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Youthful O’Hara boys take step towards maturity in win over Lincoln

12/18/2021, 12:15am EST
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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Ryan Nemetz is working on it. The Cardinal O’Hara coach knows he’ll need to exert some patience as his young team develops, and Friday night marked a nice step in that process. The Lions finished 2-1 this week, and are 3-2 overall, thanks to a convincing 76-64 victory over visiting Lincoln.

Izaiah Pasha stands in a gym

Izaiah Pasha (above) was one of three Lions to score double digits. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

The 12-point difference doesn’t come close to how O’Hara (3-2) dominated. The Lions saw balanced scoring, led by the team’s only senior, Maasai Harris, who scored a team-high 15, with 12 points each from Izaiah Pasha and Amir Speights. Lincoln’s 6-foot-7 senior Aymere Thomas led all scorers with 26, and was one of a few bright spots on the Lincoln side.

Otherwise, O’Hara led from start to finish, building a 70-36 lead entering the fourth quarter. By then, the Lions benefitted from a running clock, after benefitting by the big leap 6-7 sophomore Pearse McGuinn took.

Nemetz had been on the rangy sophomore about playing timid, and about being an inside force and not being fearful of being smacked in the face.

“I think was my best game so far on varsity, and I came out and played tough,” McGuinn said. “My coaches get on me on being tougher, and I played tough. I do feel the confidence. When I make my first couple of shots, I get it going. In AAU season, I’ve been hit in the head and I got up. This was a big step for me. I’m ready to display what I did tonight for the rest of the season.”

Nemetz hopes so. McGuinn represents what little semblance of height the Lions have.

“This was our third game in four days and the conversations we have is about consistency, and when I see that consistency like I did tonight, we’re a special team and I think I’m seeing that growth in this group.” Nemetz said. “Pearse is 6-6 and Izaih is about 6-5, and he fills a lot of different roles for us. He really had an impact when he was in, and when we play team basketball, Izaih in is charge.

Pearse McGuinn stands in a gym

Pearse McGuinn (above) has felt his confidence increase from playing tougher. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

“Pearse is just laidback. I told Pearse he’s someone we’re going to need production from and rely on if we’re going to be factors in the league. When I took this program over four years ago, it’s the same story, what about the big guys in the league. Let us be the underdogs, I’m cool with that. Let us not respect us, I’m cool with that. Our guys aren’t fearful of anyone. We’re ready to go.”

O’Hara took over with a 20-9 burst in the second quarter and never looked back. Leading the charge was Pasha, who scored seven of the 20 second-quarter points.

A month ago, Lincoln won a scrimmage against O’Hara.

“This game was important for us, and I think the sky could be the limit for our team,” Pasha said. “We only have one senior and a lot of sophomores. We need to stay together and stay composed.”

O’Hara did stay composed. When Lincoln tried pressing early, the Lions’ shredded it, and when O’Hara need stiff interior defense, McGuinn and Pasha were there.

Lincoln had its struggles. The Railsplitters are 1-2 overall and committed 16 turnovers when the game was still competitive.

The teams were tied 6-6 when O’Hara bolted out to a 24-16 opening-quarter lead. If not for Thomas showing some range by dropping a few threes in the second half, the final score could have been even more lopsided.

“We need to start to play together more,” Thomas said. “Every time we’re down too much, we tend to give up. If we can deal with the adversity, we can be pretty cool. We have to stay together, that’s all.”

By Quarter
Lincoln: 16 | 11 | 9 | 28 || 64
Cardinal O’Hara: 24 | 20 | 26 | 6 || 76

Scoring
Lincoln: Aymere Thomas 26, Rashan Locke-Hicks 12, Jameer Trout 9, Naseem Wright 8, Malachi Montgomery 4, Dom Martin 2, Rodney Shelton 2, Naeem Colston 1

Cardinal O’Hara: Maasai Harris 15, Izaiah Pasha 12, Amir Speights 12, Pearse McGuinn 9, Hunter Johnson 8, Zuri Harris 6, Brendan Horan 6, Christian Cervellero 4, Josh Coulanges 4

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


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