City of Basketball Love

Jerome Taylor (@ThatGuy_Rome)
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DEVON -- Even though it’s only his second time in the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs, IV Pettit plays with a confidence that suggests he’s been in the league his whole high school career. 

In the first PCL playoff game ever at Devon Prep, the senior dropped 24 points, scoring with crafty finishes, dribble pull-up mid/long-range jumpers and catch-and-shoot threes. And the seventh-seeded Devon Prep needed every ounce of Pettit’s scoring to hold off tenth-seeded Archbishop Carroll for a 70-67 win in the first round of the PCL playoffs. 

The scoring started early for Pettit as the Tide jumped out to a 13-9 lead in the first quarter. But in the second frame, Blake Deegan checked in for the Patriots, and his energy played a huge role in Carroll taking a 31-30 lead into halftime.

“I told them that they need to calm down a little bit, they were really hyped with the crowd and environment,” Devon Prep head coach Jason Fisher said about what he said in the locker room at halftime. 

“Don’t get pressured because they’re coming back,” Pettit added. “Stay poised, stay confident and just play defense and win the game.” 

The Tide came out in the second half with newfound aggression and focus. After shooting six free throws in the first half, Devon Prep got to the line eight times in the third quarter, making seven free throws. 

Pettit, a 2022 third-team all-Catholic League selection who spent his first two years at West Chester Rustin before transferring to Devon Prep last year, went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line throughout the game, and when he wasn’t scoring, his teammate Lucas Orchard picked up the slack. 

“I practice [free throws] a lot, I was in my own gym, and I just felt good, so I let it go,” Pettit said. 

“I was honored to be third-team all-Catholic. I didn’t think I was going to get it,” he added. “I’m happy I was selected [to the] third team. I’m just going to keep working hard to prove that I am first-team.” 

Orchard, a second-team all-Catholic selection in his own right, finished with 17 points. The Devon Prep duo countered Carroll’s own high-scoring duo, sophomore Moses Hipps (25 points) and junior Dean Coleman-Newsome (13 points), effectively keeping Carroll at arm’s distance.

“We tried to play Moses straight-up at first, but he had 14 at the half, so we made the switch in the second half to deny him the ball,” Fisher said about defending Hipps’ scoring outburst. “He still scored in the second half but not at the rate he was scoring in the first half… but he’s a great player and only a sophomore too, and that’s what makes it even more impressive.”

Allen Cieslak added 12 points and Jacen Holloway added 10 for Devon Prep, which outscored Carroll 19-7 in the fourth quarter to close out the win.

Denying Hipps (who has multiple Division I offers) the ball is easier said than done. On the final possession of the game with Carroll trailing by three, the Patriots were able to get Hipps the ball, and he got off a contested 3-point attempt to send the game to overtime, but he left it short. 

“We tried to switch everything because they needed a three, and they didn’t have any timeouts left,” Fischer said. “They still got off the three, but the switch made it a really tough shot. It was fading away out of bounds.”

After the win, the Tide will head south on I-476 to take on No. 2 seed West Catholic on Friday. The two teams just played this Sunday, and West Catholic won 79-57. 

Fischer is planning to see a lot of adjustments in Friday’s game as Devon Prep tries to make it to the Palestra for the first time since joining the PCL four years ago, while West Catholic is trying to win its first PCL championship since 1959. Devon made the PCL semifinals last year, but they weren’t held at the Cathedral of College Basketball due to the pandemic. 

“I told them to enjoy the win, tomorrow we go back to work to prepare for West Catholic,” Fisher said. “We’ll make some changes [from Sunday]  and they probably will as well. 

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By Quarter
Devon Prep:               13  |  17  |  21  |  19  ||  70
Archbishop Carroll:     9   |  22  |  18  |  18  ||  67

Scoring
Devon Prep: Pettit 24, Orchard 17, Cieslak 12, Holloway 10, Mishock 4, Kenney 3 

Archbishop Carroll: Hipps 25, Coleman-Newsome 13, Reagan 12, Ivery 9, Dixon 4, Smith 2