RADNOR, PA – Archbishop Carroll and West Catholic went head to head on Friday night in a very intense game. The Patriots came out with the victory over the Burrs with a final score of 64-46.
Archbishop Carroll started red hot out of the gate going on an 11-0 run forcing West Catholic to call two timeouts in the first 5-minutes of the game. Carroll ended up outscoring the Burrs 17-9 in the first quarter. The Patriots led the Burrs at halftime with a score of 37-25, and strolled into the locker room very confident.
Carroll vs. West Catholic tip-off - PSD photo by Jt Hoagland
As the third quarter began, it was the Burrs that got hot and managed to cut their deficit to only 5-points at the end of the third quarter with a score of 47-42. West Catholic outscored the Patriots 17-10 in the third and freshman small forward Zaakir Williamson accounted for 11 of his teams 17-points. Carroll got back on track in the fourth quarter. The Patriots were off to the races, outscoring the Burrs 20-4, and captured the home victory to make it their fourth straight win.
The Patriots were led by senior guard Justin Anderson who had 15 points and added 6 rebounds. Senior forward Keyon Butler finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds, junior forward Luke House also added 14 points and sophomore guard AJ Hoggard had quite a night posting a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists. Hoggard also added 5 rebounds and four steals. The Patriots also went an astounding 17-18 from the charity stripe.
West Catholic was led by freshman small forward Zaakir Williamson, who finished with 16 points and led the Burrs’ comeback in the third quarter. Imere Harris added 12 points, and Joel Gomez tallied 8 points.
After the game, Hoggard noted that his team is locked-in for the remainder of the season in order to make a run at the Palestra.
“We lock in because we have a goal, we want to get to the Palestra so everybody’s focused coming to every game and every practice because we are trying to reach our goal,” said Hoggard. “This victory means a lot because it’s moving us up in the rankings and we need wins so we can qualify and get a good spot and home game for the quarterfinals for the Palestra.”
Despite the road loss, Williamson and the Burrs still have their eyes set on playing in the mecca of college hoops as well.
“It starts with attitude, ‘starts with attitude’ that’s our motto. So we’re just going to start with that, we are going to play hard the rest of the season and I promise you we’ll make it to the Palestra.”
Carroll vs. West Catholic - photos by Jt Hoagland
Williamson attributed his third quarter 11-17 run to his desire to pull off the win for the Burrs.
“Just with my aggression and my heart and I knew they couldn’t handle me so I just kept going,” said Williamson.
Archbishop Carroll is now 10-4 on the season and 4-1 in Catholic League play. West Catholic is now 6-9 overall and 1-6 in Catholic League play. Archbishop Carroll will take on a tough St. Joe’s Prep team on Monday, January 22nd at 3:30 p.m. at St. Joe’s Prep. West Catholic took on the top team in the Catholic League in Monsignor Bonner-Prendergast on Sunday, and only lost by one point 68-67. The Burrs will play away at Conwell-Egan this Friday, January 26th at 6:30 p.m.
- Article by Jt Hoagland, Jr. Reporter from Archbishop Carroll