City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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There is a far-ranging dichotomy between the four teams playing Monday night in the Catholic League championships at the Palestra.

On the boys’ side, Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale will be trying to break his own boys’ league record with a 12th Catholic League championship when his Saints (16-4) face an Archbishop Ryan (18-6) team that’s never won a Catholic League title in three previous tries at 8:00 p.m.

On the girls’ side, traditional powerhouses Archbishop Carroll (19-4) faces Cardinal O’Hara (19-5) at 6:15 p.m. What’s unique about this game is the only player who’s ever played at the Palestra between the two teams is Carroll senior point guard Grace O’Neill, a freshman when the Patriots last won the title in 2019.

Monday night will mark the Palestra debut for everyone on O’Hara’s team.

Neumann-Goretti vs. Archbishop Ryan

Neumann-Goretti is coming off a 62-60 victory in the semifinal against No. 1 seed Roman Catholic behind the superb guard play of sophomores Khaafiq Myers and Robert Wright III, who combined to score 13 of the Saints’ 16 fourth-quarter points.

If Arrigale wins another Catholic League title, he will own the record alone as the all-time leader in Catholic League championships on the boys’ or girls’ side. Arrigale, who doesn’t get anywhere the amount of credit he deserves for developing the Saints’ program into a state powerhouse, has had to deal with a COVID-19 shutdown last year, and an early COVID scare this season, forced to condense his schedule.

Arrigale is currently tied with former Cardinal O’Hara girls’ coach Linus McGinty, who won more than 500 games and 11 Catholic League championships in 24 seasons at O’Hara.

“We finally have had a chance to find out who we are,” said Arrigale, who’s in his 24th year as head coach of the Saints. “We needed to come together as a group. We playing every other day, and we would play, and not do something we wanted to do. We had no time to correct things.

“We’ve become a more cohesive group. We have more places to go on offense. Guys know their roles and everything fits. We worked out a rotation. We beat Ryan during the regular season, but they have (6-foot-9 sophomore Thomas Sorber) who’s a big dog in the middle and pretty good. He’s a tough cover.”

Arrigale hopes junior and high-major target Sultan Adewale can deal with him. The versatile 6-8 forward from England is one of a number of talented upperclassmen, along with seniors Masud Stewart and Aamir Hurst, plus that talented sophomore class including Myers, Wright and Amir Williams.

The last time Neumann-Goretti won the Catholic League title was 2020.

Joe Zeglinski has done a very good job coaching Ryan this season. This marks the fourth time Ryan has been in the championship in the history of the school (1979, 2003, 2008 and 2022). The Raiders arrived here with an impressive 59-55 victory over West Catholic in the other semifinal.

“Ryan has not won a title and the guys are aware of that,” Zeglinski said. “We played a really tough non-league schedule and we started 10-1. The Catholic League came and we got off to a really good start again, but down the stretch we had some tough games. We lost to Neumann in a tough, close game.

“Other than our game against Roman, we’ve been in every game this year. We got West in the semifinals, who we lost to in the regular season, but we made some big plays and the guys came through in the clutch.”

Sorber has been a force in the middle. He’s been the anchor, but he’s gotten great help from players like seniors Jalen Snead, Luke Boyd and Derrick Williams. Junior Mike Paris came off the bench in the semifinals to add instant offense.

Ryan will try to control the tempo and can throw a variety of different looks at Neumann-Goretti.

“I think we’re playing really well, especially this postseason,” Snead said. “When we played Neumann-Goretti, we had way too many turnovers. We can’t turn the ball over and we have to protect the ball and rebound. We’re getting the ball to Thomas and move well. That will create some easy buckets.”

Archbishop Carroll vs. Cardinal O’Hara

It’s been a few years since either of these teams won the Catholic League championship. O’Hara won in 2017 and 2018, Carroll won in 2019, followed by West Catholic in 2021 and Archbishop Wood last year.

Cardinal O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan was emphatic about things that can’t happen to her Lions Monday in the Catholic League championship: “We can’t get beat up. They out-toughed us, they bullied us (in Carroll’s regular-season victory over O’Hara). We need to be ready for a physical game. There’s nothing to hide between us. We know them and they know us.”

What could be a factor is that no Lion has previously played at the madhouse that the Palestra could be in the Catholic League playoffs. That beautiful hotbed could bring out the best in a player—and it can also bring out the worst. It can grow so deafening that you barely hear yourself talk.

“I actually think that will be the key to the game, to actually see which team can embrace the moment and just go out and have fun and embrace the moment,” Doogan said. “They’re all basketball players and I like to think our seniors have been in big games before and I hope they come out and enjoy the moment.”

Maggie Doogan, the Lions’ Richmond-bound senior and coach Doogan’s daughter, says her team is ready for the big moment.

“I don’t think we’re going to have any problems with the atmosphere, and we’re going to have to deal with Grace, who’s one of the best point guards around, and their offense,” Maggie said. “The last time we played Carroll, they had all of the momentum going for them and they took us out of everything we tried to get into.

“We did get pushed around. They did bully us. It’s not going to happen this time.”

Doogan is one of two Division I committed seniors on the Lions’ roster, along with Sydni Scott (Marshall). Freshman Molly Rullo has had a terrific rookie season and should have a lot of college attention in the near future.

Renie Shields has done a very good job guiding coaching the Patriots to a 19-4 mark and with a team that in the beginning of the season may have been viewed as the third-wheel behind defending PIAA 5A state champion O’Hara and defending Catholic League champion Wood.

“These teams know each other pretty well, but each coach will add some new wrinkles, and will have to counter some of the moves the kids have on the floor, but it will basically come down to who plays better,” Shields said. “This group did what they had to do, and they worked hard. Grace O’Neill is the one who drives us. She’s been the driving force, and that transpired to the rest of the team.”

The Drexel-bound O’Neill will be the only player on each team that played at the Palestra. She’s one of two D-I commits on the Patriots, along with 6-2 senior Maggie Grant (Villanova), while junior forward Taylor Wilson and her sister, sophomore guard Brooke Wilson, are also future college players.

“The biggest thing for us is playing solid defense, which has helped us win,” O’Neill said. “Offensively, our coaches tell us to visualize the ball going in the basket. We may have been a little overlooked in the beginning of the year. I think a lot of people overlooked how good of a team we are. From last year, we developed and that experience together has really helped us.

“It will really come down to who puts the ball in the basket and who really plays their game.”

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.