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PIAA 6A: Brown leads Roman past Wood, back into state championship game

03/22/2023, 1:45am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

BENSALEM Xzayvier Brown has thrived in fourth quarters for his entire high school career. 

As a freshman, the baby-faced guard made his first big statement on the local stage when he hit four clutch foul shots in the closing minutes of a win over a terrific Methacton squad at the Diane Mosco Classic. In the years since he’s gone from talented young prospect to one of the leaders on the Catholic League champions, a St. Joe’s signee and one of the city’s best players. 

And the fourth quarter is still his time to shine.


Xzayvier Brown (above) had 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter as Roman beat Wood in a PIAA 6A semifinal. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

In a PIAA 6A semifinal game against Catholic League rival Archbishop Wood, Brown had a monster fourth quarter to extend his high school career to one final game. The 6-foot-3 point guard helped his team slam the door shut as the shorthanded Cahillites held off the Vikings in a 66-56 win at a packed gym at Bensalem High School.

Roman will play Reading, which dispatched Spring-Ford 53-32 in another semifinal Tuesday evening, in Saturday night’s state championship game at the GIANT Center in Hershey.

Brown almost single-handedly delivered Roman’s third win over Wood this season, scoring 15 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter, which Roman began with a two-point edge but quickly pulled away. Brown got to the rim at will, hitting the only four shots the Cahillites scored in the final period, the rest all coming from the foul line.

“I think I’ve worked on being more aggressive, but I don’t ever think ‘take over,’” he said. “I just try to do what my team needs, and sometimes it just happens. I guess it happened tonight.”

While also guarding Wood standout junior Jalil Bethea all night long, Brown still had the legs to knife to the hoop for a layup, then follow up his own miss from 3-point range with a bucket to make it an eight-point game with just over four minutes left. He then hit a foul shot, Roman grabbing the offensive rebound on the second, and Brown got another bucket to push the advantage to 11 with three minutes to play.

By the time he tacked on his final four points from the foul line in the game’s last two minutes, the Wood fans were already headed for the exits. 

“I know he wanted to have a big senior year,” Roman coach Chris McNesby said. “He’s put in work, a lot of extra work, he’s put in a lot of work in the weight room. I don’t think he’s looking forward, he’s living in the present, he wants to win a state title and worry about the future later.”

That freshman year, ahead of the COVID pandemic, Brown was able to come along slowly in a backcourt that also included sophomore Justice Williams and senior Lynn Greer III, who’ll be his teammate once again at St. Joe’s. As a sophomore and junior, he teamed up with two more Division I players, shooting guard Khalil Farmer (Hofstra) and wing Dan Skillings (Cincinnati), who were the leaders on last year’s state champions, Brown right alongside them.

“My freshman year, being 14 and playing with Lynn and Justice, I couldn’t have stepped into a better situation, able to learn how to command and be a leader,” Brown said. “Dan and Khalil, they’re not guards like me, but just the senior leadership, that’s something I took along from them.”

That the Cahillites (27-3) are in the state championship game after winning it last year and then capturing the Catholic League title this year doesn’t quite tell the full story. Roman’s been playing this offseason without the availability of senior wings Erik Oliver-Bush and Jermai Stewart-Herring, both of whom transferred in last offseason and did not receive waivers for postseason eligibility; that’s moved junior guard Robert Cottrell and sophomore wing Will Felder into the starting lineup, with only some little-used underclassmen behind them.

“It fuels a lot, because people kind of underestimate us, I didn’t think today people were thinking we would win,” Brown said. “Erik and Jermai, they’re our dogs, our role dogs, but I think the younger guys stepped up.”

“It’s just a little bit of hey, everyone has picked against us, but I looked at it like as long as we have Xzayvier Brown, we have a chance,” McNesby said. “He controls tempo, he dictates pace, he puts everybody in the right spot.”


Robert Cottrell (above) had 15 points, four rebounds and three assists. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Freshman Bryce Hillman served as Roman’s sixth man in Tuesday night’s win, coming up with an assist on a Cottrell 3-pointer just ahead of the half; sophomore Sebastian Edwards and freshman Sammy Jackson — young brother of sophomore center Shareef Jackson — have also seen minutes during the playoffs.

Cottrell, a 5-10 guard, had 15 points, getting 10 of those from the charity stripe. Senior forward Anthony Finkley, who’ll join Brown at St. Joe’s next year, had 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists, throwing down two massive dunks in the third quarter to help Wood stay level in a game that was nip-and-tuck the whole opening 24 minutes. Shareef Jackson had 8 points and 11 rebounds, battling inside against Wood’s Carson Howard (6 points, 7 rebounds).

Wood got an outstanding effort from Bethea, who despite Brown’s best efforts went for 23 points (on 13 shots) and 14 rebounds, hitting four 3-pointers on seven attempts, showing why he’s got all sorts of high-major programs on his recruitment, including a coach from Seton Hall there on Tuesday night.

“It’s fun because I know him personally, that’s my friend, we’ve played together a lot. He’s a great player, his ceiling is through the roof,” Brown said.  “He can pretty much do everything, I just try to stay as close to him as possible. If you give him space, it’s over with.”


Jalil Bethea (above) had 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead Wood. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

It was otherwise a tough shooting night for the Vikings, who other than Bethea were 12-of-44 (27.2%) from the floor and 5-of-19 (26.3%) from the 3-point arc. Sophomore Milan Dean Jr. added 11 points and four rebounds, the only other Wood player in double figures.

“I thought Jalil wasn’t able to play freely, they were holding and grabbing him all night and I don’t even know if he went to the foul line, maybe on the technicals, that’s about it,” Wood coach John Mosco said. “We weren’t getting loose balls, they were a lot tougher than we were and they ended up spreading the lead out and we couldn’t make shots. I think we pressed.”

In Reading, Roman gets a team that it’s somewhat familiar with, having faced them at the West Chester ‘Big 64’ event last September, a Roman win, though they know not to take too much away from a preseason result of a game played at 9 AM. Rick Perez’s group is led by Rider commit Ruben Rodriguez and fellow seniors Aris Rodriguez and Myles Grey, and they haven’t lost to another Pennsylvania team this year. 

The Red Knights’ supporters are perhaps the strongest group in the state, expected to turn the GIANT Center into a sea of red on Saturday, Roman knowing they’ll be going up against the crowd and the intensity as much as anything else. 

“They play hard, they’re going to have a big crowd,” McNesby said. “It’s going to be fun, our guys are going to be up for it, but we expect them to play hard and compete and it’s going to be a dogfight.”

By Quarter
Wood:   12  |  17  |  11  |  16  ||  56
Roman: 15  |  12  |  15  |  24  ||  66

Shooting
Wood: 20-57 FG (9-26 3PT), 7-10 FT
Roman: 19-45 FG (2-15 3PT), 26-35 FT

Scoring
Wood: Jalil Bethea 23, Milan Dean Jr. 11, Josh Reed 9, Carson Howard 6, Deuce Maxey 3, Gus Salem 2

Roman: Xzayvier Brown 29, Robert Cottrell 15, Anthony Finkley 12, Shareef Jackson 8, Will Felder 2


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