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Defense leads the way as Roman remains unbeaten in PCL

01/14/2023, 12:15am EST
By Ryan Coyle

Ryan Coyle (@ryancoyle35)

On a chilly January night, with temperatures outside in the low 30’s, you wouldn’t have known inside the sweltering hot Archbishop Ryan gymnasium, with everyone lucky enough to get a seat sitting shoulder to shoulder and dozens of others filling the surrounding areas of the bleachers for the matchup between Roman Catholic and Archbishop Ryan.

Chants of “You can’t do that!” and “AIRBALL!” were ringing from the Archbishop Ryan student section, giving Roman Catholic, who was playing in only their second true road game of the season, a taste of what is to come when they go on the road over the second half of their season. With trips to West Catholic and Neumann-Goretti still on the schedule, the Cahillities are sure to face similar crowds as they try to get back to the Palestra.


Anthony Finkley (above, in December) and Roman Catholic improved to 4-0 in PCL play on Friday night. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

In a thrilling back and forth battle tonight Roman Catholic (12-1, 4-0), was able to fend off a comeback effort by Archbishop Ryan (6-7, 2-2) to stay unbeaten in the Catholic League and pick up a huge road victory in overtime 57-48.

In front of a standing-room-only crowd, Chris McnNesby’s squad was able to pull out a win in a tough environment on the backs of some stellar defensive efforts.

“I mean these Catholic League games, on the road, this is what it is all about,” McNesby said. “Games like tonight is what makes our league one of the best in the country. It was a great environment, great crowd, playing against a great team, with great coaches, it was big to get a win here tonight.”

Thanks to a great team defensive effort, the Cahillites were able to leave Northeast Philly with a win, but despite their bevy of offensive stars, defense has been this teams’ calling card during the first half of their season. After Friday night’s victory, Roman is only allowing 46.3 ppg through 13 games, and they haven’t allowed more than 60 in a game all season. 

A message that McNesby has been preaching seems to be resonating with the guys in the locker room. 

“I told our guys, if you can defend you are always going to give yourself a chance,” McNesby said. “We only gave up 48 points to a really good team and it allowed us to get this win tonight.”

While Roman did escape with an overtime victory, after beating Ryan 9-0 during the extra period, it was not an easy victory in any sense of the word.

Archbishop Ryan came out in their patented 1-3-1 zone and was able to force Roman into taking some quick outside shots in the early going, but senior forward Anthony Finkley was able to knock down two first quarter trey balls against the zone, as part of his 13 point performance. Roman took a 12-11 lead into the second quarter and then began to build up their lead a little bit. 

Senior point guard Xzayvier Brown was pushing the tempo in the second quarter, causing some havoc on the defensive end and getting out on the break dropping some dimes in transition to help Roman take a 29-21 lead to the half. In the first half, Roman was able to limit Ryan’s star big man Thomas Sorber to eight points and followed their game of not allowing him any easy looks.

“He is one of the best big men in the country (Sorber), McNesby said. “We knew coming in that we had to throw a lot of our defensive attention towards him and make sure we handle that assignment to get a win. It was a good effort from our guys on the defensive end of the floor.”

Sorber was guarded by sophomore big man Shareef Jackson, who was been coming into his own during his second season of high school hoops. Whenever Sorber was able to catch it on the low block, Roman was throwing multiple bodies at him trying to get the ball out of his hands. 


Shareef Jackson (above, in December) helped defend Ryan star big man Thomas Sorber effectively. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“We knew the game plan coming in was to double him when he got the ball down low and make it tough for him to get clean looks,” Jackson said. “We knew from film and the scouting report that he loves to go to his right, so we tried the best we could to cut him off and not let him get free with his right hand.”

That buy-in on the defensive end and gameplan helped hold Sorber — who holds offers from multiple high-major programs such as Georgetown and Miami (Fl.), amongst others — to only 11 points on the night. The junior came into the night averaging 19.6 ppg.

