City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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ROYERSFORD, Pa. –– Pope John Paul II’s expectations were crystal-clear Wednesday night.

When the buzzer sounded on the Golden Panthers’ 45-30 win over New Hope-Solebury in the District 1 4A championship game, there was no wild celebration on the sideline, though the family members and cheerleaders in attendance provided plenty of noise. The PJP bench stood and clapped for the final 20 seconds, and there was an exchange of high-fives and fist-bumps, but not much more.

“Last year it was a new thing for us, and it was like ‘wow, we just made it to the district championship’ and we actually had to prove ourselves,” junior guard JP Baron said. “This year, we were already there.”

“That’s the biggest thing that’s changed since I’ve been here,” head coach Brendan Stanton said. “Our kids expect to win now, and that’s awesome. Tonight was...something we knew we needed to get done to reach a bigger goal, and that’s to get back to states and see what we can do.”

It was a year ago to the day that the Golden Panthers won their final game of the 2019-20 season, a two-point victory over Allentown Central Catholic in the second round of the PIAA Class 4A tournament. With a record of 20-5, it was the most successful season in PJP’s short history, the school having only opened in 2010.

Before they had a chance to take on Tamaqua, the pandemic began, and like dozens of other teams around the state, Pope John Paul II’s title quest ended three rounds early. Then, like every other hoops program in the state, the Golden Panthers waited the whole summer and fall not knowing if they’d have a season at all. 

Despite graduating high-scoring senior Drew McKeon, PJP kept it rolling in the shortened 2021 season, winning its first 13 games before Boyertown finally handed them a 58-55 defeat in the regular-season finale. With no Pioneer Athletic Conference championship game to play for, the Golden Panthers turned their attention to the Lions (6-13), one of only two other 4A teams in the district.

New Hope-Solebury, in its first year of playing in the Suburban One League after previously competing in the Bicentennial Athletic League, had shown the ability to win big games under first-year head coach Derek Brooks. They’d beat 6A squads Central Bucks West, Council Rock North and most recently Central Bucks East on Feb. 26, so it was no surprise that it was a two-point district championship game entering the fourth quarter.

That’s when the Golden Panthers’ full-court trap defense finally took over. PJP II only forced three first-half turnovers but 11 in the second, coming up with nine steals as a team.

“Coach at halftime really stressed boxing out and he said defense is going to win the game, so he just locked up and we took it from there,” junior guard Kevin Green said. “(The full-court press) just gives us a bunch of energy, honestly it’s nothing structured, we just pressure, that’s about it. It just gets us our energy back and keeps us going.”

“Defense is all about heart, that’s what we preach, and we take it personally,” junior guard Luke McCarthy said.

Green finished with a game-high 12 points, adding in four assists, two steals, and two rebounds. The 5-foot-10 guard was continually in attack mode in the half-court, often utilizing a jump-stop in the lane where he could go up or kick out to one of the Golden Panthers’ other guards. He also was responsible defensively for New Hope-Solebury senior wing Alex Walinski, holding the normally high-scoring wing to just two points.

“Kevin was unbelievable tonight,” Stanton said. “He hasn’t been scoring a ton for us lately, and I think sometimes in the games like tonight where we give him that big defensive assignment, he gets so focused on that he lets the game come to him on the offensive end. One thing we knew we’d be able to do is beat them off the bounce and Kevin was the real chemist getting into the paint.”

Senior forward Liam Haffey scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds, while junior guard JP Baron also got to double figures with 10 of his own, plus seven rebounds and a pair of steals. McCarthy added nine points and five rebounds.

Baron also hit the only two 3-pointers of the evening for a normally sure-shooting squad — a 3-pointer early in the third that woke the Panthers’ up when they were down 22-17, and another in the fourth to help them pull away through the closing eight minutes.

“JP hit a bunch of huge shots down the stretch, that 3-pointer was huge,” Green said. 

“I felt like once I hit the first 3, energy started going and everything just opened up for us,” Baron added.

PJP was playing without one of its standouts, senior wing Justin Green. The Catholic U commit has dealt with a pair of ankle injuries that have limited him to only five games this season, and without the 6-5 wing on the court, the Golden Panthers don’t have much for size.

“Justin’s our leading rebounder...I think [replacing his production] defensively and protecting the rim is the biggest thing,” Stanton said. “We play pretty much five guards for most of the game now, and it really comes down to us swarming the ball and swarming the rebounds.”

The Golden Panthers now have six days until their postseason quest resumes next Tuesday against the District 11 4A champion, either a rematch against Allentown Central Catholic or Bethlehem Catholic, who meet Thursday at 2:30 PM; they’re hoping to have Justin Green back for the state playoff game. The winner of that first-round state game gets the District 12 4A champion in the state quarterfinals, exactly where they were a year ago.

“After that Allentown Central Catholic game last year, we got shut down and it just killed us,” Green said. “Ever since that game we’ve been looking forward to states. We can not wait...it’s going to be great.”

By Quarter
PJP II:           9   |   8   |  13  |  15  ||  45

New Hope:    7   |  11  |  10  |   2   ||  30

Shooting
PJP II: 16-38 FG (2-14 3PT), 11-18 FT

New Hope: 14-42 FG (1-14 3PT), 1-2 FT

Scoring
PJP II: K. Green 12, Baron 10, Haffey 10, McCarthy 9, Workman 4

New Hope: Weinseimer 10, Dougherty 9, C. Albano 5, McLaughlin 4, Walinski 2