skip navigation

Philadelphia Catholic League Championship Preview (Feb. 26)

02/26/2018, 10:15am EST
By Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)

Isaiah Wong (above) and Bonner are in the PCL championship for the first time in 30 years. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
--

Bonner-Prendergast head coach Jack Concannon and Roman Catholic headman Matt Griffin have a plethora of memories of the Palestra dating back to their respective childhoods. For each of them, it started with Big 5 basketball games.

Concannon recalls the “Saturday night [Big 5] doubleheaders. I remember our CYO teams playing before the doubleheaders at different times then afterward we would be the ball boys for the doubleheader when I was in fifth and sixth grade.”

For Griffin, he remembers consistently being in the Cathedral of College Basketball during his father’s tenure as St. Joseph’s University head basketball coach from 1990-95. He states, “Up until his last year, I was the ball boy and those games were just the greatest basketball atmosphere to be a part of. The Palestra has always been a special place to me because I grew up watching games there.”

The Big 5 brought about the inception of each head coach’s appreciation and allure for the majestic arena but the Philadelphia Catholic League was where they displayed their playing abilities on its hardwood floors. Concannon scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in leading the Friars to the 1983 PCL title, its first since 1960. That began a string of three league crowns in the 1980s for Bonner-Prendergast, the last of which occurred in 1988 behind a PCL title-game record 30 points from Brian Daly. That was the last time Bonner-Prendergast reached the title game.

Griffin played at St. Joe’s Prep under William “Speedy” Morris where he earned First Team All-Catholic in 2007. While he never had the opportunity to play in the Palestra during his time with the Hawks, it was always his goal to be on that court. In his first year at the helm of the Cahillites, he led them to the Palestra but his team fell to Neumann-Goretti in the semifinals. While the majority of Griffin’s memories of the arena are positive, the most notable is a surprising one.

“My most vivid memory of being there was when we were not in the championship game [last year] and having to watch it with a few of our current players, saying how much we wanted to be in that game the following year and now we’re back,” Griffin said.

When Bonner-Prendergast and Roman meet on Monday night, each coach will be leading a team that only has one game of playing experience apiece at the Palestra. Not only that but only one player on either roster has championship experience of any kind at the high school level. 2017-18 PCL MVP Isaiah Wong, a transfer from Notre Dame (N.J.), was a member of Irish’s 2016-17 Mercer County Tournament championship team. Other than that, this is each’s team first real taste of a title game.

Wong may be the only player with championship game experience and he showed that in the semifinal victory over Archbishop Carroll. The 6-3 combo guard scored 10 points including the decisive and-one basketball that sealed the Friars 48-45 victory. When Bonner-Prendergast has needed a basket especially late in the game, they’ve looked to Wong (21.6 ppg). As Concannon noted, “as a coach, you can overcoach but I learned real quick when you have a player of Isaiah’s ability you kind of just let him go and let him create.”

Wong controls things on the perimeter but the strength of the Friars is on the inside where First Team All-Catholic Ajiri Johnson and Second Team selection Tariq Ingraham provide a lethal one-two punch. Johnson, the 6-8 Rider commit who avg. 11.8 ppg, scored eight points against the Patriots which consisted of several putback dunks and timely offensive rebounds. His high energy and ability to run the floor has continually surprised opponents and provided a spark for his team. Ingraham, a 6-9, 220-pound junior forward who transferred in from Salesianum (Del.), is a prototypical back-to-the-basket player who can muscle his way to the rim or finish with each hand thanks to a soft touch.

Johnson said the crowd and atmosphere got to him early before he was able to settle in against Carroll.

“I’ve played against a lot of teams in front of big crowds before but it was one of the biggest I’ve ever seen,” Johnson said. “It was just overwhelming at the time. It took me a couple of minutes to find my groove but it was a great win.”

Those core three players have shown up each game but recently the other two starters have been integral to the Friars success as well. Sharpshooting junior Mike Perretta has avg. 7.5 ppg in two playoff games including nine vs. the Patriots. Sophomore Donovan Rodriguez, the team’s best defender, scored eight points in the final quarter against Carroll to help close things out. Concannon said, “It shows not only how good he has been this year but what a bright future he has ahead of him.”

