Sunken treasure

At halftime, the score was 38-19, and Neumann wasn’t the team on top. The Pirates had reached a crossroads in their Catholic League semifinal game against Cardinal Dougherty: Either play out the string or fight on.

When the second half began, so did the battle.

Facing the top-ranked team in southeastern Pennsylvania, the Neumann players expended all their ammunition.

By the time it was all over at La Salle’s Tom Gola Arena Tuesday night, Northern Division champ Dougherty had eked out a 66-62 victory. But for a moment, it looked as if the Pirates would stage an upset. The underdog squad outscored Dougherty 28-15 in the fourth quarter.

Freshman Antonio "Scoop" Jardine made eight of those points, including a key three-pointer that cut the deficit to 62-60 with 1:10 remaining. With 22 seconds left, the fearless rookie launched another three-pointer that rolled in and out. Senior Adon El grabbed the rebound, but missed the follow-up.

The valiant comeback effort impressed coach Carl Arrigale.

"I was able to walk out of that place proud of those guys," he said.

Still, the loss crushed the players, who desperately wanted to earn a championship in the last year of the Pirates’ program. In September, Neumann will merge with St. Maria Goretti High, and the reconstituted school’s athletic teams will be known as the Saints.

On the Pirates’ final outing, the players did their best to keep the ship afloat.

There was senior Richard "Tabby" Cunningham, a La Salle University signee, with his 10 points and six assists, El with 12 points and five rebounds, and junior David Burton, who tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds. Even sophomore Earl Pettis, a newcomer to the Catholic League playoffs, finished with nine points and seven boards.

The athletes showed just as much drive — with better results — in Saturday night’s quarterfinal contest against Roman Catholic. The Pirates were aiming to make a statement against their opponent. That way, the team could wipe clean the memories of an embarrassing 73-52 defeat to the Cahillities on Feb. 6. That night, a four-point game in the fourth quarter ballooned into a 21-point loss.

The Pirates were even more fired up after they heard a couple of the Roman players trash-talking during Friday night’s Northern Division quarterfinals.

"[Roman] totally disrespected us and our coach," El said. "We went out and did what we had to do."

Everybody from Burton and his 16 rebounds to Cunningham and his 16 points chipped in to grab the 57-47 victory. Even sophomore Derrick "D.J." Rivera did his part by hitting a clutch three-pointer with just over a minute remaining to give the Pirates a 50-46 lead.

The rookie said when the pressure was on, he remembered what his older teammates taught him about stepping up.

"They told me, ‘Don’t be scared out there,’" Rivera said. "They told me to just use my head at all times."

The win was the seventh in a row for third-place Neumann, who scored a non-league victory over nationally ranked St. Raymond’s from New York earlier in the season.

Arrigale said the squad took time to jell this year.

"There was a point in the season where we were kind of mixed up," he said. "We weren’t real sure of ourselves, and we didn’t have an identity. We allowed every bad play to affect us."

The Pirates had a diverse mix of rookies and newcomers. Pettis and Rivera got their first true taste of the Catholic League playoffs this season, while seniors Keith Heron and Michael Payne, both members of previous Neumann teams, finally saw significant playing time in the postseason.

As key holdovers from the 2002 Catholic League championship squad, Cunningham and El had the most experience.

El, who had an assistant basketball coach from Philadelphia University waiting for him after Saturday night’s game, said he was proud of his younger teammates.

"Early in the season they were real strong and then dropped off," he said. "[Pettis and Rivera] stayed strong. They are two of the top players in their class."

And despite Tuesday’s loss, Arrigale said he remains pleased with his players’ performance and drive.

"They made everybody who went to that school proud," Arrigale said. "Those kids represented that school as good as it could’ve been represented."