City of Basketball Love

Jerome Taylor (@ThatGuy_Rome)
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WEST PHILADELPHIA — Robert Cottrell has spent much of the season adjusting to a new role, and Saturday afternoon that role got some additional responsibilities. 

With regular starters Jermai Stewart-Herring and Erik Oliver-Bush ineligible for the state tournament due to transfer rules, the Cahillites are missing a combined 21.6ppg, 9.3 rebounds, and a lot of defensive versatility. So Cottrell and others have to make up for the loss of production if the reigning Philadelphia Catholic League and City champions want to have a deep state tournament run. 

“It’s a big change, it feels like a whole new team,” Cottrell said. “Missing E and Jermai, that’s offensive rebounds, defense, everything, so we got to pick that up.” 

Cottrell scored 14 points in Roman’s 70-31 rout over Perkiomen Valley on Saturday at West Philadelphia HS In the first round of the PIAA 6A tournament.

Twelve of his 14 points came in the first quarter, all from behind the three-point line, as the junior went 4-for-4 from deep. 

“I was it feeling it during pregame,” Cottrell said.  “As soon as I walked in the gym, I hit a shot, and I said, ‘yeah I feel good tonight.’” 

After being a standout at Mastery Simon-Gratz, Cottrell has spent the season adjusting to Roman and coming off the bench. 

The junior had to get used to playing off the ball on the court, considering Xzayvier Brown (13 points) holds down the point guard spot. The result was that Cottrell averaged 5.9 ppg in 16 minutes during the regular season. Still, he credits Roman’s program for taking him to another level and preparing him for the role he’s taking on during the state tournament.

“It was hard, really hard l had to get used to my role,” Cottrell said. “At Roman, the competition is way better, but they were teaching me all the little stuff — boxing out, moving without the basketball, playing together.”

“He’s been able to follow X, see how he does things around the school, see how he plays, see how he runs a team, see how he talks on defense,” Roman head coach Chris McNesby added. 

Roman didn’t need any of Brown’s late-game heroics on Saturday, but his presence was felt differently. As a senior leader Brown set the tone for the program every day at practice, and McNesby thinks that’s why Roman’s depth has delivered so far. 

“Our leadership is phenomenal, [Other players] believe in Xzayvier and [Anthony Finkley], and X and Ant have confidence in those guys,” McNesby said. 

“So it’s not exactly next man up. They believe in each other.”

Cottrell wasn’t the only Cahillite to heat up against Perkiomen Valley. Sebastian Edwards led all scorers with 15 points, Will Felder had 10 points, and Shareef Jackson finished the game with six points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.

“Every day in practice they’ve battled, and they all know what they can do, and they went out and did it, and [these games are] really good experience for them,” McNesby said.

Next up for Roman will be District 1’s Lower Merion, who defeated Williamsport Saturday afternoon. 

“We have to treat every game like it’s the championship,” Cottrell said, emphasizing the stakes of the state tournament. 

By Quarter
Roman Catholic:    19  |  24  |  12  |  15  ||  70
Perkiomen Valley:   7   |   4   |   5   |  15  ||  31

Scoring
Roman: Edwards 15, Cottrell 14, Brown 13, Felder 10, Sammy Jackson 6, Shareef Jackson 6, Ezeukwa 2, Hillman 2, Finkley 2

Perkiomen Valley: Sadler 8, Shawaluk 8, Harken 5, Thear 4, McKinney 4, Wagner 2,