City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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As Kabe Goss swaggered back down to the defensive end last Wednesday at the Palestra after another dime, he held up his fingers and pointed to each one. 

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

The Roman Catholic senior 5-foot-7 point guard likes to track his assists rather than his point total. He wanted to let his cheering section know how many he was at during a semifinal win over Father Judge.

“A lot of people think scoring is probably one of the best things, but I think it’s getting your other guys involved, being able to see a smile on their face is probably one of the biggest things,” Goss said. “Me being able to get down here and find my guy for a wide open 3-pointer is just the best feeling.”

Goss is in his first season at Roman Catholic. He spent two seasons at the Solebury School and last season at Trenton High School (N.J.). He’s been a 15-point per game scorer throughout his high school career, chipping in about five assists as well.

Roman has a handful of threats who are capable of leading the charge, led by junior forward Shareef Jackson and senior wing Travis Reed — both All-PCL selections.

It’s been more about setting up his teammates rather than putting the ball through the hoop with the Cahlliites, which suits Goss just fine.

He helped Solebury win a Penn-Jersey League championship during his sophomore season. Last season at Trenton, he was part of a 29-2 team that won division, county and Central Jersey Group 4 championships. He’ll try to add a Philadelphia Catholic League championship to his resume against Archbishop Ryan on Monday night. 

“My plan here was just to win, point blank simple,” Goss said. “I’m just a winner. I love winning Everywhere I came from, we all won championships. I feel like I’m just a point blank winner. I’ll do whatever we need to do to win.”

Goss had to patiently wait for his time to put on the Roman purple and gold and chase another title.

He tore his right meniscus last May, which sidelined him during the summer. While he was back on the court for Roman this fall, he tore his left meniscus during Thanksgiving break. 

Goss made sure he was at 100 percent before making his debut Jan. 12 against Lansdale Catholic. He said he could really show what he could do, however, during an 11-point, three-assist outing Jan. 15 against West Catholic one game later.

“Going through two injuries back-to-back, I kind of had to watch and stuff from the side. I feel like I had a lot of time to see what the coach wanted, see what the coaches wanted, get close with the guys off the court and on the court before I got hurt. Just being on the court, they realize I can find guys and realize when you’re playing with good people you always need someone who can find you. I guess they realized early on they like playing with me.”

Goss has played in 12 games for Roman, trying to make the most of each one. He ended with six assists in the semifinal win over Judge. 

He’s played in big games before and wasn’t going to compare them to the stage of the PCL playoffs. However, it was his first time at the Palestra. It was an experience he relished as his high school career winds down.

“Whenever you play big games you try not to let it get to you, but you obviously gotta enjoy the moment,” Goss said. “I guess there were a couple times I did have to take a deep breath and look around like, ‘I’m really here right now,’ but after that it was like we gotta get back down to business.”

He’ll try to do the same Monday night, likely getting a few smiles out of his teammates and maybe a few out of himself if the Cahillites are cutting down the nets.

“Not being able to do what I love to do, not being able to help them out, it kind of hurt and kind of put a lot of things in perspective, canceled a lot of goals but I’m just happy to be back on the court,” Goss said.