City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
––

It felt all too familiar for Thomas Sorber.

After dropping their Philadelphia Catholic League opener against St. Joe’s Prep on Tuesday, Sorber and his Archbishop Ryan teammates had come out slow against Archbishop Carroll on Friday. While it was a familiar start with some familiar miscues, it ended very differently.

A second-half commitment to defense and toughness, plus a good helping from the big man, led the Raiders to a 53-46 win over the Patriots for the team’s first PCL win this season.

“That Prep game really taught us a lesson,” Sorber said. “We can’t take any opponents lightly, but coming into this game it was the same thing as the first game. Then in the second half we started turning it up.”

The Georgetown-bound Sorber continued his recent run of rampancy with another robust outing. He posted 26 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, had a pair of assists on Rocco Morabito 3-pointers and did his usual on defense with seven blocks. Following the slow start, the 6-foot-9 senior had 15 of those points in the first half to keep the Raiders within four at the break.

Just outside the hallway that leads back to Ryan’s locker room, there’s a near life-sized photo of Sorber from two years ago at the Palestra. Standing next to his younger self, it wasn’t hard to see the growth the current version of Sorber has made in that time frame.

He’s always been a good shot blocker, but like a sequence in the fourth where he blocked a 3-point attempt then recovered to pick up a second rejection at the rim on the same possession showed, he’s continuing to bring more to the court.

The last few weeks have been pretty good to the big man. He scored his 1,000th point on Dec. 21; had a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double two days later; then added 15, 14 and seven blocks against Friends Central on Dec. 28. A day later, he broke Ryan’s single-game scoring record with 41 points, adding 13 rebounds and 10 blocks for a good-measure triple-double in a win over Rutgers Prep.

“I would say it’s my teammates,” Sorber said. “They’re always telling me to go out there and just kill. They give me the most motivation and same with all my coaches, they tell me to go out there, be myself and have a good attitude.”

Ryan didn’t lead until a layup by Darren Williams put the Raiders in front 27-26 with 6:51 left in the third quarter. Williams, who was honored pregame for scoring his 1,000th point against Prep earlier in the week, added 15 points, with 10 of those coming in the second half.

Sorber scored his team’s first four points, tying the game 4-4 with 5:59 left in the opening period, but the Raiders didn’t score again until Williams got a bucket with 1:39 left in the quarter. In that span, aided by five first-quarter turnovers from the hosts, Luca Foster and Carroll went on an 11-0 run.

Carroll scored on its first trip of the second quarter for a 17-6 lead before Sorber got Ryan going.

“We had a disappointing start to the game, I didn’t think our toughness was there,” Ryan head coach Joe Zeglinski said. “We weren’t in our help defense then as the first quarter ended, that’s when our toughness went up a level and that’s where it started for us.”

Sorber scored 11 points in the second, including a straightaway 3 that got Ryan within 23-20, and his late putback made it 26-22 at the half.

Zeglinski also dipped deep into the bench in the first half, giving Ryan Everett, Brandon Russell, Mark Gallagher, Semaj Stone, Seth Gaye and Christian Durham some run looking to amp up the defense. It seemed to do the trick, even if it didn’t show in the score right away; the Raiders played with much more energy on the defensive end trying to speed up a Patriots team that wanted to run through offense.

“That’s what we’re expecting them to do, and they gave us a big spark,” Zeglinski said. “They were able to pressure the ball a little bit, they were driving into Thomas and Thomas was able to do what he does, which is clean up with some blocks and get us out in transition a little bit.”

Sorber wants to be everywhere on the floor so he’s able to block a 3, drop back into the post and then swat another attempt or grab a board, fire a long outlet pass to a guard then follow down to be the finisher on that possession. Friday, with Carroll’s bigs in Foster and Drew Corrao both able to step out on the perimeter, the Patriots were running a lot of movements to try to pull the Ryan big man out of the lane.

It was something he was ready for.

“I already know what teams are going to do,” Sorber said. “They’re going to try and double me and face-guard Darren. It’s up to our teammates to knock down open shots and up to me to keep my composure all game.”

Two of those open shots in the second half turned out to be pretty important. Sorber twice found Morabito, once in the third quarter in the left corner and once in the fourth quarter in the right corner, for a pair of 3s the Raiders needed.

Morabito’s first make put Ryan in front 34-29, a lead the hosts wouldn’t give up again despite Carroll twice cutting to within a point. His second came with 2:56 left in the game, answering a Nasir Ralls and-one for a 48-41 lead that stood as the dagger.

“I’m happy for Rocco, that was coming,” Zeglinski said. “A couple big 3s from him, and we’re going to need guys to step up like that all year long around Darren and Thomas.”

Sorber, who shot 8-of-10 from the floor and 8-of-9 at the line, had seven points, five rebounds, an assist and three blocks in the fourth quarter, playing with the toughness his team is built on.

Foster led Carroll with 18 points but was limited to just six after halftime on minimal touches as the defense ramped up on him. Corrao had nine, while Ralls and Darrell Davis each had eight for the Patriots, who dropped to 0-2 in the PCL without Munir Greg, who is out injured.

Ryan hosts Archbishop Wood on Monday in a pivotal early clash between 1-1 teams in the league. 

Sorber felt some familiarity early on Friday night and not in a good way. By the end of the night, things still felt familiar, but in a way the senior center and his teammates welcomed.

“Carroll had their run in the first half, so we had to come into the second half with a different type of power and a different type of feeling,” Sorber said. “We had to come out like dogs.”

By Quarter

Archbishop Ryan: 6 | 16 | 18 | 13 || 53

Archbishop Carroll: 15 | 11 | 12 | 8 || 46

Scoring

AR: Thomas Sorber 26, Darren Williams 15, Rocco Morabito 8, Jaden Murray 2, Matt Johnson 2

AC: Luca Foster 18, Drew Corrao 9, Darrell Davis 8, Nasir Ralls 8, Nate Rusike 3