City of Basketball Love

Thomas Primosch (@ThomasPrimosch)
--

Going into Monday’s game against La Salle, Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale was wary of the Explorers ability to make 3-pointers, especially at home.

“I thought here, if we gave them a little room on their home court, they might shoot a little bit better than at our place,” he said.

Arrigale had to have been pleased with the fact that none of La Salle’s three best shooters recorded a made 3-pointer over the course of the Saints 74-50 win over the Explorers on Monday night.

“Tonight was one of our better defensive efforts,” he agreed. “Especially on the road, too. They have three guys who can shoot the ball really well and I think we held them all down.”

At first, it looked like the Saints were in for a tough matchup from an Explorers squad that had also yet to drop a Catholic League game, as the first quarter was back-and-forth. La Salle (11-2, 3-1 PCL) showed no signs of backing down to a Neumann team that was fresh off an 85-68 demolition of Roman Catholic.

The two teams traded buckets for seven minutes, but the Saints (10-2, 5-0) took a 22-17 lead into the second quarter after Quade Green stole an inbounds pass and made a layup as the first quarter ended.

Green finished with 21 points to lead all scorers. The junior with Division I offers from top programs like Syracuse, Villanova, Michigan State, Maryland and more--’Nova assistant Ashley Howard was watching this one--is averaging 15.7 points so far this season.

Towson commit Zane Martin also added 16 points for the Saints and junior forward Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree had 12 point and eight rebounds along with four blocks.

Neumann went on an 11-4 run to open up the second quarter and the Saints went into the break up 38-27.

The Saints dictated the pace of the game during the second quarter and after halftime there was never any real doubt that they would maintain their lead and win by double digits.

Shane Stark and Ryan McTamney each finished with 12 points for La Salle.

Defensively, the Neumann players made it difficult for La Salle to get into any sort of rhythm on offense. They hounded the Explorer’s guards well beyond the 3-point line and denied the passing lanes vigorously all night.

Arrigale was pleased with the play of senior Vaughn Covington, who finished with 11 points, five assists, and four rebounds.

“We had a talk; he was pressing a little bit, he wasn’t himself earlier in the year. We talked about just getting back to being Vaughn. Guarding the ball hard, making open shots, setting teammates up and now each game he’s just building on it and building on it,” said Arrigale.

Covington was 4-4 from the field and he showed a composed demeanor throughout the night.

“He’s always been a good shooter. He’s a more confident shooter right now,” said Arrigale.

Covington says there was a specific moment last year when he realized how much of a weapon his shooting ability was and how to harness it.

“The Chester game last year. That’s when I knew I could hit shoots from anywhere. That’s when my confidence started rolling,” said the senior, referencing a game last year where he had 23 points and made six 3-pointers.

When Covington has his shot falling, the Saints are borderline unstoppable. With the emergence of Cosby-Roundtree, the Saints have four legitimate scoring options on any night and none of them are afraid to share the ball.

“Our offense has been so efficient over the last six or seven games. We’re shooting well over 50 percent every game, close to 60 percent in most games. We’ve really been sharing the ball, our assist percentage is good,” said Arrigale.

Those are scary words for the rest of the Catholic league and after Roman lost both league games this week, the Saints are alone atop the standings.

“We still got a long way to go yet and I think we can really improve,” said Arrigale.

In other words, the Saints are just getting started.