Neumann-Goretti Looks The Part As Saints Oust ELCO In PIAA-4A First Round, Move One Step Closer To Ninth State Championship
Written by: Andy Herr on March 9, 2022
Over the span of its entire history, the ELCO Raiders boys’ basketball team has made it to the PIAA state tournament two times. On Tuesday night, it that number would get bumped up to three once the group from Myerstown set sail for Cardinal O’Hara High School, just on the western outskirts of Philadelphia. However, coming into the night, the Raiders had yet to crack into the win column as far as the state tourney was concerned. Of course, it goes without saying that both of ELCO’s prior two trips weren’t exactly for the faint of heart that is when considering who their opponents happened to be there waiting for them.
Try as you might, you’d be hard-pressed to mind much better high school basketball brands not just in Philadelphia proper, not just in the entire state of Pennsylvania, but on the eastern seaboard of the United States than that of Neumann-Goretti and Imhotep Charter. And as you may have guessed, those two powerful franchises happened to be the ones who had brought ELCO’s pair of scintillating seasons to a halt in 2016 and 2020 respectively. Granted, while reaching the state tournament should never bring with it any sort of perceived grace period or anything lenient of the sort, it’s downright arduous to get going out the starting blocks when those are the two teams sitting on the opposing bench once you make it through the collective grind of the Lancaster-Lebanon League season and then the subsequent District 3 tournament in quick, successive fashion. And if you’re already surmising where this appears to be headed, yep, ELCO’s third trip to the most exclusive of dances would come against one Neumann-Goretti.
Ironically though, while one could argue that the 2016 version of ELCO’s squad which met up with Neumann-Goretti in the first round of the state tourney that year may have had more talent across the board –most notably with Colton Lawrence and Mason Bossert coming to mind right away — the fact of the matter was that this 2021-22 edition of the Raiders squad could lay claim to some achievements that their recent brethren simply could not. Among other things, sweeping Lancaster Catholic within the span of a season, something surely not lost on anyone found residing in ELCO’s camp, along with the fact that this year’s crew claimed the program’s first section title for the first time in a generation, or for the first time since 1992 specifically that is.
Speaking of which, winning titles has become a feat so normalized for Neumann-Goretti that it almost seems something of a birthright for anyone who has the good fortune of donning their gold and black school colors. Sure enough, this particularly young group of Saints too seems poised for greatness within the near future as well given that N-G was able to lay claim to the Philadelphia Catholic League crown this season, without any shadow of a doubt the best high school basketball conference within the commonwealth. Of course, while winning the Catholic League is certainly a big deal in and around the country’s sixth-largest city, Neumann-Goretti has more often than not laid an entire blanket of like-minded success over the whole of the state in the weeks that have followed considering that the Saints won a simply staggering five-straight state tournament titles from 2014-2018 before that streak was ended during the 2019 campaign, bookending a stellar streak of success that began following a 2013 loss to another L-L League member ironically, Donegal. Of course, all of that is to say that the 2020 Saints seemed destined to summit the mountain for an eye-popping ninth time in school history had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic which ended the state tourney that season, coupled of course with the litany of similar issues that arose over the entirety of last season as well which kept the Neumann-Goretti off the medal stand yet again. And speaking of Neumann-Goretti’s pathway to Hershey, the Saints’ jaunt to the Giant Center has more often than not wound its way through the Lancaster-Lebanon League given their 4-0 record against L-L competition since that aforementioned loss to Donegal almost a decade ago.
So, the question that remained heading into the night was still at large. Most specifically, would ELCO be able to make their third trip to states a charm on Tuesday night provided they could make good on slaying the biggest beast inside the state? Well, they would certainly fought valiantly in the same manner which has come to define them this year, the Saints would methodically and decisively handle their business accordingly over the span of the next 32 minutes that would soon follow.
Suffice to say, coming out of the starting blocks strong was the prime objective for either squad in attempting to try and lay some groundwork. In that regard, Neumann-Goretti left little doubt there.
