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by Phil Anastasia, Updated: February 18, 2020
Not many people outside the Archbishop Ryan locker room expected much from the Raiders after junior star Aaron Lemon-Warren, the Philadelphia Catholic League’s leading scorer, suffered a broken foot in late January.
“Who could blame them?” Archbishop Ryan coach Joe Zeglinski said of the skeptics. “We lost one of the best players in the league, a guy who was averaging 24 points a game.
“But our feeling right away was, ‘No excuses. We’ve got to find a way.’ ”
Somehow and some way, Archbishop Ryan found the path back to the Palestra for the PCL semifinals for the third time in Zeglinski’s five seasons.
The first couple of weeks without the dynamic Lemon-Warren were a little rough, but the Raiders have found their footing in the playoffs, beating West Catholic in the first round and stunning second-seeded Bishop McDevitt in Friday night’s quarterfinals.
“Everybody has raised their game a little bit,” Zeglinski said.
Senior Gediminas Mokseckas led the way in the 58-56 victory over Bishop McDevitt. The rangy swingman got to the foul line, where he converted seven of eight shots, and finished with 18 points.
“He was great,” Zeglinski said.
But it was a team effort. Sophomore Luke Boyd, who has shouldered some of the scoring load in Lemon-Warren’s absence, buried six three-pointers to score 18 points. Senior center Christian Isopi was sturdy on defense and on the glass. Junior point guard Dom Vazquez controlled the game’s tempo, avoiding turnovers and getting the Raiders into their offensive sets.
And sophomore swingman Jalen Snead made several “hustle plays,” according to his coach, and also gave the Raiders the lead for good with a scrambling put-back with a little more than two minutes on the clock.
All of which earned Archbishop Ryan another trip to the Palestra and a date with No. 3 seed Neumann Goretti in the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader.
“They probably have the most firepower in the league from one to seven,” Zeglinski said of Neumann Goretti.
But entering the famous arena on Penn’s campus as a heavy underdog seems fine with the Raiders.
“It’s really been about belief and toughness,” Zeglinski said. “These guys have embraced that, they’ve shown that, and it’s been so much fun to coach them.”