City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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NORTHEAST PHILLY — The tables had already been turned for the biggest rivalry in the Catholic League. 

Archbishop Ryan came into the season one of the favorites in a deep Catholic League, Father Judge young and unproven, maybe still a year away from being in the top tier. Instead, they entered Monday night’s battle for Northeast Philly in unexpected positions: Judge tied for first place in the PCL, needing to prove itself every game; Ryan sitting near the middle of the pack, desperate for a win to stay in the running for a top-four spot.

The Bill Fox Gymnasium was packed by the second half of the junior varsity contest, a loud Ryan student section filling the balcony while close to a thousand Judge fans lined the court below. 

The Crusader faithful had a lot to cheer about early on — but ultimately it was the visitors on the second deck who were leaning over the balcony railing and having the last words as Ryan came away with a 69-58 win. 

“It’s always going to be a tough game here, the crowd, environment, it’s all about how you handle it,” said Ryan coach Joe Zeglinski, who improved to 10-0 in his tenure against his archrival, having gone 7-1 against them when he played at Ryan from 2002-06. “I thought our guys, our senior leaders, did a good job of staying under control and not letting their emotions get the best of them. I thought we stayed poised throughout.”

The first half was a tale of runs: Judge first, a 9-2 spurt, though a 9-0 Ryan run had the Raiders up 20-17 early in the second. Judge responded with 13 straight to take a 10-point edge, a Ryan bucket making it a 30-22 ballgame at the break.

The second half was all Ryan, which rode stars Thomas Sorber and Darren Williams — with contributions from a few key role players — to a much-need victory. 

The win keeps Ryan (11-7, 6-3) in sixth place in the Catholic League with four games to play, still in the mix for one of the top-four spots and a home game in the league quarterfinals. After dropping three games in which they held late leads against fellow contenders St. Joe’s Prep, Neumann-Goretti and Roman Catholic, the Raiders can ill-afford another loss if they want to secure one of those important spots.

“We needed this one,” Sorber said. “Unfortunately we lost three that we should have won, but we can’t go back in the past. We needed this one.

“Coming into this game, they were 7-1, so I know they felt good about themselves,” he added.”But we just had to shut them down, we just had to play our game, come in here, Coach Joe was 9-0 against Judge, and we just had to keep that streak going for him.”

Judge (13-5, 7-2), which is having a breakthrough season under third-year head coach Chris Roantree, didn’t have an answer for the Georgetown-bound big man. Sorber went for a game-high 23 points, helped by a 11-for-12 performance at the foul line, grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked six shots, and three in three assists and two steals for good measure. 

The Crusader defense did what it could to try and limit Sorber’s touches, crowding him in the middle of their zone, but he was able to make the most of his spots in transition and on occasional breakdowns, his combination of size, agility and touch an overwhelming one for his opponents. 

“We knew it was going to be tough in the half-court getting it to him clean unless we ran something for him,” Zeglinski said, “but we were able to get out in transition and get some good looks for him and Darren — and when Darren starts knocking them down, everyone feeds off it.”

That’s exactly what Williams did in the second half. The 6-3 left-hander and Florida Gulf Coast commit was 1-of-10 from the floor in the first half but found his stroke in the second, propelling him to a 20-point outing. 

Back-to-back 3-pointers tied the game up at 33 early in the third quarter; he hit another one that period, then capped off a 25-point period with a jumper at the buzzer to put Ryan up 47-41 going into the fourth. 

Judge got its offense back on track in the fourth after hitting just one shot in the third quarter, but couldn’t stop Ryan. Another 3-pointer from Williams and one from senior guard Ryan Everett were both momentum-killers, and Ryan went 12-of-14 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

“We’ve let a few slip away at the end, so we’ve been working on finishing games and did a great job tonight,” Zeglinski said. “We knew it was going to be a big game in the PCL standings, that was No. 1 for us, obviously trying to get back towards the top of the PCL and the rivalry always comes with what it is.”

“When Darren started knocking down 3s, that’s when I knew that we had ‘em,” Sorber said with a smile. 

In addition to its starts, Ryan got a strong game from senior wing Jaden Murray, who had eight points, eight rebounds (four offensive) and seven assists, including both of Williams’ back-to-back triples. Everett added eight points, two boards, two assists, a steal and a block; senior guard Rocco Morabito (Gannon) added seven points and a couple boards.

Kevair Kennedy led Judge with 16 points, the junior guard doing almost all of that at the line, where he went 14-of-15 after continually slicing his way into the heart of the Ryan defense. Sophomore guard Derrick Morton-Rivera added 12 despite getting a heavy dose of defensive attention, and senior guard Laquan Byrd added 10 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. 

The Crusaders, who are tied with Archbishop Wood and St. Joe’s Prep for third place in the PCL, finish with a visit from Devon Prep on Feb. 2 and then three straight on the road at Neumann-Goretti, Archbishop Caroll and La Salle.

Ryan has three very winnable games ahead in La Salle, Conwell-Egan and Bonner-Prendergast, before a season finale against Roman Catholic on Feb. 10 that could very well decide whether they get to play for a Palestra berth on their home court or on the road. Ryan has all the pieces to finally win a PCL title under Zeglinski, including the league’s best big man and a deep stable of guards, but there can be no more mistakes.

“We talk about it, how we gave away two for sure against Wood and Neumann, [in the] last minute of the game,” Zeglinski said. “We know how good we can be, but we’ve got to do it.”

By Quarter
Judge:  17  |  13  |  11  |  17  ||  58
Ryan:   14  |   8   |  25  |  22  ||  69

Shooting
Judge: 18-51 FG (6-23 3PT), 16-17 FT
Ryan: 20-43 FG (7-21 3PT), 22-28 FT 

Scoring
Judge: Kevair Kennedy 16, Derrick Morton-Rivera 12, LaQuan Byrd 10, Anthony Lilly 9, Nazir Tyler 6, Rocco Welsfield 5

Ryan: Thomas Sorber 23, Darren Williams 20, Ryan Everett 8, Jaden Murray 8, Rocco Morabito 7, Matt Johnson 3