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PIAA Class 6A: Roman Catholic survives Cheltenham run, advances to semis

03/17/2022, 1:45am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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SPRINGFIELD — Chris McNesby knew the Cheltenham run was coming.

Roman Catholic had built itself a comfortable lead early in the third quarter of a PIAA 6A boys quarterfinal at Cardinal O’Hara, the squad with no fewer than three Division I recruits on it doing its thing against the scrappy underdogs. But McNesby had been around long enough to know Pat Fleury’s Panthers weren’t going to fold. It was just a matter of if his Cahillites would respond. 

The tide did turn, Cheltenham suddenly a juggernaut, scoring 17 straight and threatening to send one of the state favorites home. Roman, though, had a response.


Khalil Farmer (above) and Roman Catholic are back in the PIAA Class 6A state semifinals. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Behind the trio of future D-Is Khalil Farmer, Xzayvier Brown and Daniel Skillings Jr., the Cahillites withstood the Panther surge and found their footing, finishing strong in a 75-62 win to advance to the state semifinals. 

“(McNesby) keeps telling us it’s not going to be easy, we’re going to have to dig deep,” Farmer said of a coach who’s in his first year back with Roman after leading the program to state championships in 2015 and 2016. “I felt we did a great job today.”

The Cahillites, as talented as they are, are still fairly green; they only played a Catholic League slate last year, Farmer and Skillings’ first at the North Broad school, and didn’t get any state playoff experience after losing to Archbishop Wood in the 2021 Catholic League championship game.

This year’s 26 games have been their first full season together, and the last month have been their first real experience in the postseason, with buildings full of fans and all the energy ebbs and flows that come with it, the tension that hangs in the room.

And so while Roman’s players might have thought they had it in the bag early on, their coach knew better, especially when factoring in that night’s opponent, the Suburban One League champions, a senior-laden squad.

“Every film we’ve watched, that’s what they are — they don’t go away,” McNesby said. “I think (we) started to kinda cruise a little bit, but (Cheltenham was) not going to quit. 

“I said to them after [...] you’re ending kids’ senior years, you’re getting everything they have, they’re not going to go away. Got a little closer than I hoped…a little too close for comfort.”

Roman (22-4) jumped out early, opening up a 9-2 advantage and turning it into a 25-10 lead by the end of the first quarter. Skillings, the 6-foot-7 Cincinnati commit, had 10 of his 16 in the opening frame, grabbing six of his game-high 13 rebounds during that stretch, a one-man wrecking crew for which Cheltenham had no answer. 

Throw in a couple 3-pointers by Farmer, the 6-3 Hofstra commit, with Brown running point and getting everybody in their places, and the Cahillites looked unstoppable. The advantage was 41-24 at halftime, Cheltenham basically playing even over those eight minutes, but the gap was never in much serious danger. 

Daniel Skillings (above) finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, a steal, and this block. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

That changed in the third quarter, though not before another Farmer triple — his fifth in as many attempts — pushed the advantage to 48-26, the high-water point for the Cahillites just a couple minutes into the second half.

Suddenly, a Cheltenham (30-2) side which had been struggling to find its footing all game long flipped the switch. A couple driving buckets by senior Justin Savage, a 3-pointer by freshman Josiah Hutson, a pull-up jumper or two by senior Nasir Edens, they all contributed to a 17-0 stretch which fired up the sizeable Cheltenham student section behind one basket for the first time in quite a while. 

“We win together, we lose together, and I think our guys stayed together the whole night,” Fleury said. “In the midst of the run, I thought there was a couple possessions we could have (taken) our time on that could have kept the run going, a couple shots went in-and-out, a couple calls didn’t go our way, so we had to battle back from that, too.”

A couple Roman buckets pushed the lead back to nine from its nadir, but a Hutson 3-pointer ahead of the 3Q buzzer left it at just a 51-46 deficit going into the fourth.

The gap was still five with 5:40 left when the Cahillites got a driving layup from Farmer, who finished with a game-high 23 points, and then a steal-and-slam from Skillings to push the gap to nine with 4:54 to play. 


Xzayvier Brown (above) had 16 points, five assists, three rebounds, three steals and three blocks. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Brown, the 6-2 junior with numerous Division I offers, helped the Cahillites close it out with eight of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, adding in five assists, three rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Sophomore guard Toby Ojukwu hit 5-of-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter for Roman, getting nine of his 13 from the line.

Cheltenham was led by 17 points from Rasheem Deary and 14 from Savage, who along with starters Edens, Brandon Bush and Elias Walker were playing their final games in Panthers uniforms.

“It’s my first four-year class, they’re the first class that stuck with me, I know a lot of them had opportunities to go elsewhere, they didn’t,” Fleury said. “So for that, they’re family forever. I could never repay them for the commitment, the sacrifice and the dedication that they put into the program, and we’ll just look to build from them, but they are staples for us.”

Hutson, a 6-1 freshman who’ll be the team’s only returning starter in the fall, finished with 15 points, knocking down all four of his 3-point attempts in the second half, showing no fear at all playing on such a big stage, against such a high-level opponent. 

“Josiah’s a fearless kid, he has a bright future,” Fleurty said. “I just think that he’s one of the better freshmen in our city [...] put a lot of work in with him and we want to make sure he’s recognized as such and he continues to work and get what he deserves.”

In the semifinals, Roman Catholic gets Central League and District 1 champions Lower Merion, who dispatched Scranton 72-44 in an impressive showing in the Lehigh Valley on Wednesday night. Led by 6-9 Penn State commit Demetrius Lilley and 6-3 junior guard Sam Brown, Gregg Downer’s Aces are chasing their first state title since 2013.

“That’s going to be another tough game,” Farmer said, “so we’ve got to stay together.”

By Quarter
Roman Catholic: 25  |  16  |  10  |  24  ||  75
Cheltenham:       10  |  14  |  22  |  16  ||  62

Shooting
Roman Catholic: 24-48 FG (7-13 3PT), 20-27 FT
Cheltenham: 21-55 FG (7-20 3PT), 13-16 FT

Scoring
Roman Catholic: Khalil Farmer 23, Xzayvier Brown 16, Dan Skillings Jr. 16, Toby Ojukwu 13, Shareef Jackson 4, Quadir Brown 3

Cheltenham: Rasheem Dearry 17, Josiah Hutson 15, Justin Savage 14, Nasir Edens 6, Elias Walker 4, Brandon Bush 4


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