City of Basketball Love

Jared Leveson (@jared_leveson)
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PHILADELPHIA — Shareef Jackson’s gotten Roman Catholic back on track after the Cahilites’ surprising loss to St. Joseph’s Prep on February 10. 

The 18-point loss was a hard adjustment for Roman who had only lost one game to Neuman-Goretti the week prior. 

“Right now it's actually very much of a turning point,” the 6-foot-7 sophomore said. “ (We) came into the year pretty strong and started to lose some at the end of the year and it's more about just figuring out what we’ve been doing wrong coming into these playoffs.

“I wouldn't say it fully covers up the loss to St. Joe’s because that was a very big loss. But even still, it feels good to get one more win to take home.” 

With Jackson’s emergence as a distributor and offensive initiator, Roman looked like it had figured out what went wrong against Prep in its regular season finale against Archbishop Carroll Sunday afternoon. Jackson dissected Carroll’s defense with his vision and pounded them on the boards with his size. 

The Cahilites’ 72-52 win over the Patriots tied a nice bow on an excellent regular season and primed Roman for a deep PCL tournament run. 

“We just wanted to be playing well down the stretch,” head coach Chris McNesby said. “It's good to win our final game of the regular season and hopefully gives us some momentum for the playoffs.” 

Barring an upset, Roman (19-3, 11-2) will host Cardinal O’Hara (15-6, 8-5) in the upcoming PCL tournament quarterfinal; if Bonner-Prendergast (12-9, 4-9) upsets O’Hara in that first-round game, the Cahillites will take on either Archbishop Carroll (14-8, 7-6) or Father Judge (10-10, 6-7). No matter who they play, if Jackson replicates his performance on Sunday, Roman will be in a good position to advance. 

Jacskon totaled 14 points on a nearly perfect  7-of-8 shooting from the field. The Division I prospect dominated the glass also, pulling down eight rebounds (four offensive). 

But the big-man made the biggest impact on the game with his vision and distribution. Jackson dished out six assists, finding open teammates with a combination of long outlet passes, from the high post and feeding down low, or making the one-more pass to an open shooter on the wing.

Carroll’s undersized compared to Roman who has Jackson and the 6-foot-7 Anthony Finkley (three assists). Head coach Francis Bowe had to double Roman’s two trees whenever they received the ball in the high or low-post because of their size disadvantage.   

Jackson took advantage. 

“I knew I was gonna get doubled,” he said. “I wasn't gonna really get good opportunities so it's always passing out when they are trying to double you because (when) two guys come at you, one guy is always going to be open.”

Jackson learned a lot from Finkley this season and the pair have grown together on the offensive end, figuring out how to best play with one another. 

“He’s taught me a lot (about) playing together,” Jackson said about his senior teammate, Finkley. “This year I’ve actually been learning how to play around each other like when he’s on the box, (I’m) making sure that I get open (and trying) to make it easier for him to get to the basket and same thing for him, whenever I'm on the box he’s always cutting.” 

The sophomore also aspires to emulate Finkley’s passing ability. 

“At the beginning of the year I wasn't expecting someone like Ant to be such a great passer,” he continued, “but he’s really keen on how to you get you the ball and where you get it at because a lot of the time you get it down to the big guy (and) they throw it at their feet or they throw it at like this weird angle. He knows how to get it to the big guy correctly and try to play off of that.”

Jackson’s evolved since his freshman campaign at Roman which saw him serve as a defensive rebounder and paint protector. He didn’t need to be that guy because Roman had Dan Skillings (Cincinnati) and Khalil Farmer (Hofstra). 

But with Killings and Farmer gone and playing with Finkley everyday, the sophomore has absorbed a lot. He’s seen himself grow into a distributor and aggressor as the season’s progressed. 

“I was still a little bit like last year (in the beginning) where I was still laying low and trying to see what the others would do first,” Jackson said. “But now late in the year, I’ve seen we’re going to need that more aggressive type of player to go to the basket. Whenever (I) get the ball, (I’m) not just trying to look around, look for the passes, look for the assists. (I’m trying) to get the ball (and) try to score first but try to create off of that because we truly have all these great scorers and we need someone to get those passes out so we can get those scoring opportunities.”  

“Now it's more of this offensive (style), trying to force pressure on them (which) creates better opportunities for me or the other players on my team.” 

Jackson put those words to action against Carroll. His vision was effective in transition and in half-court sets. He got Roman’s bunch of talented and dynamic scorers involved, racking up the assists.

“When we play through him,” McNesby added. “It’s really good for us.”

Jerami Stewart-Herring led Roman’s offense with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, Xzavier Brown (St. Joe’s) contributed 17 points going 6-of-13 from the field, and Eric Oliver-Bush added 12 points as well. 

Roman’s largest offensive out-put came in the second quarter where they piled on 27 points, which gave them a 39-31 lead at the half. The Cahilites outscored Carroll 19-12 in the third quarter and led 58-43 going into the final frame. 

Jackson added six points, four rebounds and two assists in the final quarter, shutting down Carroll’s attempts at a late-run. 

Since day-one McNesby preached that playing gritty and tough together would be the key for Roman’s success. Jackson and his teammates executed on that front today.

Roman emphasized that grittier side of the game going into the final quarter. The Cahilites out rebounded the Patriots 20-13 and forced eight turnovers, despite giving the ball away themselves 10 times. 

To avoid more surprising losses like the one to St. Joseph’s Prep, Jackson knows that they’ll need similar performances from himself like the one he had on Sunday. But the budding star knows where his focus has to be if Roman is to make a deep PCL and state tournament run. 

“As coach McNesby said,” Jackson added “The best team doesn't win off points or three’s they win off of defense, win off of toughness, fifty-fifty balls, (and playing) with all your heart.” 

By Quarter
AC: 17 | 14 | 12 | 9 || 52
RC: 12 | 27 | 19 | 14 || 72

Scoring
AC: Williams 13, West 12, Rogers 9, Coleman-Newsome 8, Alleyne 4, Ralls 3, Deegan 2, Dixon 1

RC: Stewart-Herring 20, Brown 17, Jackson 14, Oliver-Bush 12, Finkley 3, Felder 2, Edwards 2