The Pats kept the good times coming with a win over Devon Prep 69-65 Thursday night in the East Gym.
Following three consecutive losses to contenders Neumann-Goretti, Archbishop Ryan, and Saint Joe’s Prep to begin the Catholic League campaign, Carroll is now on a three-game winning streak. With wins over La Salle, Bonner, and now Devon, the Pats are sitting at 3-3 in the PCL with the meat of their schedule to come.
“We feel great,” said sophomore forward Nasir Ralls. “We’re gonna keep staying together and keep motivating each other and building each other up. We have too many weapons to just be selfish and go for our own, but if we keep building each other up and staying together, that’s the key to winning these next few Catholic League games.”
From the get-go Devon gave the Pats all they could handle. With a steady offensive attack, they were able to stay neck and neck through the second period.
A back-and-forth first half made for some scrappy play on the court and some words off of it. A classic Catholic League student section battle took place between the Pats supporters and Tide supporters.
However, as the second half got underway, Carroll went on an offensive tear, pulling off a few nice offensive runs while holding Devon scoreless on offense.
“We stayed more poised defensively there,” said Carroll head coach Francis Bowe. “The goal was to put pressure on them because they don’t have a true point guard but we kind of just took bad gambles, bad reaches, etcetera. But we talked to them at halftime, [and the team] played good defense and knocked some shots down to begin the second half.”
Carroll maintained a lead of five to eight points for the remainder of the game and did not waiver in the final minutes.
“We’re just staying motivated,” said sophomore point guard Ian Williams. “The three losses to start the year hurt for sure but as sophomores and freshmen I just feel like it’s different because we’re not regular freshmen and sophomores, so getting back to that .500 mark meant a lot to us.”
The Pats eventually ticked the clock down as Devon would try a few futile attempts to foul, but to avail.
With the win the Pats move to 10-5 on the season with a 3-3 mark in the Catholic League. They will take on Archbishop Wood next Sunday at Wood for a 2:30 PM tip-off.
