City of Basketball Love

Dan Arkans  (@dan arkans)
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LANSDALE – Nick Parisi did everything but drive the La Salle College High School bus home in a wire-to-wire career high 39-point effort against Lansdale Catholic on Friday night in a 76-61 victory.

It was the kind of showing that Parisi not only expects out of himself, but the Explorers coaching staff and teammates do as well.

Even if Parisi didn’t exactly walk into the small confines of Lansdale Catholic expecting a career night about to happen.

“Usually it’s one of my least favorite gyms,” Parisi said. “I guess tonight I like it to say the least.”

Parisi entered the game with his guns blazing partly because La Salle was missing sophomore starting point guard Nick Neri due to sickness and junior center Grayson McKeogh out with an injury.

Still after three consecutive losses in the always difficult Catholic League Parisi and the Explorers weren’t taking anything for granted.

“You come into LC and it’s never an easy game,” Parisi said. “It’s always a good crowd and they like to chirp and be on our heads. We were able to stay calm and get the win.” 

Parisi immediately took a liking to the gym by scoring on the opening tap. To say he was relentless and never let up would be a gross understatement. Parisi’s next three points came from the free throw line before ending the quarter with a pair of long range 3-pointers.

“Each one I see fall I want to take the next one,” Parisi said. “It’s a good feeling. When I am making every shot I want to just take the next one.” 

This was just a preview of things to come as Parisi hit three more 3-pointers in the second quarter, including a pump fake step back trey, which stuck out.

“After I hit three in the first half, once I had the fourth or fifth one, I had a pump and step back three, I didn’t feel like it was going to go in,” Parisi said. “When I hit that I knew I was going to have a good night.”

The only problem was while Parisi knocked down five 3-pointers in the first half and was sitting with 20 points, the game was tied at 32.

“I knew coming into their place it would be a battle,” said La Salle head coach Ryan Ansel. “They have a sellout crowd. Again we want those opportunities. It’s why you play these games in front of crowds whether it’s hostile or a home crowd, it’s got energy. It’s special for these guys, it’s a great environment for them to compete in. There’s adversity, it’s 32-32 at the half.”

Parisi got some help from his friends in the second half especially on the defensive end, as the Explorers finally slowed down the LC offense led by Rowan Romero (16 points, 8 rebounds).

Parisi kept on firing though, adding two more 3-pointers and sat at 28 points entering the final frame. 

More importantly, La Salle led 57-46 as the Explorers were getting solid contributions out of point guard Prestin Washington (12 points, 5 assists) and senior center Will Baer.

“I feel I need that role every game, that I have to step up,” Parisi said. “It was good to see my other teammates who aren’t usually in those roles step up and help us. I know I am capable of shooting like that. It’s hard to do that every night. Tonight was one of those nights where I felt like I couldn’t miss.”

Still, the Crusaders are a different animal under the guidance of first-year head coach Torre Harrison. LC kept on coming and after a 3-pointer from Anthony Walek off the bench the Crusaders trailed 59-55 with three minutes to go.

“We were in that position last year,” Ansel said. “When you get close, a few things go against you if the team responds, that makes it tough. We responded to adversity. When it got down to four the guys trusted each other.”

Parisi then closed things out as the senior decided to show all of his arsenal in the fourth quarter. He opened the frame with a couple of pull-up jumpers in the lane and then was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch. The real exclamation point was a thunderous dunk that sealed the 76-61 victory.

“He relied on his teammates to get him open,” said Ansel. “We knew they would play up on him. The read is to go by them if they are up on him. I thought he had some good passes as well. When you score 40 and get your teammates to score another 40 that’s when we are going to be successful.”

The 39-point effort will be added to the resume of Parisi, who has already received an offer from Holy Family. However, he is just taking things day by day right now. So are the Explorers.

“We are taking each game as it comes,” Parisi said. “We are not worried about later in the season. We are worried about the game in hand and trying to win that.”

By Quarter
La Salle 19-13-25-19-76

LC 16-16-14-15-61

Scoring
La Salle (76): Okebata 9; O’Brien 8; Parisi 39; Washington 12; Baer 5; Altomare 3.

LC (61): Alymer 8; Romero 16; Walek 9; Cobbold 4; Johnson 12; Holdsworth 6; Stevens 6.