A state tournament . Prep will be playing to keep its season alive once again when it matches up with Neumann-Goretti on Friday night. The Saints won the previous matchup 71-67 last Friday.

The Hawks can set themselves up for a state playoff berth with a win against Neumann-Goretti and a La Salle loss to Roman.

”It’s crazy to see how fast the season goes,” Croswell said. “You gotta play hard so it doesn’t end.”


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