City of Basketball Love

Ryan Coyle (@RyanCoyle35)
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When a young and inexperienced basketball team like Archbishop Wood begins to have their first taste of major success, Wood head coach John Mosco knows it is easy to become too high and lose focus on the task at hand. 

Archbishop Wood went to Neumann-Goretti on Tuesday night and knocked off the powerhouse Saints in an upset victory and showed the potential they have when they put it all together. The task then became making sure the Vikings turned the page and defended their home court against Father Judge on Friday night, not getting too high after a big win and not focusing enough on the task at hand. 

“We were worried about a potential fall back spot in this one after Tuesday night,” Mosco said. “But, we told them ‘Listen, we have not defended our homecourt well at all. If we want to be a high-level team, we have to defend our homecourt.’”

Wood did just that on Friday night without much of a fight from Judge, defeating the Crusaders 88-57 in a wire-to-wire win. Jalil Bethea continued his recent hot play with 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists in the victory. 

After dropping a home game to Archbishop Carroll on January 6, 66-61 it has been a major talking point in the Vikings’ locker room that in the always-competitive Catholic League that it’s integral to win on your home floor. One loss at home was already one too many.

“We came into this game knowing we had to protect home court,” Bethea said. “Coach has been saying that to us and we knew that was something we needed to do in this game. That’s what we did. We came out from the start and protected our home court.”

Wood (8-5, 4-2) delivered the first punch in the fight and Judge (6-5, 2-3) wasn’t able to land any punches back for most of the night. The Vikings started out red hot going up 10-2 early, forcing Judge head coach Chris Roantree to use an early timeout. The combination of Bethea and East Stroudsburg-bound senior forward Carson Howard combined for 17 points in the first quarter, as the Vikings led 27-13 heading into the second.

After Tuesday’s momentum-building victory, Mosco was intrigued to see if his group could continue that momentum and do the little things consistently that has led to five straight victories.

Between their on court chemistry, preparation at practice and in the film room, and the tenacity that the Vikings have been playing with since that Carroll loss two weeks back the arrow is looking like it is pointing up for Wood.

“We are starting to really come together as a group,” Mosco said. “We started out slow, but you are starting to really see those pieces work well together as they get more experience in these games. We had to slow down with this group and really talk over what we want to do, how we want to do it, and just go over a lot of the basics with these guys. 

“They are still young, still learning. We have been spending a lot more time now that they are up to speed on stuff on scouting and analyzing our opponents and their players and they are really paying attention.”

A major point of emphasis coming into the game for Wood was to defend the 3-point line, because according to Mosco, Judge has been shooting around 45% from downtown on the season. Wood was able to contain the Crusaders outside shooting, holding them to 7-of-21 from deep (33%), below their season average.

Bethea showed on both ends of the floor why he has offers to UCLA, Miami, and Seton Hall amongst others on Friday night hitting tough shot after tough shot from all different spots on the floor. Still only a junior, he is letting his name be known to the rest of the Philadelphia basketball scene.

“I just wanted to show people who Jalil Bethea is,” Bethea noted. “Over the past few years, nobody really knew my name. This is my breakout year and I want everyone to know who I am.” 

Over his last five games, Bethea is averaging 26.6 ppg, staking his claim as one of the best players in the Catholic League. Put his scoring aside though for a moment, as Mosco is attributing a lot of the “little things” Bethea is doing to the Vikings recent hot play.

“When your best player, Jalil Bethea comes out and has five or six assists and goes out and grabs ten rebounds too and he is doing all the little things, that helps out a lot.” Mosco said.

Bethea and Howard (21 points) combined for 50 points on the night in Wood’s 31-point victory. The junior standout out though noted his teammates have all been stepping up their game and playing at a high-level during this stretch: sophomore Deuce Maxey had 9 points, sophomore Milan Dean Jr. had 7 points, and senior Gus Salem had 7 points helping aid the Vikings victory.

As this young bunch that only plays three seniors in Howard, Salem, and Clemson football commit Markus Dixon consistent minutes, the growing chemistry on the floor is evident to their success.

“The reason behind why the guys are playing well right now is because they are all coming together and sharing the ball,” Mosco said. “When you come together, share the ball, and play hard you are tough to beat.”

An area to critique in Archbishop Wood’s victory over Judge is their fouling on the defensive end of the floor, as they allowed Judge to shoot 37 free throws on the night, converting 23 of them.

Junior wing LaQuan Byrd led Judge with 19 points and sophomore guard Kevair Kennedy had a strong performance as well with 12 points.

While the Vikings now are riding a five-game winning streak and sitting in fourth place in the PCL, the focus begins to shift to Archbishop Ryan (8-7, 4-2), who Wood will battle with on Monday night. In a pivotal game for the league standings, in what could potentially be the difference maker between a home or away quarterfinal round matchup, the Vikings have revenge on their mind in this one as the Raiders knocked them out of the PCL playoffs on their homecourt last season. 

Bethea, showing maturity beyond his years knows they have to have a next play type of mentality and can’t be reminiscing on tonight’s stellar performance.

“I think the main focus with us right now is to just not get too high,” Bethea said. “We can’t get too hype just because we are playing well and winning. We haven’t done anything yet, this is just the start. We need to just stay humble and keep moving forward.”

While the scouting and attention to detail within the program has ramped up over this recent hot stretch of basketball, the Vikings know they have a tall task on their hands with stopping PCL MVP candidate Thomas Sorber on Monday night and the game plan is sure to focus on stopping the junior averaging a double-double from Archbishop Ryan. 

“We know going into that game that we can’t let one person beat us,” Bethea said. “We just have to stay together and keep playing how we have been playing over these last couple of games. I am confident in the way we are working together and excited to see what we can do going forward.”

While things are trending positively for Wood, Mosco and his staff know nothing comes easy in the PCL.

“I like the direction we are going if we keep doing what is helping us win these games and that is playing together and sharing the ball,” Mosco said. “But, every game is a different game. We can’t bank on playing every game like we did tonight, you have to come ready to go every night in this league. We have a big game coming up next week now against Ryan so it is a quick turn around from this one. It is a war every night and you have to be ready to play.” 

By Quarter
Archbishop Wood:  27  |  28  |  22  |  11  ||  88
Father Judge:         13  |  16  |  23  |   5   ||  57

Shooting
Archbishop Wood: 35-58 FG (4-16 3PT), 14-15 FT
Father Judge: 14-47 FG (7-21 3PT), 23-37 FT 

Scoring
Archbishop Wood: Bethea 29, Howard 21, Maxey 9, Dean 7, Salem 7, Green 6, Dixon 3, Reed 2, Garder 2, Howell 2

Father Judge: Byrd 19, Kennedy 12, Jones 7, Morton-Rivera 6, McCusker 5, Lilly 2, Westfield 2, Brennan 2, Shelton 1, Lasso 1