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Only Roman standing between Neumann-Goretti and PCL History

02/22/2015, 7:45pm EST

By Aron Minkoff

Aron Minkoff (@AronMinkoff)
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Everyone in the sports world loves to talk about streaks. Whether it is Cal Ripken’s run of 2,632 consecutive games played in baseball, or UCLA’s streak of 88 consecutive games won in college basketball, there are streaks everywhere you look in sports.

The Philadelphia Catholic League is no different, as Neumann-Goretti is on the verge of winning its seventh consecutive PCL championship.

Only one other program in PCL history has won six straight championships–the Saints’ 2015 title game opponent, Roman Catholic, who won six straight from 1989-1994 before being upended in the ‘95 title game by Archbishop Carroll.

For Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale, a Saints win would earn him his 11th PCL championship. He is currently tied with former Roman coach Dennis Seddon for most PCL titles of all time at 10.

It seems fitting that in order for Arrigale and Neumann-Goretti to make Philadelphia basketball history, they would have to go through the only team to ever have come close to accomplishing what they are so close to doing.

Though Arrigale and his Saints aren’t willing to admit they’re close to history.

“I don’t look at it any differently,” Arrigale said. “It’s the first straight for this year. It’s nice to keep the streak going or whatever, but it has no bearing on our preparation for this year. We are preparing for a good Roman team.”

(The Breakdown: Check out CoBL’s full breakdown of the 2015 PCL championship)

Neumann-Goretti is the favorite yet again after winning the Catholic League regular season crown. These two teams met in last year’s final, with NG escaping with a 53-48 win. This year it was Roman who etched out a three-point victory at Neumann-Goretti back on January 7.

Until that result happens in the playoffs, though, all it meant was a nice notch on the Cahillites’ belt during the regular season.

“People always ask who is the best team in the league, I always say ‘till someone beats Neumann at the Palestra, they are still the best team,’” Roman coach Chris McNesby said. “You’ve got to beat them when it counts. We beat them in the regular season and other teams have beat them in the past in the regular season, that’s not money time.”

For the last four years, Neumann-Goretti has been driven by the Ja’Quan Newton engine. The 6-foot-3 guard, now at Miami (Fl.), was the leading scorer in the last three PCL title games and started the last four.

It is now somebody else’s turn to step up for the Saints, and all signs point toward either sophomore Quade Green or St. Joe’s-bound senior Lamar Kimble who contributed 26 and 24 points respectively in their semifinal victory over La Salle.

“We expect Quade to play well, and he expects to play well,” Arrigale said. “Considering his age its a pretty big deal, but he doesn’t consider himself that young and he certainly does not play like it.”

Green will look to shine again under the bright lights at the Palestra and fill the void left by Newtown. In order for Roman to pull-off the upset, they will need to find an answer to the talented backcourt duo.

“They are probably one of the best backcourts in the country,” McNesby said. “Two guys that can beat you. They are fast, they get up and down, they shoot they get their teammates better. They are a handful, and we are going to do the best that we can. I do not think you can stop them completely, it would be nice, but I think you just do the best that you can to make them work.”

Of course, Roman will be without senior center and Hartford-bound TreVaughn Wilkerson who has been sidelined with a torn meniscus all season as well as other stars of last year’s championship game in Shep Garner (Penn State) and Rashann London (Drexel) who both are starting at the Division I level.

There is no shortage of talent on the Cahillites though. Senior Gemil Holbrookis committed to play basketball at Rider next year, as well as the aforementioned Manny Taylor, who is going to Rutgers for football. In addition, Roman has two juniors with offers to high-major teams already in guardsTony Carr and Nazeer Bostick. Both have earned offers to play at Penn State, while Carr also has picked up offers to Temple and Maryland.

In Roman’s 71-68 victory over NG earlier in the season, it was Carr who led the Cahillites with 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. For the Saints, the backcourt duo of Kimble and Green each recorded 17 points.

A Roman win against NG would mark McNesby’s first PCL championship, joining the ranks of Billy Markward, Speedy Morris and Seddon as the list grows of Roman coaches to win championships.