Coming into the 2025-26 season, many people placed Archbishop Carroll at the bottom of their rankings, predicting a poor season from a Patriots team overcoming the loss of their two superstars. Nonetheless, the Pats ended their Philadelphia Catholic League post-season with a strong showing in a playoff game against No. 4 seeded Neumann-Goretti.
The Pats rolled into their contest without their star sophomore Yasir Turner, leveling the playing field with the Saints who were without their leader and superstar, guard Munchie Wright.
Carroll kicked things off with a layup from Nasir Ralls. The Saints responded to with a three-pointer from Kody Colson. Both teams continued to exchange blows and Carroll had an early 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. From the jump, Ian Williams took over the scoring role for the Patriots, showing no fear driving to the basket. Only 24 minutes separated Archbishop Carroll and an appearance at the Cathedral of College basketball, the Palestra.
“We had goals, and one of the boxes was to get to the Palestra,” said Carroll head coach Francis Bowe.
Carroll continued to play its brand of basketball in Quarter 2, still with Williams taking the offensive load. On the other side it was all Colson and Marquis Newson, who combined for 11 of Neumann’s first 25 points. The Pats had all the momentum heading into the second half, but in a rowdy Neumann-Goretti gym packed to the brim, the momentum quickly shifted the opposite way.
The Saints used all the energy in the building to continue to pile on points. Despite falling behind multiple times, the Pats showed resiliency, and continued to fight their way back one possession at a time. Williams still could not miss and he had the Pats only down by two heading into the fourth quarter. Williams did a stellar job of baiting his defenders into the foul, but this would be something that came back and failed in the later stages of the game.
The Pats picked up their first lead of the fourth quarter with a layup from Nikolai Lugendo, putting them up 43-41 with the game winding down. Carroll was playing perfect basketball against a team that they had beaten just weeks prior. Neumann Head Coach Carl Arrigale saved all six of his timeouts for the fourth quarter. His strategy gave his squad plenty of rest in the moments that they truly needed it. Arrigale did not take his first timeout until Lugendo’s layup, giving his team the energy they needed to finish the game. Williams put Carroll up by five with four minutes left with a step-back three ball, Colson answered with a three ball of his own and the Pats still led by two in a very tight game. Neumann had perfect ball movement all game, and with two minutes left they displayed it, Colson received a pass from Deshawn Yates and dimed it in the middle to a wide-open Newson for a dunk that blew the roof off of Neumann-Goretti. Newson’s dunk was the turning point in the game, giving the Saints just enough momentum to push them over the hump.
“We know that they were a tough team, a tough defensive team, and we just wanted to play together,” said Newson. “We just wanted to play together and move the ball.”
Following the dunk, Lugendo missed a corner three and then fouled Yates, who made both his free throws, putting the Saints up four. Williams attempted to bait a foul out of the Saints from three and did not get the call, forcing Carroll to play the foul game. The Saints hit their free throws and Carroll couldn’t get anything more going, leading to the final buzzer sounding in favor of the Neumann-Goretti Saints by a final score of 61-51.
The Saints will now advance to the Palestra on Wednesday and will take on the Bonner-Prendie Friars. For the Pats. they will now look ahead to the city championship and the state playoffs, where they believe that they can advance to Hershey and win it all.
“The other two things we have on that goal list, which we’ll let out the bag, which is not a surprise, is win a city title and then win a state title,” Bowe said, “which I firmly believe with these seniors we can do.”
By Quarter
Archbishop Carroll 16 | 14 | 7 | 14 || 51
Neumann-Goretti 15 | 10 | 14 | 22 || 61
Scoring:
Archbishop Carroll: Drew Corrao 5, Nasir Ralls 8, Ian Williams 24, Nigel Lambert 4, Nikolai Lugendo 8, Ceasar Richardson 2.
Neumann Goretti: EJ Stanton 9, Deshawn Yates 9, Marquis Newson 16, Alassan N’Diaye 11, Kody Colson 14, London Collins 2.
