SOUTH PHILADELPHIA – The Neumann-Goretti Saints took on the St. Joseph Prep Hawks yesterday evening in the second to last league match-up for both teams. While the game started out close, the duo of University of Kentucky commit Quade Green and Villanova University commit Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree paved the way to a 78-63 Neumann Goretti win on senior night.
The Saints have now increased their in-conference record to 11-1 and have sustained a four-game winning streak.
Senior Night Introductions
“We got one more game,” said Neumann-Goretti head coach Carl Arrigale. “We’re getting better. We’re starting to communicate a little better on defense. You know, it was a nice night for the seniors. We got to start with the seniors and finish with the seniors. All in all, it was a nice night. I’ve been doing this a long time; the playoffs are a whole other animal. We have to get through tomorrow’s practice and Sunday’s game and then we’ll start worrying about the playoffs.”
The Hawks came out aggressive in the first quarter despite being the underdog. Junior guard Kyle Thompson led the charge with 8 points in the first quarter for the Hawks. St. Joe’s center Edward Croswell added some valuable play in the low post. Neumann-Goretti’s Quade Green went 0 for 4 on his first few shots. It wasn’t until Green got to the foul line, then he was able to covert on three out of four of his foul shots.
“Everybody was really excited about senior night,” said Green about struggling in the first quarter. “Once we got the nerves out in the first two minutes of the game, the starters came back and took control and we started taking the lead.”
The Hawks ended the first quarter up 17-11, however, the rest of the game did not go as well as they had hoped. Cosby-Roundtree put up 10 points by way of dunks and put backs. He followed up a great second quarter by putting up another 10 points in the third.
Neumann-Goretti accepting Quade Green’s invitation to the Jordan Classic as a team. - photo by Serenity Bishop
Earlier in the game, Croswell yelled out, “He can’t guard me,” after being fouled and sent to the line. During the third quarter, Cosby-Roundtree returned the favor. After dunking, he simply yelled and starred in the direction of Croswell.
“It was fun and intense,” said Cosby-Roundtree about playing against Croswell. “Me and Ed, I played against him in AAU a lot. We were on the same final team, but we played against each other in practice. So, seeing him come here it was kind of like, I knew what I’m playing against. I had to show him who really runs the Catholic League, who’s the best big man in the Catholic League. I just wanted to show him what he has to work for and what he has to look forward to.”
The Saints ran away with the score in the second half. Neumann-Goretti got up to a 20-point lead at one point in time. Although, the real confident booster came when Neumann-Goretti’s captain, small forward Mike Milsip, came down on a fast break, went up with Croswell and came down with an epic one handed dunk. The crowd erupted.
NG vs. SJP
“We haven’t been playing defense the whole year. We’ve just been playing to play,” said Temple University football commit Emil Moody, when asked how much this win meant to his team. “We haven’t been having fun with it so we needed to step up on defense, get the offense together. Trying to see who fits together on the court so when it comes down to the clutch we can get it together.”
Cosby-Roundtree led the Saints with 27-points with Quade Green finishing with 14. For the Hawks, Darius Kinnel led the way with 24-points while Edward Croswell dropped in 14.
Looking Ahead: In their final PCL games, Neumann-Goretti will travel to play West Catholic tomorrow afternoon at 2:30PM. St. Joe’s Prep will host Roman Catholic at the Kelly Fieldhouse tomorrow also at 2:30pm.