City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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WARMINSTER — It was a fourth quarter that might have saved Archbishop Wood’s season.

Trailing Devon Prep by 13 at home going into the final frame of a Catholic League matchup on Thursday night, Wood’s boys were at risk of falling into an early 1-3 hole in the PCL, with a difficult stretch upcoming, one that could potentially break a young-but-talented team that’s still learning how to play together.

Instead, the Vikings rallied, about as hard as they could. Led once again by its rising star junior guard Jalil Bethea and a staunch defensive effort, Wood completely shut out the Tide in the fourth quarter, turning things around for a 57-50 win.

“I just (told the team) ‘you stuck with the game plan and we trusted each other,’ which we weren’t doing in the first half of the year,” Wood coach John Mosco said. “First half of the year, that could have been a 20-point loss [...] they’re maturing.”

It was a shutout fourth quarter for Wood (5-5, 2-2), which gave up 20 points in the third quarter and then turned around and scored that amount in the final eight minutes, not letting Devon Prep (9-4, 2-2) add a single point onto its total.

The Vikings held the Tide to 0-9 shooting in the fourth quarter, making sure a Prep squad that had been hitting the offensive glass well all game didn’t get any more second-chance opportunities, putting just a little more effort into their full-court press.

“I think in the third and the fourth, we just competed better,” Mosco said. “Even in the third, we gave up points, but they were competing, they were challenging everything. They’re a tough guard when they’re making shots [...] we ended up making some adjustments and the kids listened, we were able to get some steals or get some rebounds and get some easy baskets.”

The momentum started turning early in the quarter, Wood going on a quick 7-0 run, including a 3-pointer by sophomore Deuce Maxey, who finished with 14 points, to cut it to a six-point deficit with six minutes to play. Prep tried to stall, running its offensive sets through and through, looking for only a good shot, but open looks weren’t there; meanwhile, Wood’s empty possessions were rare.

“They were off, they weren’t in a rhythm, they were just missing and we were getting rebounds and transition buckets,” Bethea said. “We were switching everything, just being way more aggressive than we were [in] the first half.”

Wood kept chipping away until junior guard Ihsan Beyan came up with a steal-and-score with 1:56 remaining to tie it up. Wood’s next time down the floor, Carson Howard came up with an offensive rebound in the middle of the lane and found Bethea on the right wing; the junior knocked down the shot, his only 3-pointer of the evening.

“Game on the line, got to get the rebound, kick it out to my best shooter and he knocks it down,” said Howard, the East Stroudsburg-bound big man, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds, plus two assists. “It was a huge play for him, knocking down the shot.”

Bethea added four foul shots in the final 80 seconds to cap off the win, finishing with a game-high 19 points, plus 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals. The Tide did a great job on him defensively for much of the first three quarters, forcing him into tough off-balance jumpers and rushed 3-point attempts, but he was 7-of-7 from the line and showed his playmaking abilities.

“They did a great job on Jalil, doubling him, but once he trusted everybody and kept moving, it got better,” Mosco said. 

“I think he’s a super-underrated passer (but) people don’t look at him like that,” Howard said. “He’s a great player, great teammate to play with.”

Ty Mishock led Devon with 17 points, scoring all of them in the first half, adding four rebounds and four assists. Senior wing Lucas Orchard added 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists; junior Ben Costello and sophomore Zane Conlon added eight apiece. The Tide play three of their next four on the road, hosting St. Joe’s Prep (Jan. 20) between games at Judge (Jan. 16), La Salle (Jan. 22) and Roman (Jan. 26).

Even though it’s still only mid-January, it was an important win for Archbishop Wood, which beat O’Hara on the road Monday to avoid losing its first three games in the league. If the Vikings had dropped this one, any momentum built from earlier in the week would have been lost; with Neumann-Goretti, Father Judge and Archbishop Ryan next up on the schedule, that 1-3 could have become 1-6 all too easily.

Instead, they’re back to .500 in the league, feeling good after winning their last two, even though there’s plenty of work to be done.

“We haven’t really played a full game yet [...] and it doesn’t get easier,” Mosco said. 

By Quarter
Devon Prep: 12  |  18  |  20  |   0   ||  50
Arch. Wood: 12  |  10  |  15  |  20  ||  57

Shooting
Devon Prep: 16-45 FG (10-29 3PT), 8-12 FT
Arch. Wood: 20-45 FG (6-19 3PT), 11-13 FT

Scoring
Devon Prep: Mishock 17, Orchard 10, Conlon 8, Costello 8, Doyle 5, Scarpulla 2

Arch. Wood: Bethea 19, Maxey 14, Howard 8, Salem 8, Reed 6, Beyan 2