Anything can happen in the Philadelphia Catholic League.
Proof of that was Monday night’s 83-79 victory for Archbishop Carroll boys basketball over Father Judge in Northeast Philadelphia.
“It’s falling into place right now,” said head coach Francis Bowe. “The guys are super-bought in and we’ve seen the change. This is not an easy journey, though. We have Devon Prep on Friday and Egan just doesn’t go down without a fight. We’re not out of the woods just yet.”
After starting their Catholic League season 2-7, the Patriots are now riding a two (three, counting non-conference) game win streak with triumphs over top contenders Bonner-Prendie and Father Judge.
This comes after a stretch where the team went 0-4 in Catholic League play, falling to the likes of Archbishop Wood, West Catholic, Neumann-Goretti, and St. Joe’s Prep; the former two of the four came very unexpectedly. This stretch left the team looking lost and longing for the offseason that is soon to come for teams unable to clinch a playoff spot.
Nonetheless, following last Friday’s upset win over Bonner-Prendie, the team embodied a new energy fueled by some on-and-off-court contributions from junior forward Luca Foster, along with a better sense of the on-court unity, which helped better play into the team’s original playbook.
“Listen, they scored a ton of points,” said Bowe. “(Derrick Morton) Rivera is an incredible scorer and he fights with hands in the face and we were trying. It was sort of like just sticking with it, so we know when we play teams like that they’re going to make you go into the 70s and 80s, and we just hope we can put up a couple points to go along with that.”
That offensive outburst by both teams came to light in the first quarter as Carroll outscored the Crusaders 28-20. Both sides seemingly couldn’t miss as they set up outside shots while also working the lane and fighting the foul battle — one that was evident all night.
The teams kept up the back and forth in the second as Carroll’s lead was brought down to just two around the midway point. While Carroll’s hot shooting continued, so did Judge’s as the game continued to seem more and more like a ‘who will blink first’ type of contest.
At the half, Carroll led by just three, although they were able to pull away again in the third.
It was then that Morton-Rivera drained a huge three as the period neared its close. Sophomore forward Munir Grieg then air balled as the period expired. At that point it appeared that the Pats would fall victim to one of their bugaboos — the momentum swung, something that has plagued the team this year, especially with the immaturity they deal with being so young.
“I think we’ve talked about it a lot,” said Bowe. “These guys still need to grow up. I do think it’s happening. Are they fully grown? No, although there are a lot of tests down the line for us to deal with. I think this was a good litmus test for the PCL playoffs and definitely states.”
While Rivera’s swing worked, it wasn’t permanent. The Pats took a couple slight leads early in the fourth quarter before pulling away around the three minute mark. For the final few minutes the team was playing keep away as Judge continued to inch closer. A few big time foul shots and transition buckets later, Carroll pulled away in the final seconds.
With the win, the Pats move to 4-7 on the Catholic League season and 9-11 overall. They’ll get back to work on Friday night as they take on yet another league favorite in Devon Prep in Devon for a 7 p.m. tipoff.