City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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The Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals return to the Palestra on Wednesday night with three of top four seeds from the regular season standings as well as the seventh seed advancing to the final two games.

This year’s semifinal group features only one team which made it to the semifinals a year ago and three programs that have had at least a one-year absence from playing at the Cathedral of College Basketball.

Here’s a look at each semifinal matchup:

4) Archbishop Carroll vs. 1) Bonner-Prendergast (6:30 PM)
The last time Paul Romanczuk led the Patriots to the Palestra, 2016 PCL MVP Ryan Daly (Delaware), Josh Sharkey (Samford) and John Rigsby fell to Roman by one point in a game that slipped away. While none of the starters from that team remain on the roster, Romanczuk’s group will not be short on confidence or composure coming into this matchup.

“I’m trying to get them as confident as they can be going into the game,” said Romanczuk, who is making his ninth appearance in the PCL semifinals. “I don’t think that’s too hard with this group. They feel pretty good about how they’re playing. They’re going to be amped up for this but I want our guys to play with emotion and not let emotions overcome them.”

First Team All-Catholic point guard A.J. Hoggard (15.3 ppg) led the way against Archbishop Wood in the quarterfinals with 23 points including 18 in the second half. The sophomore has scored in double figures in all but one PCL game this season and has shown great maturity in running Romanczuk’s offense with Second Team All-Catholic selections Justin Anderson (13.5) and Keyon Butler (15.8) on the wings. Anderson is a lefty who can really stroke it from deep and the 6-4 Butler does most of his damage taking bigger guys off the dribble and finishing through contact.

Another player who could have some success against the Friars is 6-5 junior Luke House. He closed out the regular season scoring 21 and 12 points against Cardinal O’Hara and Wood, respectively. Romanczuk knows these four guys were the key against Bonner-Prendergast in the regular season. Even though the Patriots fell, 79-72, he knows the matchup problems this group can cause and wants them to attack the rim instead of resorting to outside shots as they did in the first meeting

“We’re a team that’s difficult to guard, especially if we’re knocking shots down,” Romanczuk said. “The first time we played them we made 11 three-pointers. I don’t want to have to rely on that on a big college court where maybe you’re some nerves. I want to be able to score the ball inside and get to the free throw line.”

Isaiah Wong (21.6) is “the MVP for a reason,” Romanczuk says. The PCL MVP scored a season-high 32 points in the quarterfinals against O’Hara and netted 29 against the Patriots. He is the type of the player that can simply take over the game by scoring in a variety of ways.

What has made Bonner-Prendergast so impressive this season has been its ability to combined Wong’s scoring prowess with the inside presence of 6-9 junior forward Tariq Ingraham (13.0) and 6-8 senior Ajiri Johnson (11.5). Ingraham was named Second Team All-Catholic and Johnson First Team. Ingraham has been a force in the paint this season and Johnson has been in the short corner more to free up space for his teammate.

Romanczuk knows the Friars have consistently have an advantage in the front court and understands what each big man does well.

“Most teams usually have one big guy that you might want to try and take away but they have two,” Romanczuk said. “If [Ingraham] catches the ball deep, it’s basically two points and/or a foul. Then Ajiri Johnson is a little bit different. He’s an excellent athlete, runs the floor, plays with a great passion and energy and the team feeds off of him and his big play ability [whether] it be his dunks, putback dunks or blocked shots.”

This should be an exciting comparison as the Patriots and their explosive perimeter players go up against the imposing size of the Friars. Bonner-Prendergast will be looking to exploit Archbishop Carroll’s lack of size while the Patriots will be focusing on creating mismatches outside.

7) St. Joe’s Prep vs. 3) Roman Catholic (8:15 PM)
Head coach William “Speedy” Morris may be having déjà vu in more ways than one on Wednesday night. The legendary coach has been on the sideline for a multitude of games at the Palestra ranging from his time at the helm of Roman, La Salle University and the Hawks. It’s a building he’s very accustomed to coaching in and he’s been able to translate to his players the significance of what it means to play on a stage like that.

“It’s the goal of every team to get to the big house,” Morris said. “We haven’t been there since 2013 but we’ve been there many times. It’s a great experience to get down there.”

The last time Morris took the Hawks to the Palestra, Steve Vasturia (Notre Dame), Miles Overton (Wake Forest, Drexel) and Chris Clover (St. Joe’s) were leading the charge. Five years later, another trio has propelled an unlikely run by the Hawks: Darius Kinnell, Kyle Thompson and La Salle commit Ed Croswell. Kinnell, a First Team All-Catholic selection who led the team with 16.6 ppg, scored 18 points against McDevitt in the Hawks 57-51 first-round victory. Croswell (14.2) controlled things inside with 18 in an upset over Neumann-Goretti in the quarterfinals. Thompson (14.5) has been a reliable option with his most impressive outing of the year coming against the Cahillites in the season final with 24 points.

Morris, who captured his 1,000th career victory in a win over Lansdale Catholic on Jan. 12, has been pleased to watch this trio grow and develop together.

“They’re seniors now and have been playing together for three years,” Morris said. “Well, Ed has been here for two years but the two guards have been together for three years. They’ve gotten us to this point and I’m very proud of them.”

The Hawks’ run to the semifinals did not seem likely when considering how the PCL season played out. After winning five of the first six league games, St. Joe’s Prep dropped five of the final seven including the last three. Even more crushing for Morris and the Hawks was the margin in which they lost some of those games particularly to some of the top teams.

“We’ve had our ups and downs this year,” Morris said. “We lost three in a row first to Wood by two, Neumann-Goretti by four and Roman by six. We really hung in there and had a chance to win every game.”

On the other side, Roman has rattled off ten straight wins including its come-from-behind victory over La Salle. In the 56-46 win, only four players scored and it was the same four who have carried them all year: First Team All-Catholic Seth Lundy scored 22, Lynn Greer III added 15, Hakim Hart had 10 and Towson commit Allen Betrand chipped in nine. Lundy led the Cahillites with 16.0 ppg and at 6-6 he can control the game in a number of ways from knocking down his improved jumper to taking bigger guys off the bounce to posting up smaller guards.

Roman’s second-half success was even more incredible as they defeated seven PCL playoff teams in that stretch run. The Cahillites have advanced to the semifinals every year since 2011 which includes the last two under second-year head coach Matt Griffin. The versatility of Roman’s guards was on full display in the team’s 77-71 win over the Hawks on Feb. 11 as Greer had 21, Betrand had 19, Hart added 16 and Lundy followed up with 11. This quartet has been Roman in position to appear in its first PCL title game since 2016 and Morris has been impressed with what they’ve been able to accomplish.

“To win ten in a row in this league is very special and they’re a high-powered team,” Morris said. “They have everything going now. We have to play at 100 percent to beat them.”

This group of Hawks has never played in the PCL semifinals but Morris feels the stage will not be too big for them.

“It’s a special group of guys and I know they won’t be overwhelmed,” Morris said. “It’s all about getting a win and I know this group is pretty special.”