364 days ago, the Archbishop Carroll boys basketball team was in nearly an identical spot as it found itself Friday night.
On Friday, after opening their Philadelphia Catholic League season 0-3 under the praises of a new campaign, the Patriots came away victorious against the La Salle Explorers on a bitterly cold January night with a new voice and presence on the court. The final score: 80-66.
On Friday, January 12, 2024, the Patriots and Explorers faced off at Chestnut Hill College, and Carroll eventually came away victorious during Ian Williams’ coming out party, in a win that would propel that club all the way to a state championship appearance.
A year after the win at Chestnut Hill College, things look a bit different but feel eerily similar. One difference is that Williams wasn’t on the court for the Patriots on Friday and won’t be for the remainder of the 2025 season after the Carroll captain went down with a knee injury over the summer. Yet in nearly every other way, things appear similar, from the bitterly cold temperatures outside to the warm feeling of the crowd in the gym as they collectively watched a star be born.
When Williams went down prior to the season, head coach Francis Bowe knew he wouldn’t just need to replace a guy who was approaching the 1000 point marker, was a playmaker and facilitator on the floor, and basically ran his team’s offense: he’d need to replace a leader, someone who his entire team trusted and listened to night in and night out.
Through the first two months of the season, Carroll scraped by. The Patriots won some preseason matchups before slugging through City of Palms and losing big-man Drew Corrao to injury. Next came a disappointing start to the Catholic League season, in which they fell to the likes of Roman Catholic, Cardinal O’Hara, and Archbishop Ryan, blowing 20+ points leads to the latter two.
Following the second straight blown lead in the loss to Ryan — the third straight PCL loss – fans saw a dejected team. Perhaps nobody took it harder than one Nasir Ralls.
Ralls, a 6-foot-tall guard, has played all three years on varsity for the Patriots and always seemed to play second fiddle to Ian Williams last season. He seemed to become an afterthought at times this season. Nonetheless, the gritty wing who always has had something to say showed a new side of his game Friday night.
“It’s as simple as staying locked in, staying confident,” said Ralls. “I just had to be myself out there. I knew everything else would work out eventually.”
From the opening tip, Ralls was on his game. The Patriots guard, known for his range, drained Carroll’s first three buckets from beyond to give the team an early 9-4 lead over the Explorers and force a timeout from Coach Ryan Ansel.
While Ralls took a brief backseat on offense to allow for the likes of Munir Grieg and Christian Matos to pour on the effort, Ralls got to it on the defensive end. The Division I recruit forced three La Salle turnovers, a few of which he turned into transition buckets on the other end. That helped to swing the momentum big time in a spot where Carroll desperately needed it.
“It’s great for his confidence, you know,” said Bowe. “The last game was a rough one for him with shooting and sometimes it just gets into your psyche. His focus in practice yesterday was amazing, not just focus with his play but keeping these guys engaged and locked in. This is a long season and it’s really nice to see that we have that level of work being put in at practice.”
After a few good back and forth runs, the Patriots seemed to put together a decent lead, up by about 10 through the second and third quarters. Ralls continued to pour it on in the lane and, of course, from deep, although as the third period trudged on, Nick Parisi would drill a big time three from outside, resulting in a raucous reaction from the La Salle crowd.
“Are we back again?” Bowe said he wondered.
Who could blame the Patriots coach as he watched his team in a nearly identical position to where they were against both O’Hara and Ryan earlier this week.
However, at that moment it appeared clear that they weren’t going down. It appeared clear that this team had a confidence to them that they didn’t have against O’Hara or Ryan. Even after the gym exploded and they dealt with a few missed shots and heard some chirps from the La Salle student section, they got back up, kept smiling and played their brand of basketball.
“That just goes back to me and these guys being ourselves,” said Ralls. “It comes back to staying calm and I know I was telling these guys ‘stay calm,’ because we felt like we were the better team and we had to play like it.”
It was indeed Ralls who was the most vocal on the floor, especially as the game went into the third period and the outside noise got louder. The Patriots’ new found leader stuck to his gut and played some of his best basketball of the season, drilling big shots and helping to keep the margin in Carroll’s favor.
“It was the constant belief,” said Bowe. “We’re allowing them to pick each other up and not let the coaches just talk at them. I really think sometimes that might be therapeutic and sometimes we just need to let these guys figure stuff out. And hey, we’ve had our struggles and I take the credit for them cause I made some mistakes in the past few games, but we’re all learning and it came together great tonight.”
Come together it did as the Patriots eventually dribbled it out with just around 20 seconds to go, advancing to claim their first Catholic League win of the year.
With the victory, the Patriots moved to 1-3 on the PCL season as they get ready to head off to Lansdale to take on the Crusaders of Lansdale Catholic on Sunday afternoon for a 1:30 p.m. tipoff.
