47297803
Playing for the boys’ basketball team at Ss. Neumann-Goretti High School, 1736 S. 10th St., has become synonymous with making history.
Monday night at the University of Pennsylvania’s Palestra, the squad added more accolades, scoring a third-straight Catholic League championship and becoming the first parochial group to register a trio of consecutive undefeated seasons in league play. Countering naysayers’ expectations, the team downed Archbishop Carroll, 59-55, to give coach Carl Arrigale his seventh title in 13 seasons.
On the threshold of gaining greatness in the league’s 92-year-old annals, the Saints watched the preceding girls’ title game. Once it ended, they retreated to their locker room to review their plan.
“You’ve done all the preparation,” Arrigale said while detailing defensive schemes. “We need to keep the intensity level high.”
Each player sat except for star guard Lamin Fulton, the lone starter left from last year’s championship squad, whose standing was a metaphorical preview of his need to rise above the opposition. Arrigale looked at the senior when he said, “We must control the tempo.”
Carroll’s supporters were busy chanting, “We want Neumann!”
“Carroll is looking for the memory of a lifetime,” Arrigale said. “Let’s keep what we’ve earned.”
Entering with identical 20-4 records, the Saints and Patriots proved the game’s hype was well-deserved, trading buckets in an exciting first quarter. The local boys nailed three long-range shots, two by Fulton and one by junior guard Billy Shank, but sloppy ballhandling gave Carroll a 14-13 lead after eight minutes.
The Patriots, hoping to exorcise recollections of last year’s 75-59 title-game defeat, turned to guard Juan’ya Green, who shared league MVP honors with Fulton, for perimeter potency, but John Davis, a sophomore forward, and Ja’Quan Newton, a freshman guard, split 10 points between them to put their team in the ascendancy.
Exhibiting more hustle in the second frame, the Saints fed off the partisan crowd’s support to outpace the Patriots.
His team’s 30-25 edge pleased Arrigale, but he lamented what would make the second half even tighter — shaky foul shooting.
“We should be up more,” he said of the lead that Fulton’s 12 points helped to craft. “It’s alright to take your time on offense, and you have to pressure their passers. You should be fighting for every inch of the court.”
The Saints have shown plenty of fight over the last three years. They entered the game with 53 straight regular season and playoff triumphs against Catholic League teams, with six wins coming against Carroll. The Delaware County-based school, however, earned a 70-65 victory in 2009’s state quarterfinal, making it the last league member to sully the Saints.
The majority of the third quarter confounded Carroll, as its deficit twice reached nine points. Neumann-Goretti used longer possessions and swarming defense to stay in front. Fulton struggled with his shot, but Davis and Newton generated enough offense to retain the five-point halftime margin, this time forging a 43-38 advantage.
Not used to nail-biters in its streak, Neumann-Goretti advanced by knocking off Center City’s Roman Catholic, 47-46, in a Feb. 23 semifinal duel. In league history, only Roman and Southeast Catholic, Neumann-Goretti’s original name, had managed to win at least three straight titles, with the latter doing so from 1939-’41. Arrigale’s bunch wanted to add its new name to the list, and Fulton obliged the request for an up-tempo attack as the seconds elapsed.
The dynamo, headed to New Jersey’s St. Peter’s College, scored four points in the second half, and he and junior forward Derrick Stewart dished passes to Davis, who scored 16 points, and Newton, who deposited 13. Carroll ran its offense through Green, who scored a game-high 30 points, and inched closer primarily because of the Saints’ free-throw ineptitude.
With opportunities to dispirit Carroll, the Saints could not convert their foul-line chucks, hitting only 10 of 23 in the fourth quarter. What had been full-fledged visions of celebrating a comfortable win became wishes for staving off nightmares for their fans, as Carroll cut the score to 56-55. Davis, a left-hander who attacks the rim with gusto, stepped to the line for uncontested attempts as padding the lead.
The youngster buried both, leaving Carroll 10.7 seconds to tie the score. Everyone knew the ball would go to Green, but his long-distance heave was off the mark. Stewart secured the miss and added a free throw to begin the celebration.
Rife with contentment, the Saints hammed it up for photos, passing around the championship plaque and flashing three fingers to symbolize their achievement. Queen’s “We Are The Champions” filled the rafters, and the customary net-cutting brought more cheers.
“A lot of people had written us off,” Arrigale said as Stewart claimed the net’s final strand. “I knew we had a chance at the beginning of the year, and I felt we just kept getting better.”
Arrigale had special kudos for Newton.
“He’s great in the open floor. He really had a nice game for us tonight,” he said.
So nice was what Newton contributed that the cheerleaders applauded his scores with “He’s a freshman” chants, foreshadowing the young man’s upside.
“Early in the game, I was nervous,” the Southwest Philadelphia resident said. “Coach Carl told me to relax, and I just let it flow. A game like this helps me to see how I need to improve.”
Newton and his teammates may have another such game tomorrow at 8 p.m. They will travel to Archbishop Ryan to face Philadelphia Electrical, the Public League’s Class AAA champ, in a City Title tilt. Regardless of the outcome, they then will try to defend their state title in to-be-determined action.
“We work hard,” Newton said. “We’ll be successful as long as we keep doing that.”
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
47297733
47297793
