City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
––

Larenzo Jerkins had been eagerly awaiting his first Catholic League game. 

He sat out the entirety of last season, watching from the sideline as Neumann-Goretti boys basketball worked its way through the league slate and all the way to the PCL championship game yet again. He needed all of December to get re-acclimated to the court, starting at the ‘5’ as the Saints won all seven of their high-profile, early season matchups. 

But Jerkins had an eye on Jan. 2, the league opener against Archbishop Carroll, when the Saints’ season really started. 

“I couldn’t wait for this moment,” he said. “I couldn’t wait for this day, for sure.”

Jerkins delivered in his Catholic League debut. The senior forward set the tone early as Neumann-Goretti got off to a strong start and didn’t look back, his double-double powering the Saints to an 84-57 win over the Patriots. 

Playing against an Archbishop Carroll side that doesn’t have a true forward — or an upperclassman — in its starting lineup, Jerkins feasted at both ends. The muscular 6-foot-6 forward collected 17 rebounds, five on the offensive end, to help Neumann-Goretti control the glass. His 14 points, two assists, two steals and a block were just icing on the cake. 

“I told Larenzo, I said, ‘You’re a grown man compared to those guys,’” Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale said. “‘Go let them see what playing against a grown man is like.’”

Francis Bowe’s Patriots (7-3, 0-1 PCL) are indeed talented, a group of freshmen and sophomores with bright futures. But they weren’t quite ready for a Neumann-Goretti side which starts three seniors, Jerkins — who’s being recruited hard but numerous regional Division II programs — and a pair of Division I commits in Khaafiq Myers (St. Joe’s) and Amir Williams (Hofstra). 

Jerkins’ effort on the glass and around the rim was nothing new for the versatile post player, who put together plenty of similar outings in his freshman and sophomore years at Chester. He was forced to watch his whole junior season from the sideline after a dispute over his transfer to Neumann-Goretti. 

Now he’s expected to be a leader for the Saints (8-0, 1-0), who are counting on a number of young pieces of their own to continue a legacy of success that’s seen Arrigale bring a dozen Catholic League titles and nine state championships back to South Philly. He certainly understands the mindset that Arrigale requires his teams to play with year after year.

“Seven-and-oh is out the window,” Jerkins said. “We’re in a different league right now, so we don’t even look at it as 7-0, we look at it as 0-0 — well, now we look at it as 1-0. [...] We have to be humble in order to be successful in this league.”

Sophomore guard Torrey Brooks led Neumann-Goretti with 23 points, the 6-1 left-hander hitting seven 3-pointers to pace the Saints offensively. Brooks hit two in the first quarter, which ended with Neumann-Goretti up 19-13; he added three more in the second, helping the Saints take a 38-23 halftime lead. Two more in the third, and it was a 20-point edge going into the fourth, which never got competitive.

The Sicklerville (N.J.) product, who spent his freshman year at League Bound (N.J.), has been a pleasant surprise for the Saints; Neumann-Goretti assistant Pat ‘Socks’ Sorrentino said he’s got 33 assists to one turnover this season in addition to shooting at a high clip from 3.

“I honestly didn’t know he was this good,” Arrigale said. “He’s very good.”
Brooks gave a lot of credit to Myers, who finished with 17 points of his own, plus seven assists and four rebounds. It wasn’t the best shooting night for the 5-9 point guard, but Myers’ ability to break a defense down led to one open look after another for Brooks, and he buried what seemed like all of them.

“It’s great,” Brooks said, “because every time he drives, there’s three or four people closing in on him, because he’s a great finisher, so he finds me every time.”

Sophomore guard Nasir Ralls led Carroll with 15 points, classmate Luca Foster just behind him with 14 points and seven rebounds. Contributing a dozen points each were freshman Darrell Davis (7 rebounds, 3 assists) and sophomore Ian Williams (7 rebounds, 2 assists). 

The Patriots were hurt by going 6-of-23 from the 3-point arc, compared to N-G’s 12-of-29 effort from deep; the Saints also only committed five turnovers.

With the Catholic League seemingly wide open heading into January, Jerkins and the rest of Neumann-Goretti know every win is as crucial as ever in the chase for a vital top-four seed and the home quarterfinal that brings. They also know, after the loss of Robert Wright III (Montverde Academy/Baylor) and Sultan Adewale (Iona) from last year, Tuesday’s win shows the rest of the PCL the Saints haven’t lost a step.

“It sends a message, that’s what it does,” Jerkins said. “It sends a message that we’re not small — physically we’re small, but mentally we’re not small. It sends a message to all the other teams like Wood, Ryan, whatever, you want to name it, it sends a message out to all of them to let them know we’re not the team that you think we are.”

By Quarter

Archbishop Carroll: 13  |  10  |  18  |  16  ||  57

Neumann-Goretti:   19  |  19  |  23  |  23  ||  84

Shooting

Archbishop Carroll: 21-56 FG (6-23 3PT), 7-9 FT

Neumann-Goretti: 33-71 FG (12-29 3PT), 6-12 FT

Scoring

Archbishop Carroll: Nasir Ralls 15, Luca Foster 14, Darrell Davis 12, Ian Williams 12, Munir Grieg 4

Neumann-Goretti: Torrey Brooks 23, Khaafiq Myers 17, Larenzo Jerkins 14, Amir Williams 10, Stephon Ashley-Wright 8, Keon Long-Mtume 6, Deshawn Yates 6