City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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With Roman Catholic’s trio of Penn State-bound hoopers gone from the high school ranks after the Cahillites won the last two Catholic League titles, the 2017 PCL title seemed like Neumann-Goretti’s to take.

Then Archbishop Wood came in and spoiled the Saints’ comeback party.

The PCL’s team of destiny all season long, Wood came into its first-ever Catholic League championship game and came away with a perfect record thanks to a 65-58 win over Neumann-Goretti at the famed Palestra on Monday night.

It’s the first-ever boys’ basketball league title for the Warminster school, and it came against a program making its ninth-straight PCL championship game.

“It’s just another game, whether the big stage or not, just got to play like another game,” senior wing Matt Cerruti said. “And that’s what we did, and it worked out.”

Villanova-bound Collin Gillespie bounced back from a quiet first half to finish with 24 points and seven assists, scoring all but two of those after intermission.

Cerruti added 15 and junior wing Tyree Pickron 13 for Wood, which trailed 31-18 at halftime before a crucial third quarter left the Vikings with a two-point lead and all the momentum.

“I’m speechless,” Gillespie said. “So excited right now. Our group of guys deserves this, we’ve worked so hard for this the past four years."

The win is the culmination of a terrific four-year building project by Wood head coach John Mosco, though it came against the program that developed Mosco's basketball ability.

A St. John Neumann grad, Mosco had spent the previous 13 years as an assistant on the Saints' staff under head coach Carl Arrigale.

"Bittersweet playing Neumann-Goretti," he said. "I wasn't even able to get back to get the trophy presentation, there was like 20 former players that were there just coming down congratulating us and everything."

Afterwards, Mosco and GIllespie shared a moment atop the ladder, cutting down the nets together.

"It was awesome, I've been through it a lot with Carl up there sharing it with his seniors, and to experience it myself is mind-boggling," Mosco said.

It’s the third straight year that Neumann-Goretti lost in the league championship game after running off a string of six straight from 2009-14.

Kentucky commit Quade Green had 16 to lead the Saints, which also got 13 from junior guard Noah Warren.

Trailing by 13 at the half, Wood came out of the break hot. A pair of 3-pointers by Pickron and one by Cerruti cut the Saints advantage down to four in the first two minutes of the third, and tied it at 41-all on a Cerruti foul shot late in the quarter. On the ensuing possession, Gillespie finished at the rim to give the Vikings their first lead of the game with 14 seconds left in that decisive quarter.

Green did not get his first basket of the second half until converting an and-one with 4:02 left. But that was one of the few positive moments of the second half for the Saints.

Archbishop Wood junior center Seth Pinkney, who finished with eight points and two blocks, had a layup interfered with that put Wood up on top for good with 3:30 to play; a minute later, the lanky 6-10 big man corralled an offensive rebound and got the putback to put the Vikings up 55-50.

Green came up empty on several of Neumann-Goretti’s final possessions, and Wood knocked down its foul shots to hold on for the win. Gillespie alone hit six FTs in the final minute of play.

In the first half, Wood shot just 6-of-24 overall, and 1-of-13 from 3-point range.

But once they started connecting, the Vikings knew they were right where they needed to be. After all, they'd already beaten the Saints once during the regular season, an 82-73 win on Jan. 26.

“The shots didn’t fall the first half; we knew if we kept shooting they would go down and it happened,” Gillespie said.

While Wood took home the title, both teams still have plenty to play for. The Vikings will play Martin Luther King in the District 12 Class 5A title on Friday night at Father Judge at 7:00 p.m.

Neumann-Goretti will play Del-Val Charter in the 3A title on Saturday.

After that, both teams will take part in their respective PIAA classifications.