City of Basketball Love

Jerome Taylor (@ThatGuy_Rome)
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WEST PHILADELPHIA – For the last 18 years, the West Catholic vs. Neumann-Goretti rivalry has been entirely one-sided.

The Saints have been victorious in every matchup against the Burrs since 2004; one program the class of the Philadelphia Catholic League and one of the state’s best over the last two decades, the other mostly an afterthought, a half-century gone since its last PCL championship.

But Wednesday night, West Catholic finally ended the slide. A balanced scoring attack and tenacious defense led the Burrs to a 74-59 victory over the Saints. 

“I’m just proud of my guys…it’s been four years, and I believe that we flipped the program in four years,” West Catholic head coach Miguel Bocachica said. “It is one game, and it’s on to the next one, but this is a stepping stone for us.”

West Catholic (11-2, 6-1 PCL) was coming off their first league loss of the year after falling to Roman Catholic, another perennial Philadelphia Catholic League power. Bocachica thought that the Roman loss re-focused his team heading into Wednesday’s contest, as they could apply lessons from that game to Wednesday’s win. 

In the Roman game, West Catholic’s rhythm was admittedly thrown off by Zion Stanford’s foul trouble. But on Wednesday, Stanford was pivotal in the Burrs pulling away. 

With the game clock winding down in the third quarter, Shemar Wilbanks-Acqui pushed the ball down the court for the last shot. Wilbanks-Acqui put up a contested layup that bounced off the back rim, but Stanford was there to clean up the miss emphatically with a two-handed putback slam to give West Catholic a 59-49 lead heading into the final quarter. 

“I know Wop [Wilbanks-Acqui] likes going downhill a lot, so I always follow after him,” Stanford said about his buzzer-beater putback. 

“If you ask me his position, I'd tell you he’s a dog,” Bocachica said about Stanford. “His position don’t matter. You put him out on the court, and he’s going to impact the game in many, many ways.”

The Stanford dunk came after Neuman-Goretti (6-2, 2-1) had cut the lead to three points with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter. The Saints’ comeback-bid was powered in large part by junior forward Sultan Adewale’s 18 point, 12 rebound double-double.

But in what would become a theme for the night, the Burrs were able to keep the Saints at arm's length. 

“I just believe in my guys,” Bocachica said. “I know that if we defend and we guard at a high level, we can explode, and I think that’s what happened. A three-point game turns into a nine-point game just like that.”

“We were just talking about cracking them, breaking them and just going on a run… just keep going until we couldn’t go no more, and that’s what we did tonight,” Kaseem Watson said. 

West Catholic’s defense and length were a problem for the Saints all night. Adam Clark led the way with six steals as the Burrs finished with 13 steals and five blocks. 

And on the other end of the court, Clark dropped 17 points, the second-most on the team only to Stanford’s 19 points. And the Burrs got contributions up and down their roster with five players finishing with double-digit points: Stanford and Clark were joined by Wilbanks-Acqui (12), Kareem Watson (12) and Kaseem Watson (10).

This balanced scoring attack has been at the core of West Catholic’s success this year as they are looking to win their first PCL championship since 1959. All five of the players listed above are scoring more than 8.5 ppg this season, making West Catholic especially tough to guard.

“They’re all still just finding themselves. They all want to impact the game in some kind of way,” Bocachica said. “They’re just starting to find out ‘my spots, when I can score, when I should shoot, when I shouldn’t shoot.’”

“I tell them all the time, you can drive the ball, and you might get cut off, but whoever you kick the ball out to is a guy that can hoop, understand that and respect that.”

After Wednesday, West Catholic is third in the PCL standings and is in a three-way tie with Roman and Archbishop Wood for most wins in the conference. But the players are more concerned with who gets the last win of the season. 

“Our main goal is the PCL championship. That’s what’s really going to stamp us. We’re not settling for this win,” Stanford said. 

And even though a trip to the Palestra is the ultimate goal for Bocachica’s team, he knows that a one-game at a time mentality is crucial in a league like the PCL, so he’s looking forward to the Burrs’ matchup with O’Hara on Friday. 

“For us, it’s about the next game. We got to get to Friday and handle Friday. It’s a gauntlet in this league, and anybody can get you… it’s on to the next one,” Bocachica said.

By Quarter
West Catholic:       20  |  18  |   21  |  15  ||  74

Neuman-Goretti:   11   |  17  |  21  |   10  ||  59

Scoring
West Catholic: Stanford 19, Clark 17, Wilbanks-Acqui 12, Kar. Watson 12, Kas. Watson 10, Griffin 4

Neuman-Goretti: Wright 21, Adewale 18, Hurst 7, Stewart 5, Williams 4, Battle 2, Smith 2