City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

––

DREXEL HILL, PA — Marquis Newson is gradually getting used to this. The talented 6-foot-5 junior swing is in a new school, at Philadelphia Catholic League powerhouse Neumann-Goretti, in a new system, under the Saints’ legendary coach Carl Arrigale, with new teammates who are as good as he is.

There are at least six different players on the Saints that can drop 20 points a night. Newson is still feeling his way around where he fits.

On Wednesday, in front of another packed house at Bonner-Prendie’s gym, which is becoming a hot ticket of late, Newson fit in well, scoring four of the Saints’ last five points in a 62-58 victory over Bonner-Prendie in a potential Catholic League championship game matchup.

The Saints now find themselves the only undefeated team in the PCL, at 4-0, after Archbishop Wood vanquished Roman Catholic.

Newson wound up with nine points, but his driving baseline layup was the eighth lead change—and last—with 1:35 left in the tension-filled fourth quarter, which gave Neumann-Goretti a 59-58 lead.

With less than 10 seconds left, Bonner-Prendie’s Kam Jackson, a buzzer-beating hero numerous times these last two years for the Friars, had an open three-point look on the left wing which bounced off the rim, collected by Newson, who was immediately fouled.

With 2.3 seconds to play, Newson added some cushion nailing a pair of free throws—and came away from this game, played in a raucous gym, almost with the crowd on top of him, taking another step toward the comfort zone of his new environment.

“Marquis fits in, he fits in great, he just has to be aggressive,” Arrigale said. “He wasn’t aggressive to start the game, especially on defense, and that’s what got him into foul trouble early on. He doesn’t do me any good being on the bench. I want him to be more aggressive. I want him to run the floor more. I want him to attack the rim more, and we’re working on it. When it happens, look out, because Marquis is a special talent.

“He has a tendency to watch the game sometimes, and we want him to be more of a cutter and attack the defense. I know he can make a difference. He walked the line and knocked down some shots when it mattered.”

The Saints entered this game with the poise of a champion. They trailed for most of the game, but when the fourth quarter arrived, Newson, Kody Colson, Deshawn Yates and Alassan N'Diaye raised the intensity.

Bonner-Prendie rose, too. Jackson and Korey Francis shared game-high honors scoring 22 points apiece, means their combined 44 points was 75.8% of the Friars’ total scoring. The pair scored eight of the Friars’ 12 fourth-quarter points.

Neumann-Goretti ran some zone at Bonner-Prendie, and the Saints were a little exhausted coming in after scoring 107 points on Saturday. Arrigale likes how his team is playing in the fourth quarter, and he feels his team learned a lot from its run toward winning the PIAA Class 5A state championship.

“I liked the way our guys fought,” Bonner-Prendie coach Billy Cassidy said. “We did not play our best game on the offensive end, but we did get a lot of the shots that we wanted to get. We just didn’t make as many as we needed to. We have to clean up some things, and when those big moments come again, we'll be ready to respond.

“We got a great look in the end with Kam. It just didn’t go in. There were some 50-50 balls that we lost. We have to attack those plays better.”

What may be scary is Newson’s emergence in becoming more of a factor.

“I’m getting closer to getting it,” said Newson, who had a well-rounded statline with three blocked shots, and six rebounds. “I agree, there are some moments when I am watching and should be attacking. My teammates believing in me more helps my confidence grow. They gave me the ball in the last minute, that says they trust me. It’s like Coach Carl told me, ‘Once you cut it loose, you’ll be good.’ I’m getting closer to that comfort zone. I’m 75 percent there.”    

Newson had something personal at stake, since Jackson, Jakeem Carroll and DeShaun Holden are friends of his who he grew up with in Delaware.

“Once we start playing team basketball and get further away from one-on-one ball, we’re going to be okay,” Newson said.

Colson happened to agree. He scored eight of his team-high 17 in the fourth quarter, when the Saints moved the ball and shared.

“We’ll see Bonner-Prendie again, they’re a good team,” Colson said. “They have two good guards, two of the best in Korey and Kam, and we’re pretty good, too. We were hearing Bonner-Prendie was the best on the area and we had to come in here and show everyone we’re the best.”

~~~

By Quarter
Neumann-Goretti (11-1, 4-0 Catholic League):  14  | 15  |  17  | 16  || 62
Bonner-Prendie (11-3, 4-1 Catholic League):    18  | 12  |  16  | 12  || 58

Scoring
Neumann-Goretti: Kody Colson 17, Deshawn Yates 16, Alassan N'Diaye 15, Marquis Newson 9, Stephan Ashley-Wright 5.

Bonner-Prendie: Kam Jackson 22, Korey Francis 22, Jakeem Carroll 6, DeShaun Holden 4, Masen Price 4.

~~~

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.