City of Basketball Love

Thomas Primosch (@ThomasPrimosch)
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Roman Catholic coach Chris McNesby had seen this movie before.

His team was up by three with game on the line and the other team in possession of the ball.

Just 48 hours earlier, McNesby had watched La Salle forward Ryan McTamney nail a 3-pointer with seconds left to send it to overtime.

The Cahillites were able to sneak away with a win against La Salle, but McNesby wanted to avoid overtime altogether in this game against Archbishop Ryan. So after Roman guard Nazeer Bostick hit two free throws to put his team up three with under 20 seconds remaining, McNesby called a timeout and told his team to foul whoever got the ball.

“I mean…a little bit,” McNesby said when asked if McTamney’s three was in the back of his mind when he decided to foul. “It’s one of those things where as a coach you always think about that situation. I’m always nervous they’re going to get an offensive rebound or something crazy is going to happen, so that was actually the first time I ever tried that.”

Roman fouled Ryan junior Izaiah Brockington, who made both free throws, but Bostick made two more with two seconds left. Ryan then missed a wild heave as time expired, and Roman escaped with the 55-52 victory.

At first it looked like Joe Zeglinski’s Raiders would be the latest team to give Roman (12-4, 5-2) a tough loss in what’s been a surprisingly difficult season for a Cahillites squad that was expected to largely dominate behind a trio of high-major prospects; Ryan led 17-13 after the first quarter and showed no signs of backing down.

Brockington scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter as the Raiders (10-6, 3-4) quieted the Roman fans for the first eight minutes of play.

Things changed in the second quarter as the Cahillites spent the next eight minutes going on a 13-4 run, holding Ryan to just two buckets for the entire quarter.

Junior D’Andre Vilmar ignited the Roman crowd with a tip dunk midway through the second quarter and from then until halftime, the fans rarely stopped cheering. The Cahillites scored the last 10 points of the quarter unanswered and went into the break with a 27-21 lead.

The teams traded baskets for the most part in the third quarter but there was a growing sense that the game had become Roman’s to lose.

Roman held a 38-31 lead going into the fourth quarter and a ferocious Lamar Stevens dunk with 5:10 left put them up 42-33 with a commanding grasp on the game.

However, Zeglinski’s team fought back and cut the score to 48-47 with 1:54 to go.

Senior Austin Slawter was a catalyst for the Raiders, scoring 14 of his team high 16 points in the second half. He made two especially tough layups over much taller defenders during Ryan’s fourth quarter comeback.

Zeglinski seemed pleased with the way his team stood it’s ground against a group of big, high-profile players.

“That might be the toughest we’ve played,” Zeglinski said. “Rebounding the ball. Obviously they’re a very physical team and we challenged them at halftime and they responded, especially in the fourth quarter comeback.

After Carr made one of two free throws to give Roman a 49-47 advantage with :54 seconds left, Ryan senior Austin Chabot drilled a three from the top of the key to put the Raiders ahead for the first time since they lead 21-19 with 3:15 left in the second quarter.

Carr wasn’t fazed though, and the senior calmly dribbled down the court and hit a tough off-balance layup in the lane to put Roman up 51-50.

“He’s our leader and ever since I’ve known him, he always seems to have that knack for knowing when we need a bucket,” McNesby said. “He kind of pushes it a little bit more, almost like he’s not going to let us down so it’s nice to have a kid like that.”

“I was just trying to make a play. I had a ball screen up top but my defender was overplaying it so i just rejected it and went to the hole and tried to finish,” Carr said.

Carr finished with 13 points to go along with five assists. Bostick had 16 points and eight rebounds and Stevens led all scorers with 19 points to go with 11 rebounds; all three are committed to play at Penn State next year.

After not getting off the start they had hoped for in league play, the Cahillites now have some momentum to build on after back to back wins against La Salle and Ryan

"I just think we’ve played such a good non-league schedule and you really, really learn about some of your weaknesses but at the same time you don’t get unbelievable confidence cause you’re playing against Monteverde or Arlington Country Day or Baltimore Christian,” McNesby said.

“Everyone knows you and they kind of know your strengths and weaknesses so we’re just kind of finding our way to overcome what people are doing to us.”