This Bonner-Prendergast team was formed and developed in one year, and while they’ve only played 24 games together, Concannon has been impressed with their progression.

“This group is a very tight group,” Concannon said. “They’re not very vocal but they stick together. They always have each other’s backs at practice or games. There is very good chemistry on this team and they believe in each other, which is sometimes the most important thing.”


Seth Lundy (above) and Roman are in the PCL championship for the third time in four years. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

When he was hired two years ago, Griffin was tasked with keeping Roman atop the PCL as well making them a continual contender for a state title. Having to take over for Chris McNesby, who led the Cahillities to back-to-back PCL and PIAA 4A state crowns, while also replacing the Penn State trio of Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens an Nazeer Bostick as well center Paul Newman (Bucknell), Griffin knew the type of pressure that came with his job but the team sputtered in year one. In addition to the loss to the Saints, the Cahillites were upset by Perkiomen Valley in the opening round of the PIAA 6A playoffs, marking the end of an up-and-down year for the Cahillites.

Griffin feels last year was necessary for his team to learn how to deal with adversity and appreciate what it means to be able to play in games like this.

“When you go through adversity and learn to come back to things differently, what you’re seeing is the product of a two-year commitment to getting better,” Griffin said. “It has taken time to go through tough experiences that have helped shape us into the team we are now.”

Four players have spearheaded Roman’s return to the title game: First Team All-Catholic’s Seth Lundy and Lynn Greer III, and Second Team selections Hakim Hart and Allen Betrand. Lundy, who leads the team in scoring at 16.2 ppg, scored 14 points in the team’s 69-66 win over St. Joe’s Prep in the semifinals but fouled out with 7:17 left to play. When the 6-6 forward went out, the other three picked up the slack. Betrand, a Towson commit who transferred in from Samuel Fels at the time when Griffin came on, scored a team-high 20 points including 12 in the fourth. Hart, a transfer from Kingsway (N.J.), had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Greer, the son of the former Temple standout, added 17 points.

The Cahillites come into their matchup with the Friars riding a lot of momentum, directly correlated by stringing off eleven consecutive victories. Yet, Griffin feels this team still hasn’t reached its peak.

“We haven’t yet played our best basketball, which is exciting for us,” Griffin said. “We have to keep going. We’re excited that we’ve won eleven in a row and that we’re in this game but we still haven’t played our best basketball yet.”

While playing in one of the best leagues in Pa., each team came into PCL play battletested. The Friars nonleague scheduled including Overbrook, Malvern Prep and Plymouth-Whitemarsh as well as a three-game slate in the Kreul Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. which included a matchup against The Patrick School (N.J.). On the other side, Roman went against Gonzaga (DC), Imhotep Charter and Mater Dei (N.J.), among others.

While Concannon and Griffin have had their fair share of fond memories at the Palestra, they’re hoping Monday will eclipse any of them as one of them will celebrate their first PCL title as head coach. Roman has not appeared in the title game since 2016 and Bonner-Prendergast hasn’t been here in three decades. Each coach is looking forward to this opportunity against a worthy adversary.

“I think Jack has done a great job building up their program being here for the first time in thirty years,” Griffin said. “I think, in terms of perspective, Roman has been in this game a lot compared to Bonner but I would say it’s spot on when you say it’s two new groups of guys. It’s my first time in this game as a head coach and also Jack’s first time.”

Concannon concurred and wants his team to just focus on playing relaxed.

“It was our number one goal at the beginning of the season to win the Catholic League championship as I’m sure it was the other 13 teams in our league,” Concannon said. “It would mean a lot to our program, our kids and the school. We’re just going to try and treat like any other game. We’ve told them to go out and play like it’s a summer league game or a game at your rec center.”


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Contributors  Catholic League  Rich Flanagan  Boys HS  Catholic League (B)  Bonner-Prendergast  Roman Catholic