By: Rich Flanagan
DREXEL HILL, PA –Matt Griffin did not even know where to begin. The Roman Catholic head coach recalled so many things that had not gone his team’s way over the course of the season, particularly wins that were squandered away late, even when they were in it until the end.
The Cahillites fell to Bonner-Prendergast in overtime in the regular season. They dropped consecutive overtime losses to Neumann-Goretti and Archbishop Wood, a double-overtime contest, in a two-day span. Finally, they ended off the season with a loss to Bishop McDevitt to put them in the number five seed heading into the playoffs. Despite all of that, the Cahillites saw their path to returning to the Palestra and Griffin believes the losses were key learning experiences for his group.
“Winning games in the Catholic League is very, very hard,” Griffin said. “We just keep grinding because that’s what this is all about. We’re teaching these guys how to be resilient and overcome adversity and how to keep working, even when you lose some games.”
Justice Williams missed the potential game-winning shot but Jalen Duren got not one but two opportunities and converted the second at the buzzer to lift Roman Catholic to a 61-59 victory over Bonner-Prendergast in the Philadelphia Catholic League quarterfinals. The win sends the Cahillites to the Palestra for the fourth straight season under Griffin. The put-back punctuated a dominant night for the 6-10 sophomore as he finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks against a much smaller frontline of the Friars.
2020 PCL Semifinal Highlight Video, Roman vs. Bonner-Prendergast including Jalen Duren's buzzer-beater - by Rich Flanagan
Duren, a two-time First Team All-Catholic in his first two seasons, wasn’t sure how to react after putting home the deciding basket as he thought it came after the buzzer but after only a few seconds he was elated and understood the significance how what he had just done.
“Personally, I had never hit a game-winning shot before so I didn’t know what to do,” Duren said. “I hit the shot and I didn’t know if it counted or not. Everyone was running toward me. My body had so much adrenaline pumping.”
Williams had the ball in his hand in the final seconds as senior point guard Lynn Greer III (13 points, seven rebounds, five assists) had fouled out with 2:35 left to play. Greer had a career-high 37 points in the regular-season matchup with the Friars (17-5) but he was not able to be on the court in the closing minutes of this one. Greer went out after fouling Tyreese Watson on a three-pointer, which was banked in and gave Bonner-Prendergast a 57-53 lead. Senior Nasir Lett came in for Greer and made an immediate impact. He hit a pair of free throws and a baseline jumper on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to a point.
AfterJames Welde went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line, Williams sped by Donovan Rodriguez and tied the game at 59-59. The Friars did not even get the opportunity to run the clock down and attempt one final shot as Malik Edwards threw a lackadaisical pass to Watson out of bounds, setting up the Cahillites with possession with 9.9 seconds left. Griffin called timeout and drew up an isolation for Williams (20 points), who knew he had a safety valve waiting in the paint if he couldn’t seal the game himself.
“I know if it goes off the rim, it’s usually a dunk,” Williams said. “We have this special bond on the court. We rallied and put the rest of the team on our back. We just led by example.”
The triumph for the Cahillites was a moment the Friars will lament for a while after they had staged a ferocious comeback in the third quarter.
After Lett threw a no-look pass to Duren and the big man slammed the ball down with two hands, the Cahillites (15-8) were in control leading 48-33 with 1:38 remaining in the third. From there, the Friars five-guard offense took over and their ball-hawking defense worn down Roman Catholic. Watson converted a layup then after he went to the bench with his fourth foul senior Connor Eagan recorded one of his four steals and finished at the other end to help Bonner-Prendergast close the gap to nine to end the quarter.
Rodriguez scored eight of his 11 points in the second half including a tough finish to begin the final quarter then Eagan, who finished with a team-high 14 points, recorded another steal and knocked down a clutch triple from the corner to cut the deficit to four. Later, he converted an and-one followed two free throws on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 51-51. Following another slam by Duren, Edwards, who had 11 points, hit a trey from the corner to put the Friars up by one with 3:40 left to play. Senior Oscar Uduma also had strong game with 11 points of his own and four steals.
Roman Catholic sophomore Jalen Duren finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds, two blocks and the game-winning basket - PSD Photo by Mike Nance
Edwards, a Second Team All-Catholic, felt the Friars defensive strategy of forcing the Cahillites guards to throw lobs to Duren was going to benefit his side by being able to force the big man to bring the ball low but it ultimately didn’t pan out.
“We started off playing man and fronting Jalen,” Edwards said. “It was easier when we played them at Roman because the court was much smaller and he wasn’t able to get in deep. We fronted him and he started off with four straight baskets by himself. We had to switch it and come out in a 1-3-1 then 2-3 matchup zone.”
While Bonner-Prendergast had 11 steals on the night, Duren set the tone early with 10 points in the opening quarter. The Friars went with the smaller lineup and created some matchups as they hit five shots from behind the arc in the first half but trailed 34-24 heading into the break.
With the victory, the Cahillites move on to the semifinals where they will take on the Vikings, a team they had the chance to defeat in the regular season but couldn’t make the necessary plays down the stretch. Griffin’s team made the plays in the closing minutes against the Friars, despite not having their three-time First Team All-Catholic floor general out there.
“I didn’t think too much about Lynn going out,” Griffin said. “It was more of thinking, ‘How can we go win this game?’ We rely heavily on our younger guys and most of them haven’t been in that circumstance before. I’m very proud of them for being able to figure it out.”
Duren will be playing at the Palestra for the second straight season. He had a feeling that final play could’ve come down to him and while he was frozen after it went in, he sure didn’t freeze after Williams’ shot hit the rim.
“For me, I wanted to win,” Duren said. “The play wasn’t drawn up for me. The play was drawn up for Justice. He was our best shooter out there. Let him go to work. I was just going after the rebound. I know we were in the clutch and we needed it.”