PHILADELPHIA – It was quite the weekend for Roman Catholic’s basketball team. The Cahillites secured two crucial Philadelphia Catholic League wins against Bonner-Prendie and Archbishop Ryan, now finding themselves siting in the No. 2 spot in PCL rankings with a 6-1 league record.

The Cahillites defeated Bonner-Prendie (12-3, 4-2 PCL) on Friday night in a nail-biting finish. A key three-pointer from Roman Catholic’s Seth Lundy left the Cahillites trailing by one, 53-52, with 18 seconds remaining. Lynn Greer III drove to the basket, putting up a shot that was tapped in for the win by senior, Allen Betrand. Final: Roman 54, Bonner-Prendie 53.

Roman found themselves in a similar situation Sunday afternoon while facing Northeast rival, Archbishop Ryan (13-3, 4-3 PCL). Izaiah Brockington put the Raiders ahead 27-24 after sailing in a long three, just beating the halftime buzzer. In the third quarter, Roman began to pick up their momentum with senior Da’Kquan Davis leading the Cahillites on the floor with 20 points on their way to a 59-52 victory. 

These past two games have illustrated the grit and all-around team effort that each member of Roman’s roster has been putting in until that final buzzer.

“We have a group of guys who never give up and hate to lose more than they like to win. They also have the confidence in each other that someone will step up to make the play when we need it,” said Roman head coach Matt Griffin.

Senior co-caption, Da’Kquan Davis knows what it is like to be down, and knows exactly how to keep his team motivated during tough games.  

“When we are down in games, I tell my team ‘listen guys, we have been in situations like this before and to be a good team, good teams close out games. So lets get it done’,” said Davis.

Roman is on a 3-0 winning streak since losing their sole PCL game against Neumann-Goretti on Jan. 11. Their main goal is to keep improving as a unit to maintain their success on the court.

“We all have the same goal in mind as a team, and that goal is to continue to prove people wrong, but at the same time to just take it one game at a time and get better and to continue the tradition of winning games at Roman Catholic,” said Davis.

Griffin attributes the driving factors of his team's success to their resilience and willingness to improve.

“We have not played perfect but we have stayed together and have played hard. We are looking to continue our momentum getting better every day in practice," said Griffin.

Griffin plans to feed-off that incentive in getting his team ready for their upcoming game against Archbishop Carroll (12-4, 4-3 PCL).

"Our game plan is to continue to work on our defense and rebounding. We also need to work to improve our habits on the offensive end. That will be our focus for this week in preparation for an extremely well coached and talented team."

Roman will travel to play Archbishop Carroll this Friday, Jan. 27 at Philadelphia University. Tipoff is scheduled for 7PM.