City of Basketball Love

By Evan Hartenstein
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In a game that saw no clear upperhand for the first three quarters, it was Nasir Ralls that pushed Archbishop Carroll past Conwell-Egan.

Ralls’ 8 fourth quarter points and clutch steal towards the end of the game proved to be crucial in the away-game win, where Carroll won 66-56 after holding to just a four-point lead after the third quarter.

Patriots head coach Francis Bowe praised the teams’ discipline on what helped them pull away for the win.

“Egan has been in every single game,” Bowe said. “Every film we watch – it’s always been close; fourth quarter, minute-to-go. So we kind of expected that. We just wanted to make sure not to get too high, not to get too low, so when they made a run we could push through. It’s a mentality thing and the kids did a great job.”

With a tight lead going into the fourth, Carroll pressed hard on the gas pedal after outscoring Egan by only 1 or 2 points in each of the prior quarters. Defense became a priority, and the team held the Eagles to just 11 points in the period, and held Myles Moore to just four after scoring 14 in the first three.

“[We] just stayed together,” Ralls said. “We tried to get a couple stops on defense and push through. On nights like these you have to push through on the defensive end and get stops.”

While the defensive end was the clear precedent in the fourth, Ralls’ offensive impact was a key factor in the win. En route to his 21 point performance, the senior knocked down 8 of his 13 shots and hit 4 threes. He set the tone early with 7 points in the first, before turning things up again in the final period with his 8 points.

Since Ralls entered the Carroll program, Bowe has had the utmost confidence in his scoring abilities.

“He’s been with me since he was a baby, a.k.a a freshman,” Bowe said. “I have all the trust in the world of my seniors who’ve been with me since the start of this. He just plays with confidence, he plays with swagger, and we always know what we’re going to get out of him.”

Being one of the upperclassmen, Ralls’ leadership has been uncanny.

“He’s going to be one of the loudest ones in practice tomorrow,” Bowe said. “He’s talking, being active, he’s going to be one of the loudest guys in the next game, too, and he’s going to lead by example.”

While it was Ralls whose impact was felt the most, Yasir Turner’s toughness was displayed in the game as well. After scoring seven points in the first half, the sophomore guard came down with an illness during halftime. Dealing with some upper repository issues, it was unclear how he’d perform in the second half. Despite this, Turner came out the gate hot, making big defensive plays and deflections, while matching his first half point-total with another seven in the second half.

“I didn’t know what I was going to get out of him in the second half,” Bowe said. “So for Yasir to come out here and still play hard after all that, I’m like, ‘Are you good?’, and he’s like ‘I’m good, coach’, and he pushed the fluids and pushed through it and looked pretty good.”

Caroll saw some productive minutes from some other pieces, like senior Nigel Lambert who hit all three of his shot attempts for seven points on the night. Senior Drew Carrao was quiet for most of the game, with the 6-foot-9 forward scoring just eight points (including a bank three) prior to the fourth quarter, but his clutch free throw shooting at the end of the game put things out of reach for Conwell-Egan. The forward dropped in all four of his charity stripe attempts in the quarter.

“Those free throws at the end are huge,” Bowe said. “I said [to Carrao], ‘You didn’t do as great as you would like, but hitting these free throws just ends the game.’ So I’ll give Drew a little credit.”

This win for Carroll puts them in above .500 in Philadelphia Catholic League play and moves them to 3-2 in-league so far. Wins like these are extremely important to the Patriots, as it improves their standing in the league and helps build a certain mindset.

“[This win] really puts us in the mix now, in a nice position,” Bowe said. “And these games that you have to win, not to mention they are in our classification for states, so if we want to be in the city title game, if we want a nice seating in states, this was a nice win to get. Knowing that as long as we keep the mentality that next game, let’s be ready to go and handle adversity, we can achieve anything.”

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By Quarter
AC:    17  |  18  | 14  |  17  ||  66
CEC:  16  |  16  | 13  |  11  ||  56

Scoring
Archbishop Carroll: Nasir Ralls 21, Yasir Turner 14, Drew Carrao 12, Ian Williams 10, Nigel Lambert 7, Nikolai Lugendo 2

Conwell-Egan: Myles Moore 18, Cole Zalewski 11, Justin Bobb 11, Dominic Dorsey 7, Matthew Tollerson-Irby 4, Jasir Ross 3, Jared Velez 2