City of Basketball Love

Matthew Ryan (@matthewryan02)
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After going through the wringer to start Philadelphia Catholic League play, Wednesday night’s game at Archbishop Carroll was uber important for Bonner-Prendie.

The Friars were coming off a loss to West Catholic where, in the locker room, they let their emotions out; a moment that brought the team closer together. 

“We normally don’t cry after a loss because we don’t give it our all, but since we know that we played as a team and gave it our all, we had to shed some tears for that one,” sophomore wing Deuce Ketner said.

Following that game, Bonner sat at 1-6 in the PCL, with its postseason hopes in question, sitting in 12th, only the top 10 making the PCL playoffs. The Friars’ early schedule wasn’t helping them out as they had already seen the top five PCL teams, who have a combined 36-5 record in league play.

But after a 72-65 victory at Carroll, Bonner has put itself in a solid position entering a favorable back-half of the season.

“Every win’s big. In this league, there’s nothing that’s easy,” Bonner head coach Kevin Funston said. “Every team is really well-coached. The kids are high-level players. So anytime you can win a game, it’s huge. And then to win a game on the road was big for us.”

“It was very big,” senior guard Shakur Smith said. “We had a couple of losses and we’re trying to come back up, and we’ve got teams looking down on us … we’re basically like the underdog, so we’re trying to prove to other teams that we’re on the same level as them.”

The contest was a back-and-forth affair throughout, and the opening few moments of the matchup were certainly a preview of things to come. After Ketner won the opening tip, Smith corralled the ball, driving right to the basket to throw down a thunderous dunk. Then, on the next handful of Carroll’s possessions, Dean Coleman-Newsome buried three 3s for nine of his game-high 23 points.

It was the theme of the contest; Bonner playing aggressive and driving while Carroll attempted to do its damage from beyond the arc, scoring 42 of its points from deep.

The attacking nature of the Friars paid off in the form of 32 free-throw attempts. The charity stripe has been an area of weakness for Bonner as it entered the game shooting just 56.9% from the line. But on Wednesday, the Friars managed to knock down 22 of their attempts for a 68.8% rate.

Smith led the way for Bonner, scoring 22 points, all of them coming from either two-point range or the free throw line. While Ketner knocked down two 3s in the second quarter, the 6-foot-6 wing also did a good job scoring inside and getting to the free throw line on his way to 19 points.

Ketner’s aggressiveness and physicality on one dunk attempt, which led to two free throws, is something rather familiar to people who watched his late-father Lari Ketner, a former NBA player, and brother Tairi Ketner, a Carroll grad who plays for the University of Albany.

Both Lari and Tairi were big-bodied, physical players. And while that’s not necessarily Deuce’s game — he plays more on the outside — those matchups he had and still has with Tairi are showing in his game.

“I used to be scared of my brother, playing 1-v-1, because he’s always bigger and stronger than me, and I was afraid of contact,” Deuce said. “But he told me that if I could withstand him in contact, I (wouldn’t) care about (anybody) else’s strength, because nobody’s stronger than my brother.”

After the grueling slate to open the season, things finally lighten up for Bonner (6-8, 2-6 PCL). Now sitting at 10th place and in the playoff picture, the Friars’ next two games are against winless PCL squads in Conwell-Egan (0-9 PCL) and Lansdale Catholic (0-8). Wins against both teams could put the Friars in a far more comfortable position with three games to go. 

Then, Bonner travels to La Salle (5-3) and Devon Prep (5-3) before a matchup against Father Judge (2-7) that could have significant meaning for both teams.

The loss for Carroll (10-7, 3-6) hurt its postseason hopes heading into the home stretch. The Patriots entered the contest sitting at ninth place in the PCL, and a win would skyrocket their chances of making it to the postseason. But instead, the loss closes the gap between Carroll’s ninth-place slot and teams on its tail, such as Bonner and Judge. The Patriots close the season with Devon Prep, Judge, La Salle and Roman (8-1); a win in one of those contests likely puts them in the top ten for good.

With five games to go, the Friars have a chance at a fresh slate in the postseason if they can pick up some wins in the back half. The tough schedule early set them back, but Funston knows what’s most important is how they deal with this final push.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” he said. “I’ve been telling these guys each game they’re getting better and better, and they’re developing, and they’re fixing a lot of the mistakes that we made early on […] For us, I just constantly am seeing improvement, and the kids want to win, and they want to compete, and they’re just staying positive and sticking together, which you need at this time of the year because it’s very easy to go backward.”

By Quarter
Bonner: 19 | 19 | 14 | 20 || 72
Carroll: 16 | 16 | 18 | 15 || 65

Scoring
Bonner: Shakur Smith 22, Deuce Ketner 19, Baasil Saunders 16, Brady Eagan 8, AJ Dreger 5, Saaid Lee 2

Carroll: Dean Coleman-Newsome 23, Moses Hipps 17, Seamus Rogers 14, Shawnn Smith 4, Jake West 3, Blake Deegan 2, Harold Ivery 2