City of Basketball Love

Dan Wilson (@dan_wilson4)
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For Neumann Goretti’s seniors, it was their final chance to make a mark on their home court at 10th and Mifflin.

For Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, Friday night was a culmination of an era that changed his life.

“I never played organized basketball until high school,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “I wouldn’t be playing basketball if it wasn’t for my AAU coach, Calvin Gilbert.”

Gilbert, who is the JV coach and a varsity assistant at Archbishop Carroll, was introduced to Cosby-Roundtree four years ago through a mutual friend. It was when Gilbert introduced the 6-foot-9 big man to the coaches at Neumann Goretti, that Cosby-Roundtree would make a name for himself.

In fact, Cosby-Roundtree grew as a player so quickly that he was committed to Villanova last April. The outlook of a potential pro who will be playing at the Division I level is something that would have seemed impossible when he walked into Neumann-Goretti as a freshman.

“All of the hard work I’ve put in here has made me who I am today,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “I just never stopped working.”

Cosby-Roundtree led the way for the Saints, racking up 27 points to go along with a triple-double en route to a 78-63 win over St. Joes Prep on Senior Night in South Philadelphia on Friday.

He dominated the paint from start to finish, almost all of his points came in the interior. Whether it was cleaning up the glass and making a put-back layup, or getting a feed from one of his teammates, Cosby-Roundtree was a force to be reckoned with down low.

Not only was it a good night for Cosby-Roundtree, it was an all around good night for all of the Neumann Goretti seniors; as Quade Green, Emil Moody, Dante Vannicola, Mike Milsip and Cosby-Roundtree all entered the scoring column and combined for 59 of the Saints’ 78 points.

“These were five guys that have played here for all four years,” head coach Carl Arrigale said. “It really means a lot to get this win.”

“I’ve been here four years and now I’m about to leave, it’s really crazy,” senior and Kentucky commit Quade Green said. “It really went by fast.”

Green contributed with 14 points, and perimeter defense that prevented the Prep from getting into any kind of shooting rhythm.

Arrigale started his five seniors, marking the first time that the group had ever played on the court together at the same time during the course of their high school careers, according to Cosby-Roundtree. The lack of chemistry is perhaps to blame for the slow start, the Saints found themselves trailing 17-15 after the first quarter.

However, the rust was quickly taken care of. A 25-8 second quarter run gave the Saints (15-6, 11-1 PCL) a commanding 40-25 halftime lead that they refused to relinquish for the rest of the night.

The play of the game came down the stretch, with 3:12 remaining in the fourth, Milsip (12 points) capped off the evening with an emphatic and-one dunk, sending the crowd and bench into an absolute frenzy.

“Hopefully they’ll all remember these moments some day,” Arrigale said. “Whether they’re at a reunion, or they all go to watch Quade or Dhamir play in a Final Four, maybe they’ll talk about how they were all out there together on senior night.”

For the Hawks (14-7, 7-5), junior Darius Kinnel lead the way with 24 points in the losing effort.

The Saints have just one game on their regular season schedule remaining, a trip to West Catholic on Sunday afternoon. Their focus will quickly shift to the postseason sometime Sunday night.

For Neumann-Goretti, the top ranked Class 3A team in Pennsylvania, their next goal will be capturing their first Catholic League title in three years. Roman Catholic, who is 10-2 in the Catholic League this season, has won back to back championships the past two seasons. Neumann-Goretti defeated Roman 87-53 on January 11.

Also atop the PCL is Archbishop Wood (18-3, 11-1), who the Saints lost a 82-73 thriller to on January 26.

“We can go very far in states,” Green said. “We’re going to keep working every day.”

“We only have one goal here,” Arrigale said. “We want championships.”