City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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SOUTH PHILADELPHIA — The echo of the craziness had tapered. Thirty minutes later most had left by then. Down at the far end of the court there was a rhythmic pounding of a basketball. The hero was still shooting — after making the game-winning shot.

Wearing his home white No. 5, Torrey Brooks could not exactly leave on hero’s terms. That’s the way with heroes. They don’t think they are heroes.

So there Brooks was even after he was carried around the Carl Arrigale Court and smothered in a sea of white hoodies like a conquering hero on Friday night, after nailing a huge three-pointer with 8 seconds left in overtime to propel Neumann-Goretti to a dramatic 60-59 victory over Archbishop Ryan in a Catholic League classic.

The Saints remain the only undefeated team in the Catholic League at 16-0 overall and 7-0 in the league, with another major test coming against Roman Catholic on Sunday at Holy Family, while Ryan fell to 10-7 overall and 5-3, despite a dominant performance from Georgetown-bound Thomas Sorber, who dropped a game-tying high 25 points and was an intimidating defensive presence.

What’s more, the Saints did this without two major senior starters, St. Joe’s-bound guard Khaafiq Myers, possibly out for the season with an injury, and Hofstra-bound forward Amir Williams, who is hopeful to return from an injury for the Saints’ showdown against Roman on Sunday.

This is the deepest the Saints have gone undefeated in a season under legendary coach Carl Arrigale. That pristine mark was made possible by Brooks, who finished with 25, including seven of the Saints’ eight points in overtime.

The twist here is that Brooks missed six free throws in the fourth quarter that could have sealed the game for the Saints in regulation, before his heroic shooting, making shots from far greater distances, and under pressure.

So, afterward, Brooks had to pay penance to himself. Still in his sweaty uniform, run moist by Neumann-Goretti’s sauna-like gym, Brooks shot free throws after his two overtime treys won the game.

The 5-foot-11 sophomore guard showed remarkable poise, and he upheld the amazing confidence Arrigale showed in him, when he designed the game-winning play for him.

“We were shorthanded, but we have to grow up a little bit,” Arrigale said. “I’m so proud of our effort and how we played. Ryan is a big physical team, and they tried to make this a big and physical game. We had to stand up to them. Thomas is an absolute handful. He looks great and is shape. He’s a really good player.

“I have to say Matty Guokas gave us unbelievable minutes (against Sorber). He fouled out, Munchie (Stephon Ashley-Wright) fouled out. We blew an assignment and a bank three sends it into overtime.”

Excuse the cliché, but it truly was a game neither team deserved to lose. Ryan and coach Joe Zeglinski did deserve a better fate.

The Raiders battled deficits the entire night, then everyone around Sorber got hot. With 14 seconds left in regulation, Rocco Morabito threw up a three-pointer from an awkward angle, it glanced off the glass and slid through Neumann-Goretti’s rubberband rims to send the game into overtime tied at 52-52.

Then Ryan’s Ryan Everett came off the bench to score the first six points into overtime that gave the Raiders a 58-52 lead with 1:16 to play.

That’s when Brooks swooped in. He had been playing well all night, but the ghosts of Palestra past crept up on the Saints. As a team, they made 10 of 21 free throws combined in the fourth quarter and overtime, eight misses from Brooks.

After Keon Long-Mtume’s made a free throw with 26 seconds remaining drew the Saints to within 59-57, Neumann-Goretti full court pressure caused a turnover and put the Saints in position to win.

Arrigale was determined to go to Brooks.

With eight ticks left, the ball swung in his direction, he raised up and nailed the biggest shot to date in his young, growing career. Ryan’s desperation shot failed, and the Carl Arrigale Court exploded in Neumann-Goretti students in white hoodies smothering Brooks and his teammates.

“It wasn’t the plan to miss the free throws and then come back to make the three-pointers in overtime,” said Brooks, laughing. “It’s why when the court clears, I’m going to shoot free throws until they kick me out. I was going to take full accountable if we lost. I had to make it up to my teammates. I told them I owed them one. I missed too many free throws. I have to make 100 free throws before I leave.

“I made this harder than it was.”

Ryan, in a sense, did too.

The Raiders missed a slew of makable layups.

“It was frustrating,” Zeglinski admitted. “They were double- and triple-teaming Thomas and other guys got open looks around the rim. We, unfortunately, could not finish. We have to finish. We were out of this game, came back—and we played a great overtime, until the last 30 seconds. We did not close out. We have to learn how to close out against these teams down the stretch with tough guards.”

Sorber was hurting afterwards. But he felt his team will learn from this.

“We had the game in overtime, starting with six-straight points, but we just let them get right back,” Sorber said. “We have to close out games. I really liked our defense tonight. We were physical. We have to learn how to own our own space and finish.”

Brooks, Arrigale and the Saints, meanwhile, will file this under a great character builder for a young undefeated team.

“Torrey has been great,” Arrigale said. “We’re hoping to get Amir back soon. You watch as many games as I have, no matter which way this went, we were down two senior starters, and our kids fought from down six in overtime, and we kept going. Torrey’s first three got his confidence back, and there was no one else I was going to but to Torrey to win it.”

He did.

And 30 minutes later, he was still shooting.  

By Quarter

Archbishop Ryan (10-7/5-3 Catholic League):  10 | 12 |  15  |  15 |  7 ||  59

Neumann-Goretti (16-0/7-0):  11 | 17 |  10  | 14 |  8 ||  60

Scoring

Archbishop Ryan:  Thomas Sorber 25, Jaden Murray 8, Darren Williams 8, Rocco Morabito 8, Ryan Everett 8, Brandon Russell 2.

Neumann-Goretti: Torrey Brooks 25, Larenzo Jerkins 12, Stephon Ashley-Wright 11, Keon Long 8, DeShaun Yates 4.

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.