Philadephia Sportscene Philadelphia's Best Sports News Source
Todd Thorpe @toddrthorpeFeb 19, 2020 at 9:11 PM
The regular-season champ Vikings fell behind early and couldn’t come back in PCL semifinal loss at The Palestra.
PHILADELPHIA — It wasn’t the first time Archbishop Wood had played against Roman Catholic. Just a little over a month ago, the Vikings beat Roman at home in double overtime.
But Wednesday night’s rematch in the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals was at The Palestra.
And Roman Catholic, the two-team defending PCL champs, had been there before.
Led by sensational sophomore center Jalen Duren, the Cahillites avenged that January defeat to the Vikings with a convincing 83-73 win on Wednesday.
“I thought we were a little shell-shocked,” said Wood coach John Mosco. “The ball didn’t go in and we stopped moving around. (Roman) had a great game plan. They played hard and they’re a tough team. They have one senior who has been here four times, two other kids that have been here.”
Duren, who at 6-foot-10 towered above any defender Wood could possibly throw at him, scored 20 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked five shots.
“You’ve got to be physical,” said junior center Robert Jackson, a defensive end for Wood’s football team. “He’s a good player but he can be stopped. You’ve just got to be physical, stay tough on him.”
Most of the defensive duties on Duren fell on juniors Jackson and Muneer Newton, who are both around 6-foot-4.
“Mainly, once he gets the ball in the middle, he turns around and (he scores or) it’s a foul every time,” Newton said. “He’s a big body, but he don’t have the moves. He’s still like learning, he’s still developing.”
On the offensive end, you have to try to make him shoot away from the basket and limit him to one shot. And if Duren finishes with a resounding dunk, as he did four different times Wednesday, you have to have a short memory.
“You can’t let that bother you,” Jackson said. “You’ve just got to keep moving.”
On defense, Duren set the tone early Wednesday, altering shots and Wood relied too much on 3-point attempts. As a result, it was 19-4 before the Vikings knew what hit them.
“You have to try to move him out and let him catch the ball further away from the basket and hope they call one or two over the backs,” Mosco said. “One late in the game, he pushed right in the back and they don’t call it. He don’t need that. He’s 6-10, he’s a monster and I thought he got a few advantages down there. The refs didn’t lose the game. We shot horrible, but we had to attack the basket more and we didn’t do that.”
In the end, the surreal experience of playing in the Palestra ended one game short of where Wood was hoping. But it was definitely a experience they’re not likely to ever forget.
Final at the Palestra … Roman Catholic 83, Archbishop Wood 73 … more to follow @RomanBasketball @AOPathletics @WoodBoysBball— Todd Thorpe (@toddrthorpe) February 20, 2020
But the players are hoping the experience helps them, this year in the state playoffs and next year when most of the team returns as seniors.
“You can’t blink,” Jackson said. “You have to keep going. Everything happens fast. There’s a lot of momentum, a lot of energy. The place is packed. You’ve got to keep moving. Keep it going. Play with energy.”