City of Basketball Love

Varun Kumar (@VRKumar8)
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Tyree Pickron arrived at the Mayfair Recreation Center Court shortly before tip-off on Thursday night, but he made his presence felt almost immediately.

The rising junior wing finished with 24 points, helping Archbishop Wood secure the John Taylor Basketball League title over Catholic League rival Neumann-Goretti 75-64 on Thursday evening.

Pickron, who currently holds scholarship offers from Drexel, Delaware State and Stony Brook, was red-hot from the field from start to finish. He hit four 3-pointers, on a night when jump shots weren't falling for just about everyone else.

He also played outstanding defense, forcing several turnovers that led to scoring opportunities.

“He played really well,” Vikings coach John Mosco said. “He controlled the game, he was terrific as another ball-handler, playing as an undersized four, he made threes, and he got to the basket.”

Though Pickron had the best night on the floor, he downplayed his role, choosing instead to credit his teammates that have improved since the start of the JTBL in early May as the reason for winning the title.

“We improved tremendously,” the 6-3 wing said. “Colin [Gillespie] got better, Seth [Pinkney] got better, Karrington [Wallace] got better. Just our whole team got better. That’s what summer league is about...it shows that we’re building to where we want to be next year. But it doesn’t stop us from getting better.”

Though it’s still a long way off from February’s Catholic League championship game at the Palestra, there’s a decent chance this could be a previous of the two teams who will meet for the title in the Cathedral of College Basketball.

Neumann-Goretti has made the last eight Catholic League championship games, while Wood looks primed to make a big jump up the standings with a deep and experienced squad as many of the teams that finished above the Vikings graduate numerous key seniors.

Mosco, who spent 16 seasons as an assistant to Carl Arrigale at Neumann-Goretti, cautioned his team not to take too much stock into the win.

“In reality it’s a good win, but it’s nothing to get too high or too low about,” he said. “It’s June 30. I like it for our program, but we’ve got to wait until the fall and winter, they’ll be a different team.

“I’d like to see us get a little tougher, a little better rebounding team, and a little better defensively. I think we have enough firepower that we can score, but we still gave up 64 points today,” he continued.

He also mentioned he is looking forward to the rematch during the Catholic League season, in a game that promises to feature two of the top teams in the PCL.

“[Neumann-Goretti] is one of the gold-standards of our league,” Mosco said. “They’re a great team. They were missing one guy who's pretty good, Quade Green. He’s decent, just got offered by Kentucky. They were missing him and (rising junior) Marcus Littles. They'll be tough to beat with those two guys in the lineup.”

Pickron’s backcourt mates, Cerruti and Gillespie -- both seniors -- added 17 and 15 points, respectively.

Although he was cold for much of the first half shooting-wise, Gillespie looked terrific running the Wood offense as the point guard, and had a few nifty assists in transition. Some of the younger players, such as rising junior Andrew Funk and rising sophomore Julius Phillips, had strong games as well.

Despite often employing a smaller lineup -- with big men Pinkney and Wallace on the bench for large portions of the game with foul trouble -- the Vikings were able to contain Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree for most of the contest.

The Villanova commit tied for game-high honors with Pickron (24 points) in a losing effort, but was frustrated with the consistent double teaming he faced in the post from Wood’s guards.

Wood never trailed in the game, taking a commanding 24-9 lead with 5:36 remaining in the first half and holding Saints largely at arms’ length.

The closest Neumann-Goretti got was within seven points, on a Cosby-Roundtree and-one with about seven minutes to go. Back-to-back threes from Pickron and Cerruti brought the Viking lead to 59-43, essentially putting the game away with five minutes left.