City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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POTTSTOWN – Sultan Adewale’s performance elicited an almost mystified response from the athletic trainers sitting courtside.

“Where does he keep coming from?”

It was an apt question, especially with the way the Neumann-Goretti forward continued to appear again and again to grab a missed shot off the glass and score. Adewale nearly had a double-double in the third quarter alone in a dominant second half effort that helped send the Saints back to Hershey.

Adewale is Neumann-Goretti’s one of one and once he got back to playing with it, there wasn’t much Allentown Central Catholic could do to stop the Saints from marching to a 67-49 win in their PIAA 4A semifinal at Pottstown High School.

“In the locker room, I knew I had to play harder and smarter,” Adewale said. “They were sending a lot of double teams at me, so I had to go and get it myself and just be that guy.

“So, that’s what I did. That’s the guy I’ve been all year.”

The 6-foot-8 forward posted 15 points, 14 rebounds, an assist and five blocks and totally took over the game in the third quarter with nine points and nine rebounds. It was a feat that had the Saints coaches marveling in the hall before they went in to address the team and one Adewale was shocked to hear afterward.

Considering he’d only had four points total in the first half, it was a huge turnaround as the Saints took a 30-23 lead at halftime and pushed it out to a 47-35 lead when Adewale put back a Robert Wright III miss at the quarter buzzer. In the first half, Adewale was almost trying to do too much on offense and simplifying his approach after halftime did the trick.

“He’s a big difference maker in this tournament, there aren’t a lot of teams that have a guy quite like him,” Saints coach Carl Arrigale said. “In the first quarter, he was bringing the ball down a little bit and just not really sharp. He was hitting the glass a little bit making it a little too hard on himself, which he does sometimes.”

Neumann-Goretti started the game trying to get the ball into Adewale but it wasn’t long before the Saints’ speed on the perimeter started setting the pace. Wright III led all scorers with 24 points, the Baylor-bound junior racking up nine points in an 18-10 first quarter while the returning Khaafiq Myers had seven of his nine points in the first half.

Myers, who has been battling a nagging ankle issue most of the season and hadn’t played yet in the state tournament, had a solid overall return with nine points and three assists that all led to three-point buckets. There was a key juncture in the first half, after ACC had made a 7-0 run to close the lead to 20-17 early in the second quarter, where Myers’ presence was felt.

“It’s nice to have his steady influence,” Arrigale said. “He’s still not 100 percent but just to have him out there, he can settle us down and get guys the ball. When they had that 7-0 run, he was the first guy that spoke up, said that was their run right there and we’ll be fine.”

Neumann-Goretti went to Adewale to start the game and again to start the third quarter. His first touch led to a double and a kick-out to Wright III that set up a scoring drive.

The next time Adewale touched the ball, he got a bucket and a foul that kicked off a personal 7-0 run with the latter four points coming on a pair of put-backs. It couldn’t have come at a better time either, Allentown Central Catholic having cut the lead to 32-30 on the previous possession on a strong take by Jahrel Vigo, who led the Vikings with 17 points.

“I was being aggressive on the glass, knowing there’s no one really like me, I had to take advantage of that,” Adewale said. “As soon as I got those first points in the third quarter, I knew how I was going to end the game. It felt right.”

Arrigale was not pleased with his team’s defense in Friday’s quarterfinal round so the last two days were not especially fun in the Saints’ gym getting ready for the Vikings.

“Defense and energy, we were just playing mad lazy,” Adewale said. “When we play with energy, I don’t think there’s many teams in the country that can beat us.

“Practice was really, really hard because they were so angry at us. If we’d had a bad practice, they would have shouted at us and nobody wants to be shouted at. We came out tougher, we knew we were the better team and we played like it.”

While Neumann-Goretti didn’t necessarily shoot well in the first half - the Saints were 11-of-31 - they ended the night 25-of-61 from the floor. Even more notable was that they took 21 more attempts than their opponent, Allentown Central Catholic hitting on 22-of-40 attempts.

Some of that was due to a lack of turnovers, with Wright and Myers handling the ball, the Saints rarely gave it up and some was their efforts on the glass. Adewale grabbed five of his nine rebounds in the third and nine of his 14 overall off the offensive glass, the last finally prompting the question of how and why he kept appearing to snare yet another board.

Neumann-Goretti will play in the Class 4A title game Friday night at 8 p.m. against WPIAL power Lincoln Park.

“I want to end my senior year with a state championship,” Adewale said. “We talk about ending on the right note and that’s what I feel we’ll do.”

By Quarter
Neumann-Goretti:       18  |  12  |  17  |  20  ||  67
Allentown Cent. Cath: 10  |  13  |  12  |  14  ||  49

Scoring
NG: Robert Wright III 24, Sultan Adewale 15, Amir Williams 14, Khaafiq Myers 9, Stephon Ashley-Wright 5

ACC: Jahrel Vigo 17, Nico Pulleri 16, Lucas Mushrush 8, Anthony Jones 2, Griffin Patridge 2, Cole Cook 2, NaSean Davis 2