In fact, Khaafiq Meyers would start the evening out with a vengeance as the electric 5’10 sophomore guard proceeded to pour in the Saints’ first five points of the evening before a Masud Stewart triple on N-G’s ensuing offensive trip by the Saints’ 6’1 senior guard would follow suit, prompting ELCO to burn a timeout while down by an 8-0 count just 1:40 into the contest. From there, following the Raiders’ bid at halting the Neumann-Goretti salvo, the Saints’ advantage would balloon all the way up to a baker’s dozen before a much-needed bucket inside courtesy of ELCO 6’3 senior forward, Luke Williams, gave the Raiders their first points of the night with 3:20 left to play in the opening stanza.
That said, while ELCO would burn three of their timeouts within the span of the first six minutes of the opening frame, something needed to change given how Neumann-Goretti already seemed to be speeding downhill against them. For that, the Raiders opted to bring out the 2-3 zone to try and stymie the Saints’ onslaught. Unfortunately, as far as the two busloads of folks who had ventured to Springfield from Lebanon County were most concerned, even the switch in defenses didn’t seem to deter N-G all that much considering the three triples that Robert Wright III proceeded to sink over top of the zone over the course of the final few minutes of the first quarter, as the other dynamite piece of the Saints’ starting sophomore backcourt made it a 26-8 N-G cushion at that point in time. Yet to his credit, Luke Williams proved himself to be the key catalyst to the ELCO effort throughout the opening quarter as the physically-imposing big man was able to beat the clock with a last-second lay in to make it a 26-10 affair at the end of the opening stanza, signifying that Williams either scored or assisted in each of the Raiders’ buckets during the opening eight minutes.
That said, while the first quarter certainly didn’t go their way, ELCO was able to enjoy some success as far as the initial part of the second quarter seemed to be concerned.
There, despite surrendering a 3-ball to N-G on the Saints’ opening possession, ELCO’s Corey Attivo promptly tallied four of the Raiders’ first six points to start the period which helped slice the Neumann-Goretti advantage back down to 13, 29-16, with 5:30 left to go before the halftime break.
However, that would prove to be all the closer ELCO would get for the remainder of the night.
Despite seeing themselves fall victim to a bit of an ELCO momentum swing right then and there, Neumann-Goretti was able to quickly right the ship. For that, the Saints were able to lean on the exploits of Sultan Adewale as the 6’8 long and rangy junior forward was cleared for takeoff with an emphatic one-handed dunk which rocked the rim, making it a 38-19 Saints’ lead with 3:40 left before intermission. From there, the Saints went on to double-up their opposition at 46-23 following a trifecta cashed in by way of Khaafiq Meyers, along with a sweet reverse finish at the cup coming from the handiwork of Robert Wright III immediately afterwards, which is precisely where things would remain once both teams went back to their respective corners to regroup for the second half. On the night, the law firm of Meyers and Wright was a sight to behold as the two Neumann-Goretti underclassmen were able to tally 32 points amongst themselves –14 for Meyers and 18 for Wright III respectively – as the pair far and away inflicted the greatest amount of damage upon ELCO collectively on Tuesday night evening inside Cardinal O’Hara.
Yet even in the second half, Neumann-Goretti just kept right on humming along.
Case in point, a theft and finish by Robert Wright III in the early portion of the third stanza which preceded his floater in the lane shortly thereafter, the last of which gave Neumann-Goretti their largest lead of the evening at 58-28 with still half of the third quarter yet to be played.
But sizable gap or not, don’t bother telling that to ELCO’s Luke Williams.
Without question, the effort put forth by the Raiders’ 6’3 senior forward will surely become one of the L-L’s most notable individual performances ever put forth inside the state tournament.
All game long, it was evident that ELCO, a team that literally had to change its modus operandi offensively from a dribble-drive attack to one that favors and utilizes its current height advantage to its benefit, knew how to best butter its bread. Sure enough, Williams was more than happy to oblige in the collective cause considering that his pair of back-to-back buckets inside the final few minutes of the third frame which handed him his 20th-23rd points in successive fashion, proving as to why he was a matchup nightmare inside the likes of which Neumann-Goretti likely won’t find the rest of the way within the 4A bracket over the next couple of weeks waiting for them. Yet even with Williams’ strong and determined efforts leading the Raiders’ charge which came punctuated with a sensational and transcendent game-high 27-point outing once the night was over with, Neumann-Goretti was nonetheless able to withstand the barrage and carry the 65-38 advantage with them heading into the final stanza.
