City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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With Imhotep playing as hot as it had been all night, Neumann-Goretti had its backs against the wall.

Imhotep had just been down by fifteen entering the final two minutes of the third quarter. However, when the same amount of time appeared on the fourth quarter clock, the game was tied, and all the momentum N-G had built up seemed to have disappeared like a magic trick, right before their eyes.

Four charge calls on the Saints in a span of just over two minutes to start the fourth certainly didn’t help their cause, as Daron Russell and the Panthers took advantage to claw back into the game.

“In the second half, we kind of stopped doing what we did to get the lead, we kind of slowed down,” said Saints head coach Carl Arrigale. “I always talk about human nature, human nature kicks in sometimes, because I had told the guys that if we got where we needed to be in the game, we’ll be fine.”

But after a timeout was called with just under two minutes remaining, Neumann-Goretti pulled out a magic trick of its own, instantly bringing back the fire it had been playing with.

Imhotep didn’t score again, after having tied things up at 69 with 3:30 to play.

Thanks to that late flip of the switch, the Neumann-Goretti Saints scored the final seven points of the game to knock off the Imhotep Panthers in a PIAA class AAA semifinal at Philadelphia University, by a final score of 76-69.

“It was a hard fought game, we knew they were going to come at us hard,” he said. “We knew we were in for a dog fight and the word out on the street is that we’re not tough enough, and stuff like that, so we talked about it, just being tough both mentally and physically for the game, they’ve got a lot of guys and they run a lot of guys at you, we took a lot of charges.”

During the timeout that came prior to N-G’s game-ending surge, Arrigale’s players huddled together and got after each other, and something noticeably clicked after that spark had been lit.

“I mean, you don’t want a three to go in, but there was certainly a lot of game left,” he said. “I was glad he called the timeout, I’m not going to lie, I’d rather that than a shot, but at that point we were going to have to change what we were doing in order to close it out, and we were able to do it.”

As for Imhotep head coach Andre Noble, he didn’t regret calling that timeout despite negating what would have been the go-ahead three-pointer at the end of a 20-6 Panther run.

“I still think it was the right call, he pulled up and shot a 50-footer and it went in,” he said. “I’m not mad at the play, we had gotten stale offensively and had decided that once we got the ball over halfcourt that we would use it. (The ref) actually called the timeout a little later than I’d used it. I’m not upset about it.”

While the final one hundred and twenty seconds of play left the Saints full of elation, that span of time created several broken hearts on the Imhotep side, for good reason. Having fought all the way back, though, the Panthers could only be proud of their efforts after the game, despite having fallen just short.

“We just didn’t make some of the plays down the stretch and then they did, and from that we didn’t get it,” added Noble. “I’m really proud of the way our kids warred, we were down 17 points at some points in that game, and to get it back to 69-69 with the basketball, I think our kids really, really competed hard out there today.

"So I’m upset for our seniors, and for our team as a whole, but you really want great efforts from our kids, and I think our kids gave a great effort tonight.”

The key to his team’s fighting back into the game was in large part, Russell, who finished the game with a team-leading 21 points.

On the other side, Quade Green had the same amount to lead his team; Rasheed Browne (17), Zane Martin (13) and Vaughn Covington (12) joined him in double figures.

Green attested to the high level of emotional intensity between the two teams.

“I’m feeling big emotions,” he said after the victory. “They were talking at us, we were talking back, so we had to prove something.”

All of that talking Green referred to boiled over a bit after a flagrant foul on Dontae Scott as Green drove the baseline. No fists were thrown, no technicals called in that instance, but it was clear at that point with just over three minutes to go that emotions were high in a rematch of last year’s state semifinal, which was won by N-G.

Imhotep got 19 points from its senior class; Jaekwon Carlyle, a Hampton commit, had 10, while Joshua Townsend, Nysir Marshburn, and Khatib Cousins were each held to under five. Those players wrapped up their careers as Panthers in defeat, but their head coach expressed nothing but words of praise for the character of his upcoming graduates.

“Just good young men. All-in-all, (Jaekwon) is the only Division-I player, but the rest of them are just good young men, they’re going to play somewhere, but just good young men, it’s been a joy to coach them,” he said.

As for the Saints’ seniors, what has obviously been an illustrious four years at Neumann-Goretti will have one more game, a chance to cement their class’ legacy with three straight PIAA titles during their careers.

And as Arrigale would attest, it’s all part of the winning culture that’s been instilled in his guys, and everyone who’s come through his Neumann-Goretti program.

“It’s our standard, we play to win, we don’t worry about repeat, three-peat, two-peat, one-peat, we’re just trying to win every big game we’re in,” he added. “That’s our M.O., and that’s what we’re trying to do.”