skip navigation

Bonner headed to PCL title game after win against Carroll

02/21/2018, 11:45pm EST
By Owen McCue

Bonner junior guard Isaiah Wong (above) made a key basket late to help the Friars advance to the PCL title game. (Photo: Mark Jordan/ CoBL)

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
--

It had been more than three decades since the last time Jack Concannon was on the sidelines at the Palestra.

The Bonner Prendergast head coach was then a senior at St. Joe’s playing against Villanova in 1987. His tap-in at the buzzer went around and around the rim before falling out as the Hawks lost in double overtime.

“The last time I was here, I left here with tears,” he said after Wednesday night’s Philadelphia Catholic League semifinal against Archbishop Carroll.

Like its head coach, Bonner returned to the Palestra after a lengthy absence on Wednesday night. The Friars' last trip came back in 2008 when they lost to Archbishop Ryan by two in the PCL semis. Their last title game appearance came when they won the PCL in 1988, just one year after Concannon’s senior year.

Three decades later, there were no tears for Concannon as he walked off the court this time. A well-rounded effort by the Friars led to a 48-45 win against Archbishop Carroll, sealing a trip to the PCL championship game.

“It’s been 10 years since we were last at the Palestra and 30 years since we last won it in ‘88, so it means a lot to us as a team like I said, and it means a lot to the Bonner community,” Concannon said. “I tell these guys all the time, there are a lot of people who care about Bonner basketball.

“People who played back in the early ‘60s and ‘70s and some guys that never got a chance to play in this game. So I told them, ‘We’re not just playing for ourselves, we’re playing for the entire Bonner community.’”

After a tie game at halftime and taking a three-point lead into the fourth quarter, Bonner built its advantage to 42-32 with 5:31 left in the game. An 11-2 run by Carroll, finished off by seven straight points by senior forward Keyon Butler cut the deficit to one with about a minute and a half to play. Butler led Carroll with 15 points and nine rebounds on Wednesday night.

Needing an answer, the Friars looked to the Philadelphia Catholic League MVP, junior guard Isaiah Wong. Wong scored eight points in the first half, but the Carroll defense kept him quiet through the first 15 minutes of the second half.

Wong called out a play then dribbled the ball at the top of the key. He crossed over left, spun right, hopped through two defenders and as he was falling to the ground, somehow laid the ball up with his right hand high off the backboard and through the hoop.

He sat on the ground underneath the basket after, getting congratulations from his teammates with the Bonner student section going crazy behind him.

“I knew that we just needed a bucket that play,” said Wong, who finished with 10 points. “We just needed a two-point basket.”

“When I threw it off my hand, I knew it was going in,” he added.

Wong’s bucket put the Friars up by 46-43 with 45.6 seconds left. Carroll sophomore guard AJ Hoggard, who finished with 13 points, grabbed a rebound and put the ball back in on Carroll’s next possession to make it a one point game again with 30.6 seconds left.

Some missed free throws by Bonner left the door open for Carroll, but they never got off a shot, turning the ball over three times in the final half minute of play.

“We knew going in, these final four games, they’re two-point games,” Concannon said. “It just is what it is...Who gets the right bounce, who gets the lucky bounce, who make the big play at the end and I think that’s what it comes down to. That’s the way it is this year.”

With Wong silenced for most of the second half, the Friars had several other players rise to the occasion. Junior forward Tariq Ingraham tied Wong with a team-high 10 points in addition to seven rebounds and three blocks. Senior forward Ajiri Johnson finished with eight points, six of which came in the second half, to go along with nine rebounds.

Bonner also got nine points from junior guard Mike Perretta, who knocked down three triples. Sophomore guard Donovan Rodriguez, who was scoreless entering the fourth quarter, rattled off seven points in the first two and a half minutes of the final period and finished with eight total points. Senior guard Yohance Garner added a three of his own as well.

“All year we said it, but all week we said, ‘You can’t win down here with three guys,’” Concannon said. “You gotta have at least six or seven and everybody has to contribute. Those guys came up big. They made a couple big shots.”

After the loss, Carroll will sit and wait for the PIAA Class 5A state playoffs to start. The Friars will face off against Roman Catholic at the Palestra on Monday night at 8:30 p.m. looking to take home their first Catholic title in 30 years.

“We haven’t really done anything yet,” Concannon said. “We told the kids after the game, ‘Forget it. It’s fun, enjoy it for an hour, but it really doesn’t mean anything. Monday’s all that matters.”


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Owen McCue  Boys HS  Catholic League (B)  Archbishop Carroll  Bonner-Prendergast