Roman Catholic strong against West Catholic

by Marcus Wright

West Catholic High School, West Phila., PA:  A hostile crowd.  A red hot team.  And a slow start.  The elements were there for Roman Catholic to perhaps take a tumble to West Catholic Friday Night in the Catholic League South showdown.  The Burrs are a much improved team and were definitely pumped to play this game.  But in the end, the Cahillites proved that they are still a big force in the Catholic League as they defeated the Burrs, 78-54.

West Catholic started strong, getting out to an 8-0 lead.  They were connecting swiftly with their shots, especially Jr. Curtis Drake, who finished the game with 13 points.  The Burrs sustained the lead for most of the first quarter, and this was because they outhustled Roman and controlled the early pace of the game.  It was evident that the Burrs wanted to play uptempo, and it worked in the beginning.  This also got the crowd involved in the game.

Roman Catholic slowly but surely made their way back.  The starting contributions came from Fr. Aaron Brown (finished with 11 points).  He got a couple of early baskets in the paint, and this set the interior tone that would haunt the Burrs throughout the game.  Roman was able to slow the pace down and take control.  Their comeback allowed them to actually end the 1^st quarter with the lead (21-19).

From there, it was a matter of Roman getting stronger and forcing West Catholic to unravel.  The Burrs had a couple of key turnovers to start the 2nd quarter, and Roman capitalized on these with mostly interior baskets.  When Roman’s shots didn’t fall, they managed to grab offensive boards and get second chances.  Soph. Courtney Stanley did an excellent job of handling the ball and distributing to his teammates.   With the pace of the game now at a more stop-and-go, sluggish tilt instead of a nonstop-pinball pace, Roman extended their lead to 43-29 at halftime.

The third quarter was even more sluggish, which once again played to Roman’s advantage.  Now joining the party was Jr. Maalik Wayns (22 points), who started to hit shots and play aggressively after spending most of the first half setting up his teammates.  West Catholic was never truly out of it in this quarter, thanks to the efforts of Rob Holloman (11 points), who played aggressive the whole game, and Sergino Mystil (11 points).  But once again, Roman managed to get too many second chances on the offensive end due to controlling the boards, and the quarter ended with the Cahillites leading 62-44.

The fourth quarter saw Roman put the finishing touches on the game, including a couple of nice threes by Soph. Rakeem Brookins, and a couple of spectacular dunks by Wayns. 

Roman Catholic, despite the elements, the slow start, and a much improved opponent, improved their record to 6-2, and made another big statement to the rest of the Catholic League.  West Catholic drops to 11-2, but are still off to a great start and will learn from this game.  It’s a long season, so we’ll see what’s in store for these two teams the rest of the way.