Congratulations to the Cahillites of Roman Catholic, who defeated Archbishop Wood 77-65 to bring home the PIAA 6A State Title - PSD Photo by Kathy Leister
Photos/Videos: Kathy Leister, Rich Flanagan & John Knebels
By: Rich Flanagan
HERSHEY, PA – Daniel Skillings Jr. finished his career as a household name at Roman Catholic and in southeastern Pa. basketball lore with his play over the last two seasons. The 6-foot-6 senior forward is headed to the University of Cincinnati to continue his basketball career, which only started in his freshman year at Saint Joseph Academy (N.J.).
He credits the work that he personally put in with the help of Matt Griffin, the former Cahillites head man and current assistant at Albany who was on hand to take in the PIAA Class 6A Tournament Championship Game against Archbishop Wood, and Chris McNesby, the current head coach who returned to the sideline this season after claiming two state titles in his first stint with the program.
Roman Catholic vs. Archbishop Wood - PIAA 6A Championship Highlights by Kathy Leister, Rich Flanagan & John KNebels:
Post Game Interview with Roman Catholic Senior Daniel Skillings - Video by Rich Flanagan:
More importantly, Skillings stated he would not have been in a position to play in a Philadelphia Catholic League title game as a junior, followed by the league semifinals at the Palestra and at the GIANT Center in the state final as a senior, if not for Kenny Jackson, his former coach with AAU program, Philly Pride.
Jackson spent countless hours working with Skillings in the same way he did with DeAndre Hunter, former national champion at Virginia now with the Atlanta Hawks, and Amile Jefferson, former national champion at Duke who played two seasons with the Orlando Magic and is currently Director of Player Development with the Blue Devils men’s basketball program.
“He took me in and taught me the ways he did and brought those kids up,” Skillings said. “Philly Pride really got me to that next level to get ready for my senior year against big guys because AAU circuits are nuts and they have all huge guys. AAU and with Coach Ken, really this summer, working with him, really pushed me to that next level to get to where I am on the defensive end and offensively.”
Skillings dazzled his final high school performance with future head coach West Miller in the stands by posting 31 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks in lifting Roman Catholic to its fourth state title in program history by downing Philadelphia Catholic League rival Archbishop Wood, 77-65 at the GIANT Center. Skillings became the first Cahillites player to score 30 points in a state title game and the first Roman Catholic player to have at least 27 points in the state final since Seth Lundy (Penn State) had 28 against Abraham Lincoln in the 2018 PIAA 6A championship.
After losing in the league final to the Vikings at Cardinal O’Hara in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic a season ago, then falling short against eventual champion Neumann-Goretti in the semifinals in February, this was the Cahillites last shot at an elusive title that would officially put them in the same category as Cahillite greats like Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens, Lundy, Lynn Greer III and Hakim Hart.
For McNesby, he pushed this group as hard as he has coached any before to get to this point and take what was rightfully theirs, especially after excelling in perhaps the most difficult district in the PIAA.
“They want to play in that entire District 12, Philly area because there’s so much talent around,” McNesby said. “Guys love battling and competing, and they grew up in it. To do it here is awesome and that’s a huge battle. That’s like a Catholic League championship on its own.”
Senior Quadir Brown ended his career with a state championship - Video by John Knebels
Proud Roman Catholic coach Chris McNesby praises his players’ performance - Video by John KNebels
Former Philly Pride teammate and Hofstra commit Khalil Farmer poured in 12 points and five rebounds in his last game, after leaving momentarily with a cut above his right eye. He hit his first three-pointer of the night at the 1:09 mark of the second quarter to give Roman Catholic (24-4) a 31-30 lead. Then 6-7 freshman big man Shareef Jackson, the son of former Cahillite great Marc Jackson had one of his best performances of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds, converted inside to give the Cahillites a three-point lead at the break.
