City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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WARMINSTER — Joe Zeglinski got about as good a birthday present as anyone involved in the Philadelphia basketball community could ask for Friday night.

The Archbishop Ryan coach celebrated the occasion of tacking another year onto his age (and maybe a few extra during the course of the game) with a Philadelphia Catholic League quarterfinal win on the road in front of a packed house at Archbishop Wood, his players delivering the gift of another opportunity to coach at the Palestra. Getting that present to their coach, that was the hard part.

No. 6 Ryan survived a final shot by the No. 3 Vikings to survive with a 74-73 win in another game that will be etched into the long chapter of PCL playoff classics.

"He's done so much for us, we're here because of him, so we had to get it for him," Raiders spark-plug Michael Paris said.

In the regular season, the Raiders watched a fourth-quarter lead evaporate thanks to some heroics from Wood's Justin Moore as the Vikings claimed the victory on their home floor. On Friday, Ryan again found itself behind in the fourth thanks to a strong finish to the third by the host team that bled into the opening act of the final period.

Only this time, there was a lot more game left.

A three-point play by Moore put Wood in front 61-54 on the free throw with 6:29 to go, but Ryan wasn't out of the game yet by any means. The Vikings had opened hot, leading 8-0 three minutes in and held that lead for half the second quarter until the Raiders rallied all the way back and took their first lead at 24-23.

Paris, a junior, was a key part of the rally by scoring six of his eight points in the first half while his sophomore teammates would help bring the win home after halftime.

"We always believed we could still win," Paris said. "We always have composure, if we wanted to come out with the win, that's what we needed to do; stay together and play with composure."

A driving layup by sophomore Darren Williams tied the game 37-37 at half and a strong start to the third by classmate Thomas Sorber sparked a 9-4 run out of the intermission to give Ryan a 49-43 lead when the forward converted a three-point play of his own with 3:30 left in the quarter.

Sorber was again a force, scoring a team-high 21 points and was right in the middle of Ryan's comeback run in the fourth quarter despite scoring just two points in the frame. Between he, Williams and sophomore Jaden Murray - outstanding off the bench in relief of the foul-plagued Raiders - the trio of sophomores withstood every counter-punch by Wood and kept the Raiders on track.

"Those are three special players that are going to do big things," Zeglinski said. "These guys really stepped up, it was the best we've played all year. I think we learned how to finish and we can't just rely on Thomas because they're going to take him away sometimes so I felt all our guys, one through eight, stepped up and made plays."

Ryan's lead got as high as 51-44 before Wood came roaring back to close the third quarter. Moore found senior Tyson Allen, who played like a man possessed trying to get to the Palestra with 20 points and 12 rebounds, to kick off an 11-2 run over the final three minutes that featured threes by Moore, Jalil Bethea and finally one by Mike Knouse that put the Vikings ahead 55-53 going to the fourth.

Knouse hit another trey to start and fourth and when Moore converted the free throw to finish his and-one, it seemed like things had turned back in Wood's favor.

As a team, Ryan didn't seem rattled and after Williams and Moore traded buckets, the Raiders turned things up a notch. Senior Jalen Snead found Sorber for a hoop, Luke Boyd buried a three and then Williams picked off a kick-out pass and went deep to Boyd, who dunked it for a 64-63 lead with 4:50 left in the contest.

"The difference, in the fourth quarter today, we talked about it all week, we had to finish," Williams said. "We had to stay together, we had to keep doing what was working all game and just come out and finish the game."

That was only the beginning for Ryan, which exploited the leak-out and outlet pass to perfection two more times, the first a dunk by Williams and the second a Euro-step finish by the sophomore guard who lived up to his word and finished the game extremely strong. Williams netted half of his 20 in the last 6:21 of regulation and saved his biggest shot for last.

Sorber meanwhile, was content to play his part and if that didn't mean scoring, that was fine too. He added 13 rebounds to his line and he forced some tough looks from Wood throughout the second half and if he got the rebound and saw a teammate leaking out, then the ball was going long.

"We were looking to run," Sorber said. "We were trying to get buckets and if it was there, then that was it. I just listened to my coaches and whatever they told me to do, I did."

Williams' final basket was pivotal but amazingly, not enough to put Wood away. With 2:13 left, senior Jalen Snead found a breakdown in Wood's press and his younger teammate wide open on the left wing.

"It was one of those moments where we could make the better play, but only if you have confidence to make the shot and I had confidence," Williams said. "No hesitation at all, like I said, confidence and you can't second-guess what you do best."

The final 90 seconds were a whirlwind. Bethea sank a corner three to pull Wood within 72-70, a steal led to Moore slicing into the lane for a tough, tough layup that tied it only for Snead to answer with a strong take of his own to get the lead back with 37 seconds on the clock. Moore attacked again, getting fouled with 4.1 on the clock but could only knock down the second of his two foul shots.

Still, the ball ended up back in his hands with 3.1 left and the senior managed to get a pretty good look in the limited time that caught the back iron and caromed off, sending the Ryan players and student section swarming onto the court with a newly scheduled trip to the cathedral to plan for.

The Raiders will face No. 2 seed West Catholic at the Palestra in the semifinals. In the regular season, the Burrs topped the Raiders by nine points.

If Friday proved anything, the PCL playoffs remain a different beast entirely.

"It has to be the same thing as tonight, do what's working, trust each other, play together and play tough," Williams said.

By Quarter
Archbishop Ryan: 14 23 16 21 - 74
Archbishop Wood: 18 19 18 18 - 73

Scorers
Ryan: Thomas Sorber 21, Darren Williams 20, Luke Boyd 12, Jaden Murray 9, Michael Paris 8, Jalen Snead 4

Wood: Justin Moore 25, Tyson Allen 20, Mike Knouse 12, Jalil Bethea 8, Carson Howard 4, Bahsil Laster 3

~~~

Boys Catholic League Quarterfinals
1) Roman Catholic def. 8) Cardinal O’Hara, 82-55
2) West Catholic def. 7) Devon Prep, 68-56
6) Archbishop Ryan def. 3) Archbishop Wood, 74-73
4) Neumann-Goretti vs. 5) La Salle, 51-48

Catholic League Semifinals — Feb. 23 (Palestra)
1) Roman Catholic vs. 4) Neumann-Goretti
2) West Catholic vs. 6) Archbishop Ryan