City of Basketball Love

Ryan Coyle (@ryancoyle35)
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Reggie Selden Jr. and his Bonner-Prendergast boys basketball teammates wanted to showcase their defense in their Catholic League opener against La Salle College High School.

Showcase their defense they did.

The visiting Friars defeated the Explorers 78-48 on Tuesday night to move to 1-0 in PCL play, holding La Salle to 34.4% shooting from the field.

“We saw it tonight where we played good defense and it allowed us to share the ball in transition and get out to a lead early,” Selden said. “We just want to continue locking teams up and show everybody that we are here.”

Bonner’s defense was stellar in the first half as it jumped out to a 46-15 lead at the break, holding a La Salle team that has a propensity to shoot the 3-ball well to 0-for-12 from downtown in the opening half.

“That was the game plan coming in, to defend the 3, and that execution tonight showed me these guys are locked in and focused on what we are doing,” Bonner head coach Billy Cassidy said. “We wanted to try and make them one-on-one drivers and try and cause as much discomfort as we could to them on the defensive end.”

The stellar defensive effort allowed the Friars to get out in transition and convert both at the rim and from beyond the arc. 

Kevin Rucker led all scorers with 34 points, knocking down six shots from deep. Selden hit another six 3s himself en route to 18 points as the Friars shot 13-of-19 from deep in the victory. Senior forward Deuce Ketner added 14 points, doing his damage around the rim, with a handful of second chance points.

“We talk about it, but good defense leads to offense, and I think we saw that tonight,” Cassidy said. “We played well on one end of the floor, and it led to us getting good looks early on the offensive end. We were able to rebound and hold them to one shot, get out in transition and get some good looks in rhythm.”

The Friars (8-2, 1-0) held La Salle (5-5, 0-1) to only 4-of-24 from 3 on the night, limiting what the home squad does best. And the Friars shot the lights out themselves, picking up a confidence-boosting win as they head into a matchup with West Catholic on Friday night.

“I feel like the non-league games really helped us get ready for this, and you saw it tonight,” Selden said. “We were working things out, finding what works for us all together, and tonight we showed what we can do when we are all working together. Tonight showed that we are ready to go in the PCL.”

Bonner’s 78 points was its highest outing of the season and its 48 points allowed was the sixth time in 10 games opponents were held to less than 50 points.

“I really loved the way the guys played tonight on offense,” Cassidy said. “The confidence, the sharing of the ball, they all came out and took advantage of their opportunities tonight.”

La Salle won the third quarter 21-12, when Hayes Altomare had 10 of his team-high 13 points, as Bonner took its foot off the gas a little bit, prompting the Friars’ staff to use a couple of timeouts.

“Coach was just making sure we weren’t getting comfortable,” Rucker said. “He wanted us to keep our energy up, because any team in the league is able to come back if you let up. He wanted to make sure we kept playing hard and finished strong.”

The Friars were able to close out the game the rest of the way and are looking to carry that momentum in their PCL home opener Friday night.

“We didn’t want to lose any of that momentum we felt like we were building in the first half, so it was important to us that we finished strong,” Cassidy said.

The players in the Bonner locker room know nothing will come easy in the daunting PCL if they are going to get to where every team wants to go.

The Palestra.

“It’s just about taking it one game at a time for us,” Rucker said. “Making sure we are going hard every day in the gym, whether it is practice or a game, and being better teammates for each other. When we do that, we can do things like we did tonight.” 

By Quarter

Bonner-Prendergast:  21  |  25  |  12  |  20  ||  78

La Salle:           8  |  7  |  21  |  12  ||  48

Shooting

Bonner-Prendergast: 25-45 FG (13- 18PT), 13-16 FT

La Salle: 20-58 FG (4-24 3PT), 2-4 FT 

Scoring

Bonner-Prendergast: Rucker 34, Selden Jr. 18, Ketner 14, Francis 11, Womack 1

La Salle: Altomare 13, Parisi 11, Hudock 9, Washington 7, O’Brien 4, Shields 4