City of Basketball Love

Corky Blake (@corkyblake)
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Leave it to one of Neumann-Goretti’s two seniors to put the Saints’ subdued celebration in perspective after they shook off a slow start to overwhelm Dallas 77-50 in the PIAA Class 4A semifinals Friday night at Freedom High School 

“Neumann-Goretti’s built a winning culture, and we expect to win … and the job’s not finished,” Aamir Hurst said.

Neumann-Goretti’s victory over the District 2 champion Mountaineers sets up an epic state final showdown against unbeaten District 7 titlist Quaker Valley, which improved to 27-0 with a 67-60 conquest of Archbishop Carroll in the other semifinal. 

The Saints and Quaker Valley will tip off 7:30 p.m., Thursday, at the Giant Center in Hershey.

“This week we’ll look at film on them and get locked in,” said Hurst, one of the team’s unsung heroes who often gets overlooked but does a little bit of everything for the Saints.

So, there were no Hershey kisses raining down on the District 12 champions from their small contingent of fans at the final buzzer. There were no exuberant high fives or celebratory piles of humanity at midcourt.

The Saints (22-4) merely went through the handshake line with absolute respect for the Mountaineers and did a quiet retreat to their locker room.

Neumann-Goretti’s other senior, 6-foot-1 guard Masud Stewart, knows this is his chance to help the 2021-22 squad join the eight other Saints teams that have won PIAA championships and become just the second one to win at the 4A level. The other seven were in 3A.

“My freshman year we lost in the playoffs, and sophomore year our season was stopped (in the playoffs) by COVID,” said Stewart, who contributed seven points, two rebounds and a steal. “Last year, there was a lot of crazy stuff and we didn’t make it (to the state tournament). This is the furthest I’ve been, and I just want to win it all.”

For the first four minutes of Friday’s semifinals, Neumann-Goretti looked anything like a team bound for Hershey, much to the delight of the 700 or so Dallas fans who made the trip to Bethlehem from the Wilkes-Barre area.

Sophomore Michael Cumbo opened the scoring for Dallas with a 3-pointer. Senior guards Austin Finarelli and Nick Nocito followed with a 3 and a steal for a layup, respectively. 

Michael Bufalino sank a short jumper and Nocito drilled another 3 for a 13-1 lead at the 3:21 mark.

The Mountaineers appeared they were well on their way to completing the hat trick against District 12 – they defeated third-place Cardinal O’Hara 75-57 in the second round, district runner-up West Philadelphia 79-68 in overtime in the quarterfinals and had the district champion reeling.

The Saints’ only point came on a free throw from 6-8 junior center Sultan Adewale. To that point, Adewale’s yeoman work on the boards was the lone bright spot as Neumann-Goretti was 0-for-7 from the floor, including 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. 

“We didn’t panic, but our guys might not have realized the game had started,” veteran Saints coach Carl Arrigale said with a wry smile. “We didn’t underestimate them. We knew they’d come to play, and we knew they could shoot it.”

Arrigale called an early timeout to settle his squad.

“They got the message, but the turnaround didn’t come right away,” Arrigale said. “And Sultan started to wear them down.”

Sophomore guard Robert Wright III stroked a 3 in rhythm to end the Saints’ offensive woes. Adewale converted a pair of putbacks, Wright and fellow sophomore guard Khaafiq Myers zipped through Dallas’ defense for length of the court layups, and Wright hit another 3 to bring the Saints to within 17-15 late in the quarter.

That spurt was only a precursor of what was to come.

“We just had to stay patient and play together as a team,” Wright said.

“We knew they could play when we saw they beat (West Philadelphia) because West Philadelphia is good,” Adewale said. “I knew they weren’t big so I had to get to the boards and step up.”

Junior Bruce Smith gave the Saints a boost off the bench with consecutive corner 3s early in the second quarter. Neumann-Goretti then went on a 12-2 run to end the quarter to erase a seven-point deficit and establish a 33-30 lead. Meyers and Wright combined for 10 points.

Adewale, who was watching YouTube videos of Neumann-Goretti two years ago from his home in London, collected 10 of his game-high 16 rebounds and both his blocks in the first half.

“It was our energy and defense,” Stewart said of the turnaround. “Once we got the stops that got us going, and then in the third quarter we just took off.”

Indeed, the Saints were soaring and coming in for a landing in Hershey after blitzing the Mountaineers 29-5 in the third quarter.

Wright, who seems to be picking up high-level Division I offers by the hour, hit nothing but net on two of his career-high seven 3s in the quarter, but he left everyone in the gym in awe when he zig-zagged through Dallas’ defense and banked in a spinning, reverse layup with Picasso-like creativity.

“I felt real good shooting before the game,” said Wright, who finished with 30 points and was surprised he had made so many 3s. “I was moving to an open spot, and my teammates were finding me.”

“This year he’s a dude and he senses it when he steps on the court,” Arrigale said. “He’s playing really well, and those two (Meyers and Wright) are really special together.”

While his talented sophomores will be around for two more seasons, Arrigale couldn’t be happier his seniors will be playing for a state championship to go with their Catholic League and District 12 golds.

“These seniors are one of the most unheralded groups we’ve had, but they are two of the best kids I’ve ever coached,” said Arrigale, whose resume includes a record 12 Catholic League titles. And they know the job isn’t finished.

By Quarters
Neumann-Goretti: 15  |  18  |  29  |  15  ||  77
Dallas:                  19  |  11  |   5   |  15  ||  50

Shooting
Dallas: 20-42 overall, 7-14 3-pointers, 3-3 FTs
Neumann-Goretti: 30-54, 11-25, 6-14

Scoring
Dallas: Austin Finarelli 25, Nick Nocito 12, Michael Cumbo 9, Michael Bufalino 4.

Neumann-Goretti: Robert Wright III 30, Khaafiq Meyers 13, Sultan Adewale 13, Bruce Smith 10, Masud Stewart 7, Aamir Hurst 2, Amir Williams 2.