Archbishop Wood, which had defeated Roman Catholic 64-61 in the regular season, made a push after halftime. Justin Moore, a 6-2 senior guard and Drexel commit, scored six of his 21 points in the third. He had four straight points to cut the deficit to three with 6:14 left in the quarter then found big man Carson Howard for one of his eight assists to give Archbishop Wood (22-7) a 38-37 lead.
Moore, who began his career at Cheltenham then played his junior season at Bishop McDevitt under current Drexel assistant Will Chavis, capped off an accomplished career following in the footsteps of a point guard fraternity that includes Collin Gillespie (Villanova) and Rahsool Diggins (UConn).
“I appreciate Coach Mosco for taking me in, taking care of me and putting me in a great situation to compete for a state championship and PCL championship but also for putting me around a bunch of great players,” Moore said.
ROman Catholic receives their PIAA 6A State Championship Medals - Video by John KNebels
Archbishop Wood receives their PIAA 6A Silver Medals - Video by John Knebels
From there, Roman Catholic asserted itself. Junior Xzayvier Brown, who came into the season as the only Cahillites player with state playoff experience, put together a terrific game himself with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. He finished in the lane through traffic followed by a put back from Skillings. After Brown hit a pair of free throws, the Cahillites led by five then closed the third on an 11-0 run to take a 54-42 lead in the final quarter.
That third quarter basically put the game away. As one of the leaders who will be coming back next year, Brown will have this experience as well as the appreciation that he had a hand in helping Skillings and Farmer secure a state title to close out their careers.
“It means a lot, because they’re my seniors, my two shooters next to me,” Brown said. “Happy I could give them a title. Quadir Brown, another senior, plays hard every day. It meant a lot to give them a championship.”
An and-one from Basil Laster then a layup inside by senior Tyson Allen (10 points, seven rebounds) put the Vikings within nine. Skillings halted that push with a left-handed layup and the lead was back to 11 with under five minutes to play.
Vikings head coach John Mosco, who was coaching in his fourth state title, took Archbishop Wood through the state tournament for the second straight year after losing an entire starting five of Diggins, Marcus Randolph (Richmond), Daeshon Shepherd (La Salle), Jaylen Stinson and Muneer Newton (William Penn College) that accounted for 92 percent of its scoring last season and won the Philadelphia Catholic League title.
Despite the loss, he was able to reflect on what this program has grown into and will continue to accomplish in years to come.
PIAA 6A Championship Gallery - Roman Catholic vs. Archbishop Wood - PSD Photos by Kathy Leister
“What I just told them, nine years ago we took over at Wood and we’ve been here four times and won two Catholic League championships and the biggest thing to me was, in the locker room, Rahsool Diggins came back, Daeshon Shepherd came back, all through the kids coming back builds a program and now I feel like we have a program here,” Mosco said.
Jalil Bethea, the electric sophomore who had the most points by a Philadelphia Catholic League player in a state playoff game with 37 and shot 11-12 from behind the arc against North Hills in the quarterfinals, hit a corner trey to cut the deficit to 63-57 with 2:46 remaining. Skillings locked up the title by finishing inside again then Farmer found him in transition for a dunk and the lead was back at 10.
McNesby walked away with his third state championship as a head coach, championed by Skillings, Farmer, Brown, Jackson and the rest of this year’s Roman Catholic team. There was no sugarcoating how good this team could be and, according to McNesby, Skillings brought everyone and everything together.
“Dan started off a little slow missing his first couple and then once he started going, it picked us up.” McNesby said. “Dan can score in so many different ways, especially attacking the basket and our guys feed off that. He’s so active and when he’s active he’s so hard to guard.”
Skillings leaves Roman Catholic with a state championship and to finish his career this way is all he could have hoped for when he made the jump to the corner of Broad & Vine.
“Going out as a state champion is a great way to end, to go to college, it’s a great way to end the year, with my team, the losses we took,” Skillings said. “It was amazing.