Roman Catholic Defeats Archbishop Wood 67-49: Kehler on Hoops

Written by: Dell Jackson on January 5, 2024

Roman Catholic Defeats Archbishop Wood 67-49: Kehler on Hoops
Article by David Kehler

Roman Catholic defeated Archbishop Wood 67 to 49 on Friday night before a standing room only crowd at Holy Family University in northeast Philadelphia. Roman plays a number of its home games at Holy Family. It was a Philadelphia Catholic League game between two of the top teams in Pennsylvania, squads who are leading contenders for the PIAA Class 6A state championship this season.

The outcome of a high school basketball game is often determined by a scoring run by one team, and this contest was decided by a 12-0 Roman run early in the third quarter.

However, the game was close throughout the first half. Roman and Wood are very quick squads, and Wood likes to play at a fast tempo. Both teams’ offenses were on fire in the first quarter, and there were several spectacular scoring plays and acrobatic dunks by both sides. Late in the first frame, Roman switched from their normal man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone, and Roman played a lot of 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone defense for the rest of the game. Wood has a flowing, uptempo offense that works best against man-to-man defense, and Wood’s offensive rhythm was disrupted at times by Roman’s zone. The largest lead in the first half was six points, and there were two ties and four lead changes in the first 16 minutes of play. With 4:11 left in the first half, Roman took a 22-20 lead on a pivot play by 6’ 7” junior Shareef Jackson, and they led for the rest of the contest. Most of the first half stats were pretty even: both teams had 16 rebounds, Wood was six of 11 from the free throw line and Roman was six of 12, and Wood made four 3-pointers while Roman scored three times from beyond the arc.

Roman had a decisive surge in the third quarter. They out-rebounded Wood 12 to four in the third frame, and Wood committed five turnovers in the third period. Roman had six offensive rebounds in the third quarter, and their offensive rebounding was a major factor in their 12-0 third quarter run. With the score 31-30 in Roman’s favor early in the third period, they launched a 12-0 run, consisting of a putback by Jackson, another putback by Jackson, a fast break layup by 6’ 2” junior Sebastian Edwards, a free throw by Jackson, another fast break layup by Edwards, and a 3-pointer by 6’ senior Hunter Johnson. That made it 43-30, Roman, and Wood never recovered. Despite facing zone defenses on the vast majority of second half possessions, Wood scored only once from beyond the arc in the last 16 minutes of the game.

Yet, talented Wood was scrappy down the stretch. Trailing by 12 early in the fourth quarter, Wood cut the deficit to seven points on a putback by 6’ 3” senior Tahir Howell and a 3-pointer by 6’ junior Michael Green with 6:13 left in the contest. But Wood did not get closer, as Roman responded with a three point play by Jackson and a 3-pointer by 5’ 10” senior Bobby Cottrell.

It’s quite possible that Wood and Roman will face off again in the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs and/or in the PIAA Class 6A state championship tournament.

For the game, Roman out-rebounded Wood 35 to 22. Roman had eight turnovers, while Wood had 15 miscues. Roman was 13 of 22 from the stripe, while Wood was nine of 14. Both teams made five 3-pointers. Roman had 14 assists, while Wood had nine.

Archbishop Wood scoring: Josh Reed 17, Jalil Bethea 13, Deuce Maxey 6, Michael Green 6, Tahir Howell 5, and Brady McAdams 2.

Roman Catholic scoring: Shareef Jackson 18, Sebastian Edwards 18, Travis Reed 12, Hunter Johnson 8, Bobby Cottrell 5, C.J. Miller 4, and Malik Hughes 2.

Some other notable stats: For Wood, Bethea had six rebounds and four assists and Reed, who will play at Drexel next season and had a terrific game, also had six rebounds. For Roman, Jackson had 10 rebounds, Reed had five rebounds and four assists, and Johnson also had five rebounds and four assists.

Archbishop Wood     15   11   10   13-49
Roman Catholic         19  10   21   16-67

On Twitter: @david_kehler

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