City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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After coughing away a lead in Monday night’s Philadelphia Catholic League championship and putting together one of its worst halves of basketball this season, it looked like Neumann-Goretti’s poor play was carrying over into Saturday afternoon’s District 12 Class 3A championship game. 

After connecting on just three first-quarter field goals while also committing numerous turnovers and allowing Delaware Valley Charter to connect on more than half of their first-quarter attempts, the Saints were looking at a double-digit hole after only eight minutes of play.

“We had a little bit of a Catholic League championship hangover,” Neumann-Goretti head coach Carl Arrigale said. “This game has been hard for us for the last nine years, it really has. It’s been a really difficult, difficult game. Win or lose, it’s hard to get our guys ready for this game. I don’t know why, I’ve tried a bunch of different things but we just have a really hard time in this game.”

Along with the end of the first quarter, though, went Neumann-Goretti’s struggles as well, as the Saints put together a phenomenal final three quarters of basketball to win the District 12 Class 3A title by a score of 65-58 over Del-Val Charter at St. Joseph’s Prep’s Kelly Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. 

A huge part of Neumann-Goretti’s first quarter struggles was its lack of defensive pressure. After allowing the Warriors to do what they wanted with the ball in the first frame, Neumann began to run a full court press that threw off the Warriors’ momentum and allowed Neumann-Goretti to chip away at the lead. 

“They were way too comfortable and we had to do something,” Arrigale said. “I was either going to sit there and watch them walk the ball up court and do whatever they wanted to do or try to get the game going a little bit.”

Once Neumann-Goretti amped up the defensive pressure, it was all downhill for Del-Val. In the final three quarters of play the Warriors shot just 13-of-26 (.361) from the field and 2-for-13 (.153) from beyond the arc. 

While the defensive effort was collected from each member of Neumann-Goretti, the offensive charge was led by senior guard Quade Green.

Green was unstoppable on the offensive end as he poured in 31 points, with 27 of those coming in the final three frames. The Kentucky commit was efficient while pouring in his points as well, shooting 9-of-18 from the field and a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line.

“It’s about Quade a lot,” Arrigale said. “When he’s able to get us stabilized and then he got going a little bit. Him getting to the foul line was important and he was able to convert.”

Green’s offensive showing was the only important thing the five-star recruit did on Saturday afternoon, as the senior guard played a huge role in making sure his team stayed level-headed in a fast-paced, foul-filled contest.

“My guys are young so I have to teach them the way of getting past the physicality of a team that is trying to foul us and make us shoot free throws and everything,” Green said. “I just tell them to keep their heads and keep playing basketball and if they foul, we’re in the weight room every day so we’re good.”

Green’s advice paid off for his teammates, as his perfect showing from the stripe was just a part of Neumann-Goretti’s 30-for-34 (.882) performance from the stripe as a team against a Delaware Valley squad who entered the double bonus in both halves. 

While Green is used to having fellow senior leader Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree out on the court to help him control things, such was not the case for a majority of the game on Saturday afternoon as the Villanova commit found himself sidelined early due to foul trouble.

Cosby-Roundtree’s absence was filled by solid outings for the Saints from sophomore guard Christian Ings (nine points), junior guard Dhymir Montague (seven points), and senior forward Mike Milsip (seven points, five rebounds). 

Del-Val was led by the trio of Makhi Morris (19), Antwuan Butler (16), and Dion Harris (14), who combined to score all but nine of the Warriors’ points on Saturday afternoon.

Although greater things lie ahead for Neumann-Goretti, with the state tournament on the horizons and the Saints having won the last three PIAA AAA state titles, this win is still meaningful for Green and Co., as Del-Val upset Neumann-Goretti by a score of 81-79 in last seasons District 12 AAA title game. 

“Me and Da-Da (Cosby-Roundtree), we tried to come out with full aggression. They beat us last year with the team we had and with the team we have now, me and Da-Da wanted revenge and to get the win,” Green said. “Playing against Del-Val, a hard-nosed team that’s good and wants to be aggressive all the time, we have to be aggressive too. It’s good, we won a championship so everything is wonderful.”