And just like the three quarters which had preceded it, the Saints just kept right on marching.
Ironically, the fourth quarter version of Neumann-Goretti’s attack appeared eerily reminiscent of the ones which came before it. Sure enough, a Saints’ triple cashed in on their opening offensive possession of the quarter, this one thanks to Bruce Smith, helped set the table as the N-G 6’2 junior would then follow that up with another bucket from beyond the arc shortly thereafter to make it a 30-point bulge once again at 75-45 with over three minutes remaining to be played. Yet even with time running out in this one, Neumann-Goretti’s Ronald Johnson found time to get in on the act as the Saints’ 5’11 junior wing was able to tally a hoop plus the harm inside the waning stages to help punctuate Neumann-Goretti’s eventual 79-47 final triumph over ELCO, vaulting the eight-time state champions just one step closer to perhaps adding yet another trophy to what figures to be an already very cramped case.
That said, even though Tuesday night did not go the way that anyone in the Raiders’ camp would have hoped, it wasn’t as if this performance alone would sour the season at large which had just ended.
“Listen, I’m just super proud of them. Super proud of the effort,” ELCO head coach Brad Conners said after addressing his troops for the final time. “This has been a gritty group. Nothing has been pretty all year,” he added. “Just a gritty, grind it out, maybe steal (a game) at the end type of team. That’s just who we’ve been. I’m proud of that. I love that.”
“I’ll take grit any day,” Conners went on to say. “We talked about all year about what it means to be gritty. Never giving up, believing in yourself, fighting til the end, that’s what these guys epitomize.”
“The big wins,” the ELCO boss then said when asked what he figures to take away from his 2021-22 crew in particular. “That first win versus Octorara early in the season. That was a big one to kind of set the tone. Beating Catholic twice, beating them at home and then beating them at their place. I don’t think we’ve ever in our school’s history beaten them at their place and I don’t think we’ve ever in one year beaten them twice in our school’s history, so I’ll remember that. The three (District 3 playoff) wins. The third quarter in Boiling Springs when Rheece Shuey went absolutely bananas from 3 to where it didn’t seem like he could miss. I’ll remember those things.”
Yet even while the Raiders will most certainly miss their cast of departing seniors, something clearly evident given the upmost praise and reverence Conners offered when speaking of his soon-to-be graduates, this particular game against a Philadelphia superpower felt slightly different than their previous two losses in the state tournament that had come before it. Sure, while those games ended ELCO’s season, it also felt that those games ended an entire chapter that the Raiders had been building towards that ended in an abrupt climax. This time however, there are some pieces coming back into the fold that the Raiders can certainly build upon.
“It’s been pleasant. Our season this year has been a pleasant surprise. These guys worked their butts off to get here,” Conners went on to reiterate. “To get (a state tournament berth) was kind of the cherry on top. It’s good for our young guys to taste it. Now it’s up to them. We’ve got a big sophomore group, a big freshmen group, so we’ll see what happens. We’ll see if they’re inspired, see if they’re motivated for an off-season.”
“You look at Corey (Attivo), you look at Rheece (Shuey), you look at Luke (Williams), those guys, they busted their butts. They got to see the 2020 group. They were with us for that. Luke Williams played a lot of minutes against Imhotep. They learned from that ’20 team,” he continued. “You hope that the young guys are inspired and motivated to get back here and play. I mean, what an opportunity playing against those two programs.”
And with a guard-heavy lineup that features the likes of Camden Marquette and Dallas George respectively who figure to carry the Raiders’ banner heading into the not-too-distant future –both of whom tallied points against Neumann-Goretti on Tuesday night– a return to their roots in reimplementing the patented Lebanon County dribble/drive offense next season certainly figures to help bolster ELCO into becoming a formidable threat to make it back onto this very same stage perhaps sooner rather than later.
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