City of Basketball Love

Eugene Rapay (@erapay5)
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Cardinal O’Hara barely stood a chance. Archbishop Carroll quickly placed the Lions on the backburner, getting off to a hot start and hardly looking back.

Carroll set the tone early behind the play of Josh Sharkey and John Rigsby to take a big lead from the start and ultimately go on to win 79-40.

The Patriots (18-2, 10-1) were overwhelming on both ends of the court. Their swarming defense proved to be too much from opening tip. Players flew across the court, forcing turnovers, and frequently gave O’Hara a hard time getting set on offense, let alone score the ball.

The blitzkrieg approach allowed the Patriots to impose their will in the early stages of the game, attacking quickly in transition or finding the gaps in the defense that resulted in easy baskets from wide open players.

Archbishop Carroll raced out to a dominating 26-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The one-sided start set the tempo moving forward, as the Patriots maintained the lead in double figures.

“We always try to make sure in Catholic League games that we jump out early and jump on them quick,” Rigsby said. “We don’t want any team to ever feel like they’re in the game.”

The connection between Sharkey and Rigsby were important early on for establishing the big lead from the start.

Cardinal O’Hara (5-13, 2-9) didn’t seem to have an answer for the Patriot tandem before they went on to release the floodgates.

Sharkey was able to facilitate in transition, getting the ball to Rigsby through crisp passes. On the receiving end, Rigsby was able to finish his layups. He was able to continue doing so once the Lions started keying in on him, regardless of the increased awareness and pressure that came his way. He scored 15 first-half points.

“I was playing well, my teammates were able to find me on the break,” Rigsby said. “Josh [Sharkey] and Ryan [Daly] were able to find me in transition. Transition was a big part of our game today.”

His play wasn’t limited to just attacking the paint. A couple of his baskets came from crashing the offensive glass and putting it back in. He also helped set up his teammates. His value to the team also carried on to the defensive side of things.

“John has had a great year for us,” Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk said. “He’s someone we rely on a lot. He’s someone who we rely on for defending the other team’s best perimeter player usually and to give us a scoring punch when we needed it.”

Rigsby bounced back from a rather quiet performance in the win against defending state champion Conwell-Egan on January 29th.

It was a low-scoring game and he was tasked with guarding one of the top scorers in the league in LaPri McCray-Pace.

This time around, he was able to get back on track on both ends of the court. Usually a third option behind Sharkey and Ryan Daly, he was able to finish on top with a game-high 19 points.

Defensively, he helped the Patriots contain the Lions, who couldn’t score more than 10 points in each of the first three quarters. Cardinal O’Hara had only made two 3-pointers during this stretch.

The Lions would finally break the 10-point threshold in the fourth, but not before Romanczuk had his reserves take the floor for the remainder of the game.

The 46-17 lead the Patriots built by halftime was simply too overbearing for the Lions to overcome.

“That’s when we’re at our best, when we’re pressuring the basketball, getting turnovers and getting out in transition like that,” Romanczuk said. “We were locked in and connected defensively, and it was nice to see.”

Archbishop Carroll received an 18 point performance from Daly to help them get on top. Sharkey finished with 10 points, six rebounds, and seven assists.

As for O’Hara, it was paced by Jaye'Lyn Peeples’ 11 points.

With only two more games left in the regular season for the Patriots, there’s no doubt that they have thought ahead to the playoffs, where they currently project as the PCL's second seed, with a bye into the quarterfinals.

Before they reach that point, they have Lansdale Catholic (2-9 PCL) and Archbishop Wood (6-5 PCL) left on the schedule. Regardless, they won’t overlook those two teams.

“We just have to keep focused on the goal,” Romanczuk said. “The goal is to continue to be one of those top teams entering in the playoffs and keep our playoff seed the best position that we can. We don’t want to slip down the stretch here.”