City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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To get an idea of what Anthony Hobbs means to Cardinal O’Hara’s basketball team, one only needed to hear the Lions’ roar.

The loud cheer that emerged from O’Hara’s locker room about 10 minutes after the Lions finished off a 60-53 win over St. Joseph’s Prep wasn’t due to the win: it was because it was Hobbs who was summoned for a post-game interview.

“The guys love him,” O’Hara coach Ryan Nemetz explained. “Hobbs is always in the gym, always hanging out with the guys, the guys love him, [he’s got] a great personality. They were happy for him, and he helped us get a win.”

“We were just excited for him,” said the Lions’ star senior wing, Iona-bound Izaiah Pasha. “That’s his first time, all of the stuff he’s been through, lack of confidence and playing, that’s the first time he has an interview and I’m excited for him.”

Hobbs was certainly instrumental in O’Hara’s win on Super Bowl Sunday, the reserve junior guard calmly stepping to the line with 30 seconds left, his team holding a one-point lead, and making both ends of a 1-and-1 to help the Lions close out the victory. Those were the last of his six points, including a layup in the second quarter and a bucket through contact in the third, and certainly his two biggest.

“Any time you come off the bench and you’re not playing a ton of minutes, it’s very hard to get in a rhythm, so he’s in a tough spot,” Nemetz said. “Throughout the season he’s had games where he’s helped us win in key spots: Allentown Central Catholic early in the year; [against Archbishop] Carroll, he played really well. He’s mentally tough, he puts the time in in the gym and he’s super-confident — to make two free-throws to help us close out the game, it was good to see.

“He’s a guy that everybody seems to flock to in terms of like, just conversation and everything, so you know he’s got a good personality and a good heart,” the Lions’ coach added. “And he’s obviously a tough-minded kid.”

Typically the Lions’ seventh or eighth man, Hobbs is in his first year on the varsity roster, the West Philly resident and St. Pius X (Broomall) product having played freshman and then JV ball in his first two years. 

O’Hara (15-7, 7-5) has a number of featured scorers in Pasha, who went for a game-high 22 points against the Prep (16-6, 9-4), as well as junior guard Aasim ‘Flash’ Burton (12 points), senior guard Josh Coulanges (9 points) and junior forward Pearse McGuinn (9 points), all of whom have all-Catholic League potential when league honors are announced.

Hobbs’ role might be limited to a few minutes here and there to spot Burton, Coulanges or senior Christian Cervellero, but there can’t be much dropoff in the high-level Catholic League, where he’s got to handle himself with composure against future Division I guards in almost every game.

“My role is to bring energy, play defense, keep my man in front and make big-time plays for my seniors, help my seniors win,” he said. “They’ve been mentors for me, saying to be confident when I’m shooting the ball, always shoot the ball when I’m open, make the right plays.”

Hobbs’ foul shots were huge ones in a back-and-forth game which saw O’Hara give up a seven-point lead it held going into the fourth quarter, Prep going up by a couple scores with four minutes left. 

The Hawks didn’t have a great shooting day, going 21-of-48 (43.7%), but got solid performances from junior forward Tristen Guillouette (14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks), sophomore guard Jaron McKie (13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists) and junior guard Matt Gorman (13 points, 2 assists).

Izaiah Pasha (above) goes up for the layup while St. Joe's Prep forward Tristen Guillouette defends. (Photo: Dan Hilferty/CoBL)

Pasha got the Lions back on top, following a corner 3-pointer by corralling an errant Prep pass and taking it the length for an easy layup, making it a 54-53 game with a little over a minute to play. The Lions forced a stop on the other end and the ball ended up in Hobbs’ hands, sending him to the line for his clutch foul shots. 

They were redemptive ones, as well: Hobbs found himself in a similar situation, O’Hara up one point against Neumann-Goretti in January, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1; Robert Wright III hit the game-winning layup with three seconds left to deal the Lions a loss in a game they’d led by 21 points. This time he made sure not to give Prep any momentum.

“[I told myself] ‘just be patient,’” he said. “If I make these free throws, we’re going to win the game, and [to] have confidence shooting foul shots.”

O’Hara still had to close out the Prep, getting two more stops, Burton coming up with a key block with under 20 seconds to play while hitting all four foul attempts in that time to provide the game’s final margin. 

A 6-2 guard and Division I prospect, Burton added to his scoring with five rebounds and four assists; McGuinn (9 rebounds), Pasha (8 rebounds), Coulanges (4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) and point guard Christian Cervellero (2 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals) all appeared all over the box score; McGuinn and Cervellero each had a block as well.

The win earned O’Hara the the No. 7 seed in the Catholic League playoffs, with a matchup against No. 10 seed and Delco rival Bonner-Prendergast in Wednesday’s Catholic League first round. 

Prep finished the regular season as the No. 5 seed in the PCL, the loss costing them a home game in the league quarterfinals; instead, they’ll travel to Archbishop Wood on Friday for the right to play in the Palestra. 

For O’Hara to make the Cathedral of College Basketball for the first time since 1998, when they finished as runner-ups to Father Judge, it would take a win over Bonner and the one over No. 2 seed Roman Catholic in the quarterfinals. O’Hara led Roman for most of the first half of their regular-season meeting, but the Cahillites closed strong in a 59-41 victory.

“We’ve still got to hope to make it to the Palestra,” Pasha said. “I do see us making it to the palestra with who we have in front of us next for the playoff game, and all those other top teams we already played, we were up 20 before on (Neumann-Goretti). We know what we have to do to keep that lead and make it to the Palestra, so it gives us confidence.”

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By Quarter
Cardinal O’Hara:   19  |  14  |  13  |  14  ||  60
St. Joseph’s Prep: 16  |  12  |  11  |  14  ||  53

Shooting
Cardinal O’Hara: 22-50 FG (6-16 3PT), 10-12 FT
St. Joseph’s Prep: 21-48 FG (5-18 3PT), 5-9 FT

Scoring
Cardinal O’Hara: Izaiah Pasha 22, Aasim ‘Flash’ Burton 12, Josh Coulanges 9, Pearse McGuinn 9, Anthony Hobbs 6, Christian Cervellero

St. Joseph’s Prep: Tristen Guillouette 14, Matt Gorman 13, Jaron McKie 13, Jalen Harper 6, Jordan Ellerbee 4, Olin Chamberlain Jr. 3

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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