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O'Hara's hot start continues with win at Ryan

12/22/2019, 9:45pm EST
By Josh Verlin


Tre Dinkins (above) had 19 points as O'Hara won its second consecutive road game to open PCL play. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Every big shot Archbishop Ryan made on Sunday afternoon, Cardinal O’Hara had a response.

No bigger example of that than the end of the third quarter, when Ryan sophomore Luke Boyd made a running 3-pointer at the buzzer, cutting the O’Hara lead five eight to five, sending the Ryan crowd into a tizzy, anticipating the comeback. It didn’t happen. Instead, O’Hara started the fourth calm as ever, senior guard Tre Dinkins knocking down a 3-pointer to push the lead to eight.

That was how it went the rest of the fourth: every Raider punch was beat with a Lion counter, every sense of momentum built by the home team stolen back by the visitors. O’Hara got buckets when it needed to, hit foul shots when it needed to, and stayed unbeaten thanks to a 76-68 win, continuing one of the early surprise stories of the 2019-20 season.

“Last year, I think we would have folded...now I think we’re prepared for it, especially on the road, when the crowd was getting wild (after) hat bank shot to end the [third] quarter,” head coach Ryan Nemetz said. “A team could lose it and argue in the huddle, [but] our guys stuck together and continued to work and it was awesome. I was really proud of our guys.”

The last time Cardinal O’Hara had a winning season in the Philadelphia Catholic League, Nemetz was in middle school. Now, the 31-year-old Lions’ head coach is ready to put an end to a two-decade run in the bottom half of the league, and he’s got the cast of characters ready to do it.

Since going 8-6 in PCL play in 2000-01, the Lions haven’t won more than five league games in any season, last doing so two years back. There’s been three-win seasons (three of them, including last year), two-win seasons (four of those), one-win twos (two of them) and even a pair of winless seasons, including an 0-13 league mark in 2016-17. 

But beating Ryan lifted O’Hara to 6-0 overall (2-0 PCL), with both of its wins coming on the road; La Salle was the first victim, five days before.

“It feels great...all of it is just coming together, and winning, that’s what it’s all about,” said Dinkins, who had a team-high 19 points in the win, pacing four in double figures. “Every game just come out the same, high-intensity every time.”

All seven players that Nemetz deployed were effective, from starting junior guards Anthony Purnell and Adrian Irving, who popped in 14 apiece, to reserve junior guard Jameel Burton’s six points and reserve junior big man Jax Trickey’s four points and eight boards.


O'Hara junior forward Solo Bombara (above, right) helped seal with the win with two late buckets. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Junior wing forward Solo Bombara (12 points/5 rebounds) sealed the win with two tough baskets in the final two minutes, one falling away from the bucket, another off the rare dribble penetration attempt by the developing 6-6 big man, which made it a seven-point lead with 75 seconds left.

“Oh my god, that play, I said he almost gave me a heart attack,” Nemetz said. “He went between his legs, hesitation and then finished with his left hand, that was impressive. That was awesome, that was huge.”

The Lions will play two more games before the calendar hits 2020, against the Haverford School on Dec. 27 as part of the Play-by-Play Classics event at Jefferson University and then against Lehigh Valley opponent Executive Education Charter at O’Hara on Dec. 30. 

After that comes a key PCL stretch: four games, all at home, against St. Joe’s Prep (Jan. 3), Bishop McDevitt (Jan. 6), Archbishop Wood (Jan. 8) and Lansdale Catholic (Jan. 12). If the Lions can go at least 3-1 in that stretch, including a win over either McDevitt or Wood –– both PCL semifinalists a year ago –– they would truly cement themselves as a contender this year, with their eyes on their first Palestra appearance since 1998. 

Nemetz, who’s in his first head coaching gig after spending four years as an assistant at D-III Eastern, used the “one game at a time” cliché when talking about the span.

“I know everybody says that, but we gameplan for each team, and it’s really about just winning each one individually,” he said. “This team’s also got to learn how to game plan and execute a game plan, so we’re starting to do that. We don’t look as it as the next four at home, the next one St. Joe’s Prep is at home, let’s focus on the game plan, let’s execute it and I think we have a really good chance to win.”

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Extra Thoughts

–– Archbishop Ryan (5-2, 2-1) junior wing Aaron Lemon-Warren has become one of the most productive players in the Catholic League, and it’s easy to see why. The 6-4 junior wing, who started to make his mark as a mostly-interior player with a high-running motor and ability to get to the hoop from 15 feet out, has become a true ‘3’ man thanks to his much-improved ability to shoot the ball. Lemon-Warren had 24 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, a pair of assists and a block in the loss, shooting 8-of-12 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. The only thing really missing from his game is the ability to create for himself off the bounce on the perimeter against high-level defenders, but he’s got time to add that to his arsenal. 

The Raiders’ other Division I prospect, wing forward Gediminas Mokseckas, finished with 19 points and seven rebounds on 6-of-16 shooting, including 1-of-7 from deep. He was also the recipient of an unwarranted technical foul –– after he was fouled dribbling around a screen, Mokseckas bounced the ball in frustration, though not at the call, which was in his favor. His spike did end up going over the backboard, at which point the ref called him for the tech. Instead of Ryan being down eight with a possession to cut it to five or six, O’Hara got two foul shots and the bucket, pushing the lead up to 12 midway through the third.

–– Ryan sophomore Luke Boyd hit that running 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter and two others, plus a driving layup, to finish with 11 points off the bench for the Raiders. The 6-0 guard has some nice athleticism and a great shot; he could become a valuable reserve for the Raiders this year with his ability to stretch the floor and get to the rim.

–– This was the best game I’ve seen from Dinkins, who was efficient and effective in his shot-selection, utilizing his step-back jumper to great effectiveness whenever the Lions needed it. He was 7-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-4 from deep, with a pair of assists as well. Also impressing for O’Hara was junior guard Anthony Purnell, a 6-1 guard with long arms, who had 14 points, three board and three assists, shooting 5-of-12 overall. 

Scoring
O’Hara: Dinkins 19, Purnell 14, Irving 14, Bombara 12, Reeves 7, Burton 6, Trickey 4

Ryan: Lemon-Warren 24, Mokseckas 19, Boyd 11, Vasquez 9, Snead 3, Isopi 2

Shooting
O’Hara: 29-55 FG, 7-11 3PT, 11-19 FT

Ryan: 23-54 FG, 9-28 3PT, 13-15 FT

Score by Quarter
O’Hara:  17 | 16  | 19 | 24  | 76

Ryan:     13 | 17 |  17 | 21 | 68


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