Berks Catholic rally falls short against Archbishop Carroll
(This story will be updated with game details and postgame reaction.)
Archbishop Carroll coach Fran Bowe wasn’t sure how a three-week layoff would affect his basketball team heading into the PIAA Tournament.
After the way the Patriots came out against Berks Catholic Tuesday night, Bowe might be giving his guys a little more time off in the future.
Archbishop Carroll looked like it was in midseason form as it surged to an 18-point lead midway through the second quarter in eliminating District 3 champion Berks Catholic 68-61 at Wolf Gymnasium. The Patriots led by as many as 27 points in the third quarter.
The loss ends the Saints’ season at 23-5.
Berks Catholic used a furious rally in the fourth quarter, opening the period with a 17-0 run and eventually cutting the lead to 60-54 with 2:42 left but could get no closer.
Josiah Jordan, held scoreless in the first half, led the comeback bid, scoring 22 second-half points. Ryan Koch scored 17 for BC, the last of them coming on a 3-pointer that cut Carroll’s lead to 67-61 with 8.8 seconds left.
Carroll, the fifth-place team out of District 12, advances to the second round Friday against Athens Area, a 42-40 winner over Mid-Valley.
Sophomore Moses Hipps, a second-team All-Catholic League pick drawing Division I looks, scored Carroll’s first eight points, giving them an 8-5 lead after the Saints scored the first five. He had 15 points at the half and finished with a game-high 31 points.
The Catholic League has always been regarded as one of the best, if not the best, leagues in the state and this year is no different. Carroll took losses to Roman Catholic and West Catholic, which finished tied for first, Archbishop Wood, and Neumann Goretti, which won the league tournament. It lost three times to Devon Prep, which beat Reading High. It finished 5-8 in league play.
Dig a little deeper and you’ll see that the Pats went 7-1 in non-league play, with wins over Norristown, which reached the District 1 Class 6A championship game; Executive Education, the District 11 Class 3A champ; and Chester, the District 1 Class 5A champ.
The Saints were back in the state tournament for the first time since 2019 when they lost to Imhotep Charter 53-31 in the opening round. None of the current players saw time in that game.
Berks Catholic’s last PIAA Tournament win came in 2018 when a team led by Casey Jack, Luis Garcia and Tre Dabney entered as District 3 champ and beat Bartram and Valley View before losing to Bethlehem Catholic.
Last year the Saints experienced their first losing season, finishing 6-11. The entire starting lineup returned for this season.
“This is a solid team,” Bowe said of Berks Catholic earlier in the week. “They shoot the ball well. The point guard, Jay-Jay (Jordan), is fantastic; he gets in the lane, does things. They’re just a really good basketball team. They don’t make mistakes, they capitalize on yours and they can shoot it — that’s the great equalizer in basketball.”
The programs had met just once before, in a Class AAA opener in 2013 at Garden Spot. Archbishop Carroll won 47-42, knocking out a Berks Catholic team led by Nana Foulland and coming off a district championship. Carroll advanced to the state title game where it lost to Imhotep Charter.
While Berks Catholic was battling Reading High for the Berks Conference championship and beating Elco, Littlestown and Middletown in the District 3 Tournament the Patriots were idle. They’ll only have had a few practices before Tuesday’s game.
Bowe wasn’t sure how that would go.
“The two weeks off, maybe it was good for us, who knows?” he said. “This could change my whole philosophy on coaching. If I knew we were in, I’m sure I would’ve been in the gym every day. Does it hurt? Does it help? I don’t know. If we come out and lay a goose egg, maybe it did hurt. Maybe we’ll have fresh legs. There’s always that hope.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Archbishop Carroll | 16 | 21 | 21 | 10 | 68 |
| Berks Catholic | 7 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 61 |
| Patriots (13-10) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Hipps | 7-13 | 13-16 | 4-8 | 0 | 2 | 31 |
| Smith | 3-8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Coleman | 6-14 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 0 | 12 | 14 |
| Dixon | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Ivery | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Rogers | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Deegan | 3-7 | 0-0 | 2-6 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| Totals | 22-48 | 17-24 | 6-17 | 3 | 34/34 | 68 |
| Saints (23-5) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Sands | 5-15 | 1-1 | 0-3 | 1 | 11 | 11 |
| Jordan | 8-19 | 5-13 | 1-4 | 0 | 5 | 22 |
| Koch | 6-16 | 2-6 | 3-11 | 1 | 4 | 17 |
| Miller | 2-4 | 2-2 | 1-3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Givens | 1-4 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Reinhart | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cacchione | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nein | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Lawlor | 0-2 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Totals | 22-61 | 12-27 | 5-22 | 7 | 30/35 | 61 |
Turnovers: Archbishop Carroll 15, Berks Catholic 8.