City of Basketball Love

Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)
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Archbishop Carroll traveled nearly an hour and over 40 miles to face an Exeter team coming off a state championship appearance on its home court with a packed gymnasium, rowdy student section, and late tipoff. 

“We’ve done a lot of traveling,” Carroll head coach Francis Bowe said of the early season. “I just wanted to challenge these guys with different locations, different environments, and see if they can handle those long drives and different things happening to our mental and our psyche.

“They’ve just been answering the bell.”

The young Patriots played composed, silenced the crowd, and ultimately defeated the Eagles 91-58 in the Friday night finale of the City of Basketball Love Winter Showcase in Reiffton.

Sophomore point guard Ian Williams scored 18 points in the opening quarter as Carroll built a 17-point lead it would never relinquish; Williams finished with a game-high 28 to lead the Patriots (4-0), a team composed of talented freshmen and sophomores that play like anything but.

“I was just trying to set the tone,” Williams said of his flamethrower in the first quarter. “I’ve always been told there will be games where you have to set it or your team has to get into it. I just thought tonight was a game where I had to set the tone and get my guys rolling.”

Williams is the lone returning starter for Bowe’s Patriots, suddenly finding himself as the leader and elder statesman at 16 years old. Fellow sophomore guard Nasir Ralls (18 points), freshman guard Darrell Davis (18 points), sophomore wing Luca Foster (13 points), and freshman wing Munir Greig (10 points) make up a talented crew with untapped potential, some of which is already being realized in the early parts of this season.

The Patriots extended their lead to 28 by halftime and were never threatened by the Eagles (0-1), who were led by Kevin Saenz and Alex Kelsey, a St. Joe’s baseball commit, who each had a team-high 15 points.

Exeter went to the PIAA Class 5A championship last season before falling to Imhotep.

Carroll scored at will and with variety by draining 3’s, hitting midrange pull-ups, driving and finishing at the rim or drawing fouls. Nobody was selfish and the Patriots appeared to be a team that had been playing at the varsity level for a while.

“I’m the oldest on the team but not by much,” said Williams, the lone returning starter and sudden elder statesman. “It’s just about being a leader and big brother to my teammates. It’s okay to have bumps. Nothing in life is perfect so just continue encouraging them and we’ll be good.”

The group has been playing together for years leading up to varsity ball; Williams, Ralls, and Greig play on the same AAU squad. They’ve known Davis, the younger brother of Providence commit Daquan Davis, since elementary school. He grew up in Baltimore but would always be playing with the group in the Philly area and moved there this summer.

“As a young freshmen guard, Ian’s always talking to me,” Davis said. “He’s telling me about all of his experiences and how to handle certain situations like the crowd. He taught me how to pay it no mind. He helps me grow as a player.”

Bowe purposely put together a schedule filled with early and different challenges such as travel, environments, and of course good competition to challenge his young team. They traveled to Washington D.C. and defeated Dunbar. They traveled to Reading High, another Berks County opponent which won the 6A state title last season, for a scrimmage in late November. The Patriots have passed all the tests so far.

“Our coach told us the reason he scheduled these games was because he wants to see if we can handle it and play as a team,” Davis said. “He told us what to expect and we just blocked out all the external noise and stayed locked in as a group.”

By Quarter
Carroll:  26  |  27  |  16  |  22  ||  91
Exeter:   9   |  16  |  17  |  16  ||  58

Scoring
Archbishop Carroll: Williams 28, Davis 18, Ralls 18, Foster 13, Greig 10, Rusike 4.

Exeter: Saenz 15, Kelsey 15, Murray 9, Dauble 6, Magee 5, Garvin 4, Nester 3, Ware 1.