By: Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)

PHILADELPHIA –The mood inside the Neumann-Goretti locker room was solemn and disgruntled.

They had been defeated in more ways than one following their eight-point loss to Bishop McDevitt on February 4th. Head coach Carl Arrigale and his team talked for nearly 45 minutes about character, heart and what it means to be a part of the Saints storied program. Former three-time All-Catholic selection and Villanova forward Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree was on-hand to take in the loss and felt a need to say something to the group afterward. The sophomore helped the Wildcats claim the national championship in 2018 and won his fair share of state championships while at Neumann-Goretti, so he is as good as anyone to speak on the issue of playing with a purpose and desire.

Arrigale felt that speech and game as a whole stuck with this group.

“The McDevitt game was a defining moment and we’ll see where it takes us,” Arrigale said. “We did some soul searching after that game. I don’t think we played like ourselves. It wasn’t the way we teach them to play and it wasn’t the way they know how to play. Dhamir was in the locker room and they saw how much it hurt him. He’s not even hear playing anymore. He won a college national championship last year. I think they might have gotten the idea of what it means to be a player here and the standard that you’re held to.”

After that discussion, the Saints closed out the regular season with three straight victories and entered the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs with some momentum. Under Arrigale, players at Neumann-Goretti have been accustomed to playing at the Palestra, especially ones with the track record of Cosby-Roundtree. His speech helped ignite a fire in the Saints and it carried them against Bonner-Prendergast on Friday night.

Chris Ings had a team-high 19 points and five rebounds and Ja’Cor Smith added 17 points as Neumann-Goretti pulled away from Bonner-Prendergast in the second half of its 73-62 Philadelphia Catholic League quarterfinal victory. 

The two seniors carried the Saints to their first appearance in the league semifinals since 2017 and they made their presence felt early. Ings, a Rider commit, scored the two points of the game to give him 1,000 for his career. He became the 20th player to reach that mark in school history.

Two possessions later, Smith stopped behind Ings for the first of his three triples, which gave Neumann-Goretti (17-6) an 8-4 advantage with 4:33 left in the opening quarter. Jordan Hall (eight points, 10 rebounds, three steals) drilled two three-pointers of his own in the first half, the second of which gave the Saints a 15-14 lead. While the Saints hit five treys in the first 16 minutes, Isaiah Wong kept the Friars in the game.

Smith felt the conversation after the loss to McDevitt made each player realize what was expected of them and how to better play as a cohesive unit.

“We started playing together because we had gotten a little too individual at times,” Smith said. “When we’re together, we don’t think we can be beat. We play hard, together and talk on defense. Defense is more important than offense for us around here.”

Ings started things off with four of his 10 second-half points including a pair of free throws to put the lead at 34-28. The game really began to change when Arrigale shifted his defense to a 2-3 zone after Hakim Byrd (14 points) picked up his third foul. Bonner-Prendergast (17-5) struggled to find much consistency against Neumann-Goretti’s zone shooting 3-for-9 from behind the arc over the final two quarters. After Wong, who surpassed the 2,000-point mark for his career in the loss, hit two free throws, Smith converted an and-one inside then Byrd finished down the left side for a layup. Smith ended off the run by turning the corner and flipping it in across the lane to push the lead to 44-34 with 3:21 left in the third.

The Friars never got closer than five points after Malik Edwards (11 points) nailed a trey from the top of the key to begin the fourth quarter. Wong and Donovan Rodriguez, who scored 19 points off the bench, were the only Bonner-Prendergast players who could get into the lane. The offense became stagnant and head coach Kevin Funston’s team couldn’t make adjustments.

He felt his team wasn’t playing relaxed and they were pressing by trying so hard to get back to the Palestra.

“I think that kind of hurt us,” Funston said. “I think our guys forgot about how difficult the journey was. We won a lot of close games last year that could’ve gone either way but we were able to get it done. Some of the guys may have expected, ‘Oh yeah, we’re getting back to the Palestra.’”

The Saints hit 11 free throws to close the game out and return to the semifinals for the 18th time under Arrigale. They will play rival Roman Catholic, who they lost to, 79-76 in overtime earlier this season. A lot has changed for Arrigale and the Saints since that moment of clarity to clear the air and get everyone on the same page back on February 4.

That discussion woke his team up, particularly his two leaders, Ings and Smith, who have Neumann-Goretti back in the semifinals.

“Chris has been terrific all year and he was phenomenal tonight,” Arrigale said. “It’s easy to get wrapped up in a thing with Wong because he’s such an outstanding player but I don’t think he did. He did what was best for us. [Ja’Cor] lost his way for a little while this year and went out of his comfort zone but he’s back being the kid I love to coach.”