Carroll Boys Lose To Neumann-Goretti In Catholic Finals

The sliding bodies across the Palestra floor. The incessant cheering and clapping from both sides. On a Monday night in late February, it could only mean one thing: Another-Neumann-Goretti war for supremacy in the Philadelphia Catholic League championship game.

The Patriots live and breathe Neumann-Goretti. The Saints have been a nemesis to the Carroll boys’ basketball team. In the previous 24 meetings, Neumann-Goretti has won 23 of those games, except when things really counted two years ago—when the Pats upset Neumann-Goretti in the PIAA Class AAA state playoffs to win the state title—a championship the Saints felt was theirs.

Ever since then, Neumann-Goretti has carried the sting of that state playoff loss. That energy translates into every game the Saints play against Carroll, and the Pats carry the attitude that if they beat them before—they can beat them again.

Every possession was contested. Every shot was contested. The intensity came in industrial-sized barrels and when the players finally got off the floor diving for loose balls, the fans throats were raw from constant yelling, it was Neumann-Goretti once again that came out on top, hammering down the feisty Patriots, 59-55, before a capacity crowd at the Palestra.

Neumann-Goretti improved to 21-4 overall and moves on to play in the District 12 (Philadelphia city championship), while Carroll dropped to 20-5 and will advance to the PIAA Class AAA state playoffs on a more jagged climb, playing in the consolation round, where the Pats will play Boys Latin Charter on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Southern High School for third place in District 12.

Juan’ ya Green, Carroll’s all-everything senior guard headed to Niagara University on a basketball scholarship, led all scorers with 30 points, but he suffered through a rough spell in the fourth quarter, missing a number of three-point shots that could have pulled Carroll within striking distance. The Pats’ Tracy Peal finished with 12.

Carroll held one lead, 14-13, early in the second quarter and was forced to play catch-up the rest of the way. The Saints kept a safe, comfortable five- to seven-point lead through much of the first half and into the fourth quarter. But something happened along the way to Neumann-Goretti’s third-straight Catholic League championship—the Saints went cold from the free-throw line.

The Saints went one stretch shooting 2-for-9 from the line, giving the Pats a chance to creep up and pull within 54-51 and 58-55 with less than a minute to play. But each time, Green’s attempts fell short.

“We did get a lot of good looks at the basket and we stayed in the game and kept fighting,” Pats’ coach Paul Romanczuk said. “But I reminded the guys we lost here two years and went on to have a special season.”

Could Romanczuk and his team take anything from this loss?

“It’s a good question, but I don’t think so,” he said. “We do have to rebound better. They killed us on the boards and a good portion of this game was won on the boards by them. That where the game was lost, that and being stagnant on offense, a lot of standing around and watching Juan ‘ya. He’s special, but he can’t do it himself. It’s something we can’t do again.”