Out of the halftime break, Roman came out hot starting off the third quarter with a 7-0 run, extending their lead to 36-21, the 15 point margin was their biggest lead of the night. 

Just when it looked like Roman was ready to pull away and take home a double-digit victory, Ryan brought out some defensive pressure and the atmosphere in the building started to intensify. Michael Paris, Darren Williams, and Mark Gallagher were all able to hit momentum shifting 3’s and convert some defensive pressure and hustle into baskets at the other end and cut the deficit from 15 points, back down to eight points heading into the fourth. 

Brown, a Saint Joseph’s commit, didn't have his best stuff on Friday night and struggled to take care of the ball against the defensive pressure that Ryan brought in the second half, turning it over twice in the third quarter, and six times total in the game which helped aid Ryan’s run to come back into the game. Finkley, a longtime friend of Brown and fellow Hawk commit, was there to step up for his teammate in the victory.

“That is one of my best friends, so when he needs me, I’m there to pick him up.” Finkley said. 

The third quarter started off with Williams throwing a lazy inbounds pass that was picked off by Jermai Stewart-Herring and taken the other way for a layup as part of his 20-point performance on the night that featured three trey balls and a dunk. 

But, Ryan was able to carry the momentum they built up in the third, over to the fourth after that opening miscue and was feeding off the energy from the crowd and cut the lead down to 41-39 with 5:12 remaining after starting the fourth quarter on a 8-2 run, with timely threes from Paris and Gallagher hitting again. 

While Sorber didn’t have his most productive offensive night, his presence was felt on the defensive end of the floor, recording five blocks on the night, including multiple two hand swats and another that got pinned off the backboard.

A Sorber block in the lane allowed Ryan to get out on the fastbreak where Paris missed a layup, but the hustling Jaden Murray was able to put it back and tie it up at 41-41. 

Roman answered with a 7-0 run of their own, with a clutch three from Finkley that gave Roman a 48-41 win with 1:31 to go, once again looking like they were set to pull away. Ryan then answered with their own 7-0 run over a 28 second span thanks to a few Roman turnovers and a 3-pointer from Darren Williams at the top of they key to make it 48-48. 

The Cahillites held the ball from 1:03 to 9.9 seconds and called a timeout. They drew up a play that broke down and resulted in a floater from Jackson that was off the mark and led to overtime. 

Over the holiday break, Roman participated in the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach and won the championship in overtime, so they knew what to expect heading into the extra session on Friday night.

That experience sure did help; Roman blanked Archbishop Ryan with the help of two missed front ends of one and one’s, and the Roman defense did the rest. Finkley had a clutch bucket on the left block after backing down his defender on the wing and Roman went 5-of-6 from the line to help them pull away.

With games still coming up against PCL heavyweights West Catholic and Neumann Goretti, Roman without a doubt has the talent to earn the No. 1 seed in the PCL playoffs, but if they continue this effort and buy in on the defensive end of the floor, they can accomplish a whole lot more. While winning on the road in the PCL is always a big accomplishment, the first place Cahillites are focused on the next play. 

“My message to the guys would be we can’t just look at this game and be satisfied that we won on the road in overtime,” Finkley said. “We have to keep our focus on our goals ahead of getting to the Palestra and winning a championship.”

By Quarter
Archbishop Ryan: 11  |   21  |  31  |  48    ||  48
Roman Catholic:  12  |  29  |  39  |   48    ||  57

Shooting
Archbishop Ryan: 16/40 FG, 8/20 3PT, 8/11 FT
Roman Catholic: 20/44 FG, 7/20 3PT, 10/15 FT

Scoring
Archbishop Ryan: Paris 13, Sorber 11, Gallagher 9, Williams 8, Murray 5, Morabito 2

Roman Catholic: Stewart-Herring 20, Finkley 13, Oliver-Bush 9, Brown 8, Jackson 7


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