PHILADELPHIA – Collin Gillespie has been the go-to guy all season for Archbishop Wood, and Wednesday night at the Palestra with a Championship berth on the line, he showed up big yet again.
Gillespie finished with 33 points and added eleven rebounds, as the Vikings were able to hold off Archbishop Ryan to clinch a spot in Monday night’s Catholic League championship game against the Neumann-Goretti Saints.
“It’s a special feeling to get to the championship game and we’re going to enjoy this one tonight,” Vikings head coach John Mosco said. “We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs this year with losing our gym and losing our first league game, but we’ve fought as team to get the point we’re at.”
Archbishop Wood Post Game Press Conference
Gillespie got off to a good start in the first half as he scored 12 points on 5-5 from the floor to go along with six rebounds. Then in the second half, Gillespie put on a clinic as he poured in 21 points in the half. He was constantly getting to the rim with ease and every time he went to the foul line he knocked down his free throws. Overall he finished 8-12 from the floor and 16-19 from the free throw line.
While Gillespie was the main guy all night for the Vikings, they received contributions from just about everybody that touched the floor. Andrew Funk and Matt Cerruti each totaled 10 points, while Seth Pinkney and Ty Pickron finished with eight points a-piece.
Not having to rely on one player and being able to trust everyone on the floor has been something that the Vikings have taken pride in all season. That was on display in this game as seven different players entered the scoring column just in the first quarter for the Vikings.
“When we play together, are moving the ball, and playing good defense we feel like we can beat anybody,” Gillespie said. “And we just did a great job of playing together as a team in a crazy environment, where it was all our first times playing in this arena.”
Wood's Seth Pinkney with a put back slam to put the Vikings up 11-3 in the first.
Izaiah Brockington opens the second half with the steal then the bucket and the foul.
While Archbishop Ryan lost to the Vikings by nearly 30 points in their first meeting this season, the Raiders just refused to go away in this game.
The Vikings took a 36-25 lead into halftime, and held a 54-41 lead late in the third quarter, but every time it looked like the Vikings would really pull away, the Raiders responded with a bucket. And every time they needed that bucket it came from senior Izaiah Brockington.
Ryan's Izaiah Brockington drives to the basket, Wood's Karrington Wallace defending - PSD photo by Zamani Feelings
Brockington finished with 31 points on 12-18 from the field and 6-8 from the line. But, the Raiders didn’t have his clutch play down the stretch as he fouled out with 3:22 remaining and the Raiders down 64-56.
“We forced him into tough shots all night, but he’s a great player and he was making a lot of those tough shots,” Mosco said.
Even without Brockington the Raiders got it as close as 67-62 with 2:29 remaining in the game, but that’s as close as they would get, as Gillespie continued to knock down his free throws down the stretch to seal the victory for the Vikings.
“It’s just part of being at this point, you expect every team to keep fighting and keep coming at you,” Cerruti said.
“This is the best league in Pennsylvania, and I preach to this team never to get too high or too low, and that’s how we’ve gotten to this point,” added Mosco.
The Catholic League championship game will be on Monday at 8 p.m. as Archbishop Wood and Neumann-Goretti will battle for the title.
Their first meeting this season was the best game of the Catholic League regular season as the Vikings handed the Saints their only league loss of the season behind 42 points from Gillespie.
“I’m going to have my guys and he [Quade Green] is going to have his guys and were just going to go out there and compete,” Gillespie said. “I have full confidence in my guys, and if we just play our game we’ll be fine.”
