City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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To get La Salle into the Catholic League playoffs, on Senior Day, one of the Explorers’ underclassmen led the way. 

Nick Neri, one of a trio of Ryan Ansel’s impressive sophomores, stepped up with a monster second quarter against Cardinal O’Hara, turning the tides in the Catholic League regular-season finale in a 63-53 La Salle win.

It’s a win that puts the Explorers (12-10, 6-7) in the PCL playoffs as the No. 8 seed, with a home game against Archbishop Ryan in the opening round. 

Neri scored 14 of his 18 points in the second quarter, helping La Salle overcome a slow start and a 12-8 deficit after one to take a 30-23 lead into halftime. The Explorers never led by fewer than six points the rest of the way. 

A 6-foot-1, 200-pound guard who plays football and linebacker in the fall, Neri used his physicality to get into the lane and bully his way for a number of baskets, including a pair of and-ones. 

On the last one, he called for a clearout, posting up his man in the lane and muscling his way through contact. He added two more buckets in the third quarter, collecting three rebounds and three assists along the way. 

“Senior Day means a lot,” Neri said. “I’ve got these seniors, they’re pushing me to be great. Especially one who’s not here, Nick Parisi. I had a chip on my shoulder to make sure we won this game for him.”

Parisi, one of the Explorers’ leading scorers this season, was at home and under the weather. Hayes Altomare, Cole Santiago and Julian McFadden all started, with Will Baer coming off the bench.

All of them had their hand in the win. Atomare and Baer scored seven points apiece, Atomare adding four rebounds and three assists. Santiago (four points) hit an early 3-pointer; McFadden played strong defense in a couple different stretches of action.

Another sophomore, Brayden Erfle, scored 12 points, including nine in the fourth quarter as the Explorers had no issues breaking the Lions’ press and getting good looks. Another sophomore, Max Okebata, added nine points, four rebounds and two steals. 

Making the PCL playoffs is a big deal for a program that went 2-11 in the league two years ago and 3-10 last year and is still working to get back to the heights it achieved in 2014, when the Explorers made it all the way to the state championship game. Now in its second year under Ansel, La Salle extending its season is a sign it’s moving in the right direction.

“Our freshman year we made the playoffs but we were all just on the freshman team, so it didn’t really matter to us that much,” Altomare said. “The last two years before this year, sophomore year, it was ugly and then last year it was the build-up to this year, got some more experience with being more competitive in games.

“It feels amazing, just knowing that we control how our season ends, it’s not just we play our last game and we’re over.”

That’s the reality for Cardinal O’Hara, which would have made the league playoffs had it won on Sunday. But the Lions (11-11, 4-9), who finished tied with Archbishop Carroll for 11th place in the 14-team league, couldn’t string together enough stops to mount a run down the stretch. 

First-year head coach Ryan Krawczeniuk only has one senior on the roster, Edwin Ujor, who had 12 points and six rebounds in his final game in a Lions uniform. The rest of his rotation is all juniors and younger, including sophomore forward Malik Brown (10 points, seven rebounds, two blocks) and junior guards Kahseem Bronzell (9 points, 5 assists), Milak Myatt (6 points, 6 rebounds) and Jack Quinn (8 points, 3 rebounds).

“It’s a humbling experience going through the grind of the Catholic League season,” Krawczeniuk said. “You always come in thinking you’re prepared and thinking you can handle everything and you get into the heart of it and learn there’s no way to prepare for it other than just going through it. 

“This year was about learning how not to lose, and that’s exactly what happened. We made a lot of mistakes late in games where we were right there with a chance to win, but our lack of experience and youth showed. I hope they understand now how detail-oriented we have to be to have success in this league and because it’s so competitive night in and night out.”

It’s been a while since La Salle’s previous game against Archbishop Ryan, a 77-64 Explorers win on Jan. 5. It’s a contest that was tied 61-61 in the fourth quarter, the hosts closing it out 16-3 to take it home. 

A win would put them against St. Joe’s Prep or Roman Catholic in Friday’s quarterfinals with a trip to the Palestra on the line.  

“I just want to keep the season going,” said Altomare, who doesn’t plan on continuing his hoops career in college. “Don’t want my last game to be on Tuesday. I think with the guys we have and everything, all the fans showing out and all their support, it’s awesome, and I’m confident with our group and what we can do to get a win on Tuesday and keep our season going.”

By Quarter
CO: 12  |  11  |  11  |  19  ||  53
LS:   8   |  22  |  13  |  20  ||  63

Shooting
CO: 20-48 FG (5-18 3PT), 8-14 FT
LS: 23-44 FG (4-10 3PT), 13-20 FT

Scoring
CO: Edwin Ujor 12, Malik Brown 10, Kahseem Bronzell 9, Jack Quinn 8, Milak Myatt 6, Tygee Clark 5

LS: Nick Neri 18, Bryaden Erfle 12, Max Okebata 9, Will Baer 7, Hayes Altomare 7, Joey O’Brien 6, Cole Santiago 4