It’s been a long time since the Archbishop Carroll varsity boys basketball team took down their top rivals, Cardinal O’Hara, in O’Hara’s house.
The last time it happened was all the way back in 2019, nearly five years ago to the day. On Monday, the Pats once again reigned victorious in Springfield with a 64-39 pummeling of the Lions.
“They’re our biggest rivals,” said Carroll head coach Francis Bowe. “We had some state implications. We came in and took care of business, though. But we have always struggled in this gym, so being able to come out and play the way we did was great. The other thing is I’m just proud of our fans. My big thing is that we literally turned an away game into a home game, so I’m thrilled with the Carroll student body right now because this was an awesome environment.”
A raucous student section may have just been what set the Pats off on the right track as the Red Sea (as they have generously named themselves) was loud and tone-setting from the get-go. After packing the stands pregame, the Carroll faithful certainly got into the heads of the O’Hara players early on as the Pats held C.O. to only two points in the first quarter.
The Carroll defense was nothing to scoff at, either, as they forced multiple turnovers and held the Lions to just 23 points in the first half.
“It’s just about us being so close to each other,” said sophomore captain Ian Williams. “Having meetings with our coaches and coming to the realization that we got to come up together and that we will get our points on the defensive end if we just strap up as a unit, so us strapping up led to points that we got, so just being together and staying together, that will take us over the hump.”
The second half was more of the same for O’Hara as they struggled to get much going on offense while the Pats continued to score at will on offense and strip the O’Hara offense whenever they so pleased.
The offense stayed hot through the fourth period as Williams, sophomore guard Nasir Ralls, and sophomore forward Luca Foster helped to pile on the points for the Pats, eventually putting the game well enough out of reach in the final few minutes.
With the win, Carroll moves to 11-6 and 5-4 in the Philadelphia Catholic League. This comes as they embark on their final road matchup of the season with Roman Catholic this Friday at 7 p.m. at Holy Family University in Northeast Philadelphia.
The Pats will look to take one last shot at one of the Catholic League’s contenders before heading into the season’s final stretch before the playoffs. The next-game-up and one-game-at-a-time mentality the Pats have instilled now shifts to the Cahillites, who are 8-1 in Catholic League play with notable wins over Archbishop Wood and a convincing win over Neumann-Goretti.
Carroll will certainly have its hands full with the defending Catholic League champions and this year’s league favorites.
“We just got to do the same thing we came in here and did today,” said Ralls. “Keep the same energy, keep the same happiness, and keep having fun with the game.”