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Archbishop Wood puts together statement win at Neumann-Goretti

01/19/2023, 12:30am EST
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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SOUTH PHILADELPHIA — Archbishop Wood junior Jalil Bethea proclaimed before this season how excited he was about the talent the Vikings had on their roster.

The star junior — only bringing two career varsity starts into this season himself — also knew there were going to be growing pains.

“It’s all about development,” Bethea said before the season. “We’re young right now, but we’re going to be good.”

The vision is starting to come into fruition.

Wood won its fourth straight game with a statement 90-79 win over defending PCL champion Neumann-Goretti on Wednesday. Bethea poured in a game-high 31 points and was joined in double figures by junior Josh Reed (17), senior Carson Howard (15) and sophomore Deuce Maxey (11) to outlast the Saints and junior guard Robert Wright, whose 30 points paced four double-figure scorers for N-G.

“We got them learning from scratch and getting their confidence and they all feel great together,” Archbishop Wood coach John Mosco said of his squad.


Archbishop Wood junior Jalil Bethea scored 31 points Wednesday against Neumann-Goretti. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

The Vikings (7-5, 3-2 PCL) sat at 3-5 overall and 0-2 in the Catholic League less than two weeks ago. Wood’s inexperience showed in a 77-56 to Roman Catholic — now the lone unbeaten team in PCL play — as they let the Cahillites run away with things after trailing by just one at halftime. 

They followed with a 66-61 loss to Archbishop Carroll, which marked a third-straight defeat and dug a decent-sized hole for the Vikings to pull themselves out of.

Wood  started its turnaround against O’Hara on Jan. 9, then knocked off Devon Prep, took down Public League power MCS and made it four straight wins against Neumann-Goretti (9-2, 3-1) on Wednesday night. It was the Saints’ first home loss since a Feb. 7, 2020 loss to O’Hara.

“It was just leave everything in the past and keep going forward and that’s what we did today,” Bethea said. “We kept playing hard and we just stayed together. I swear if we stay together, nobody in the league can beat us. We can really win this thing.”

It all starts with Bethea, who transitioned into ‘the guy’ for Wood this offseason after averaging 13.7 ppg off the bench as a sophomore. He came into Wednesday averaging more than 21 points per game, and he’s now gone for 27, 19, 27 and 31 points, respectively, during the four-game win streak. 

“He is the best player in the league and he establishes that day-in and day-out,” Reed said.

“He’s taken a step. He’s the leader of the team and everyone follows him. “

The 6-foot-4 sniper made tough shots from the start on Wednesday, pouring in seven points in the first quarter, seven more in the second, six in the third and then 11 in the final period. He added five assists and seven rebounds to round out a terrific outing.

Mosco said he’s learning to be patient, taking buckets as they come. 

“He found himself,” Mosco said. “He got good in the role. He’s sharing. He’s trusting his teammates and the young kids settled down and made shots too.” 


Archbishop Wood senior forward Carson Howards scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

As good as Bethea was on Wednesday, it was as much about the contributions from his teammates. 

Howard, the lone returning senior, had all 15 of his points and eight of his 13 rebounds by halftime, helping the Vikings turn a 17-16 first-quarter lead into a 43-30 halftime advantage. Mosco said he was a steadying presence throughout.

Led by Maxey, the sophomore class made an impact as well. Sophomore Michael Green had eight off the bench in the second quarter. Sophomore Milan Dean only scored one bucket but grabbed nine boards and was a factor on the defensive end.

“I feel like we’re the deepest team in the league and I feel like we proved that tonight,” Reed said.

Reed had 10 of the team’s 19 points in the third quarter. He halted an N-G 11-0 run that cut the Wood lead from 15 down to four. The Saints trimmed the deficit all the way down two on an and-one by freshman Stephon Ashley-Wright (six points) before a questionably late buzzer beater three gave Wood a 62-57 advantage entering the fourth.

Bethea took advantage of the favorable call and reeled off seven more consecutive points to start the fourth. His personal 10-1 run gave the Vikings a 69-58 lead with six minutes left.

“I feel like the people in front of me the last two years I’ve been at the school, they’ve been big leaders to me and that’s how I learned from them heading into this year,” Bethea said of his role guiding the Vikings.

Senior Gus Salem added a big three in the fourth and Wood didn’t allow a Saints field goal for the first three-plus minutes of the period. After the Saints finally did get a bucket to go from senior Bruce Smith (11 points), Maxey got going, reeling off a personal 9-2 run of his own to push the lead to 81-64 with a little more than three minutes left. He had all 11 of his points in the fourth.

“I was struggling  coming up to the fourth, but in the fourth quarter I put my head down and knew, ‘We gotta win this game. We gotta get every 50-50 ball. We gotta make winning plays,’” Maxey said. “That’s what I just came out and did.”


Archbishop Wood senior Gus Salem hit a big fourth-quarter three. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

The Saints rallied as close as six, but the comeback effort came too late as the Vikings were clutch at the line. Neumann-Goretti left several points on the board with a 13-for-26 showing from the stripe, while Wood converted 15-of-17 attempts, including 7-for-7 from Bethea.

Some fans of both teams discussed a potential meeting down the line between the two teams before parting ways. Both squads certainly have eyes on the Palestra.

That’s been a realistic ambition for the Saints from the start of the season. While the talent was certainly always there for Wood, Wednesday’s win was an affirmation the Vikings are plenty capable too.

“That showed us a lot,” Maxey said. “I think that we can win the PCL if we click. I think we got a good group of guys. The talent is definitely there. And we just gotta do everything right and I think we’re gonna do it.”

Next up is Father Judge on Friday, then Archbishop Ryan, then Bonner. It will still be a long grind and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Mosco’s squad learn a few more lessons as they finish off their PCL slate.

But the goal right now is to keep things rolling and make it five wins in a row the next time they take the floor.

“We just gotta go in and practice hard every practice,” Reed said. “We can’t take nothing lightly and just take the next step.”

By Quarter

Archbishop Wood:   17   |  26  |   19   |  28  ||  90

Neumann-Goretti:     14   |  19  |   14   |  22  ||  79

Scoring

Archbishop Wood: Jalil Bethea 31, Josh Reed 17, Carson Howard 15, Deuce Maxey 11, Michael Green 8, Gus Salem 6, Milan Dean 2.

Spring-Ford: Rob Wright 30, Sultan Adewale 12, Khaafiq Myers 11, Amir Williams 11, Bruce Smith 9, Stephon Ashley-Wright 6.


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