Spiraling.
It’s the word that comes to mind when considering Wednesday night’s debacle in Archbishop Carroll’s East gym, where the Patriots fell to Archbishop Ryan 84-79 in overtime and dropped to an unexpected 0-3 on the Philadelphia Catholic League season.
Opening the contest on the heels of back-to-back Catholic League losses to Roman Catholic (Friday, 71-53) and Cardinal O’Hara (Sunday, 67-64), the Patriots were looking for a turnaround.
At first, it appeared that would be exactly what the Patriots would get. The Pats got out to a 24-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, then went on a 16-3 run in the second period to extend their lead marginally. They eventually went into the half on the momentum of a monster slam from Luca Foster at the buzzer, which made it 46-22 Carroll.
Even deep into the third quarter, it looked like the Pats would get the turnaround they wanted. Leading by as many as 27, it seemed as though all the worries and troubles of the last week would simply flush away.
However, just as Carroll had controlled the pace of play for the entire contest to that point, they lost it just the same.
With the lead growing, the Patriots began to look lackadaisical, going through the motions of each play with a laissez-faire attitude. Soon enough, as any good team will do, Ryan made the Patriots pay. They shrunk Carroll’s lead to 17 by the end of the third period.
As that happened, it almost felt as though the Patriots panicked, jumping into a fast-paced offense they hadn’t used thus far in the game, which resulted in turnovers and rushed shots. As Carroll continued to rush through the motions, the issues piled up and seemingly blinded the Carroll players as frustration mounted and the Ryan bench grew louder.
“Our intestines dropped in the second half for sure,” said Foster. ”Guys are trying to take shots that we weren’t taking in the first half because, I guess, guys are trying to get their own, and that hurt us because it came to the point where [Ryan] got right back into it and stole it from us.”
With the Patriots exactly where they wanted them, attempting to slow down a transition game that had allowed a 15-3 run thus far, Joe Zeglinski’s Ryan club stepped on Carroll’s throat. They did so by taking advantage of their biggest disadvantage, depth.
With one of the deepest 10-man rotations in the Catholic League and some of the most fast-paced play, Ryan was able to outpace and quickly run up the scoreboard on the Patriots as they completed a 22-3 run by taking the lead off a couple foul shots with just minutes remaining.
The Pats gathered themselves in the final minutes but still struggled with rudimentary things that usually come naturally for a team of their caliber. After converting a huge bucket with seconds to go and tying the game, Foster took away the ball on an inbound pass and was swarmed. Nonetheless, no timeout was called by the Patriots and the ensuing jump ball resulted in Ryan possession.
“Yes, we definitely could’ve called a timeout,” said Foster. “I was kind of waiting for the foul call because I felt like I kind of got tackled when I stole the ball.”
The game eventually went to OT, where the Patriots struggled with the same issues, allowing Ryan to claim the pace of the game and take the buckets they needed. Even as time ticked down, Carroll couldn’t catch a break, missing fouls shots and turning the ball over in huge spots.
Falling from a 27-point advantage doesn’t happen often or easily. The Patriots struggled in the face of adversity as the domino effect occurred, which resulted in the spiraling play that killed Carroll in the second half.
“We just need to learn how to fight through adversity,” said Foster. “We let things affect us too much. We really just have to let things go.”
With the loss, Carroll falls to 0-3 on the PCL season and 4-7 on the season as a whole. They’ll move on to Friday’s game against La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor as they try to get back on track against one of the PCLs hottest clubs.
