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Philadelphia Catholic League quarterfinals preview

02/15/2018, 11:45pm EST
By CoBL Staff

Isaiah Wong (above) and Bonner-Prendergast are the top overall seed in the PCL playoffs. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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After St. Joe’s Prep beat Bishop McDevitt and Cardinal O’Hara beat Archbishop Ryan in the two play-in games on Wednesday, the final eight teams for the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs are set. Friday’s games carry not only an opportunity to advance to the Palestra for the PCL semifinals, but hold state implications as well.

Here’s a look at each of the four:

1) Bonner-Prendergast vs. 9) Cardinal O’Hara
This matchup is arguably the most intriguing of the quarterfinal games due to the fact that both of these teams have made tremendous strides since last season. O’Hara didn’t win a game in the PCL a year ago, and hadn’t won a playoff game since 2012 before beating Archbishop Ryan on Wednesday night. Last season, Bonner had to win a play-in game to get the quarterfinals before a 22-point loss to Archbishop Wood, the league’s eventual champion. This year the Friars lost just one league game, a 61-50 loss to LaSalle on Jan. 24. Bonner and O’Hara met in the final game of the regular season on Sunday; the Lions led for a good part of the contest, but the Friars pulled out a 67-63 win to clinch the top seed.

Bonner boasts three all-Catholic League players, including junior guard Isaiah Wong, who took home the league’s MVP award after averaging 22.2 points per game. Senior forward Ajiri Johnson and junior forward Tariq Ingraham also received league honors and sure up the interior for Bonner on the offensive and defensive end. For O’hara, it all starts with senior point guard Antwuan Butler, an Austin Peay commit and first team all-league selection who averaged 18.5 points per game. Sophomore Jordan Hall is dangerous too, with two 20-point games in PCL play.

2) Neumann-Goretti vs. 7) St. Joe’s Prep
The Saints reload year-after-year and despite losing two high Division I recruits in Quade Green and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, the winning ways have not stopped this season. Led by a trio of guards in Dymir Montague, Chris Ings and Noah Warren to go along with George Washington commit Marcus LIttles inside, Neumann-Goretti went 12-1 in the PCL with the lone loss coming to top-seeded Bonner. St. Joe’s Prep has plenty of talent itself, to go along with experience. The Hawks have two 1,000-point scorers in senior guards Darius Kinnel (18.9 ppg) and Kyle Thompson (14.1 ppg). The two guards along with senior forward and La Salle commit Ed Croswell (12.7 ppg) are determined to get to the Palestra for the first time after falling just short last season when they lost to Roman Catholic by one in the quarterfinals.

The two teams met up just last Friday. The Saints built a large advantage early and held off St. Joe’s Prep to pick up a 71-67 win without Ings. It was part of a three-game losing streak for the Hawks, who snapped the streak with a win against Bishop McDevitt in the play-in game on Wednesday. Prep had trouble shutting down the sharp shooting Warren last time these two met. He led the Saints with 19 points.


Lynn Greer III (above) and Roman Catholic have to get past La Salle College HS to get back to the Palestra. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

3) Roman Catholic vs. 6) La Salle
No team in the PCL may be coming into the playoffs with more momentum than the Cahillites (16-5), winners of nine straight. Head coach Matt Griffin’s team appears to be playing its best basketball of the season at the right time and it starts with First Team All-Catholic selection Seth Lundy (16.0 ppg). The 6-6 versatile wing is scored 20 or more points in two of the last three games including 30 against Archbishop Wood last Friday. Roman is loaded on the perimeter with Lundy, Lynn Greer III (15.5), Hakim Hart (14.0) and Towson commit Allen Betrand (13.7). The Explorers (15-7) have three of their final games and also have quality wins including a 61-50 win over top seed Bonner-Prendergast on the road.

The explosive backcourt of point guard Allen Powell (10.2) and the sharpshooting ability of senior Sean Simon (12.6), a 1,000-point scorer, coupled with the versatility of 6-8 forward Zach Crisler, who avg. 10.5 ppg and is one of the better passing big men in the league, should give the Cahillites fits. All three players were named Third Team All-Catholic. The difference in this game could be the play of 6-6 junior forward Konrad Kiszka, who has scored in double figures in four of the last five. Lundy figures to handle the assignment on Crisler which means Kiszka could have an advantage inside. Roman took the regular-season matchup, 65-62 on Jan. 29 behind 19 from Lundy and 16 from Hart. This is the only game not played on a home court; it will be held at Community College of Philadelphia at 3:45 PM.

4) Archbishop Carroll vs. 5) Archbishop Wood
This matchup was set even before the two teams met up on Monday for the PCL regular season finale. Carroll took the first meeting, 67-57, to lock up  home court advantage for Friday night’s matchup. Carroll sophomore guard A.J. Hoggard (14.8 ppg), a first team all-league selection, was the difference for the Patriots in the first meeting, scoring 18 points and tallying seven assists. He’s joined by all-league players Justin Anderson (13.5 ppg) and Keyon Butler (15.8 ppg), and dangerous shooters Devon Ferrero and Luke House in the starting lineup. Wood senior and Bucknell commit Andrew Funk (19.7 ppg) scored 25 points in the first matchup. No other Vikings player reached double digits. If the Vikings want to bounce back from Monday’s game, Funk will need more scoring help on Friday, particularly from senior guard Tyree Pickron, who averaged 15.3 points per game in PCL play.  

Wood also didn’t take advantage of its size advantage in the last meeting. Look for Karrington Wallace (6-7) and Seth Pinkney (6-11) to get more involved. After losing to Neumann-Goretti in last year’s quarterfinals, Carroll is looking to get back to the Palestra for the third time in four years. Wood, coming off its first Catholic League title in school history and PIAA Class 5A state championship, needs a win against the Patriots for a chance to defend both titles. Both teams took off practice on Tuesday and had two days to prepare after having just played each other on Monday, so this should be another good one.


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Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Boys HS  Catholic League (B)  Archbishop Carroll  Archbishop Wood   Bonner-Prendergast  Cardinal O'Hara  La Salle College HS  Neumann-Goretti  Roman Catholic  St. Joe's Prep