Brookins steps up as Roman romps
Filling the void left by the injured Maalik Wayns, he scored 31 to help beat La Salle.
The Roman Catholic basketball team knows what others have been thinking:
The Cahillites will not win a meaningful game without injured guard Maalik Wayns.
Rakeem Brookins is a good guard. But he's not capable of leading Roman to a title.
Roman Catholic's ability came into question after Wayns went down with a meniscus tear in his right knee on Jan. 26.
If one thing was learned yesterday, it's that Roman will be fine until Wayns returns for the PIAA Class AAAA state playoffs.
The Cahillites defeated La Salle, 73-49, in a Philadelphia Catholic League quarterfinal at Archbishop Ryan.
The victory sent Roman Catholic (16-7) into Wednesday's semifinals at the Palestra. The Cahillites will face Archbishop Carroll at 8:45 p.m.
Roman is riding a four-game winning streak after losing the first two games without its McDonald's all-American candidate.
"This was a statement game," said Brookins, a junior who finished with a game-high 31 points. "But I was telling my teammates after we lost those two games that I had to be a leader."
The first-team all-Catholic Red Division selection also told them that they needed to be more confident.
"I told them that Maalik is not here, and we don't really need him to win," Brookins said. "We can do it on our own."
That's exactly what happened against La Salle (11-13).
Senior center Koron Reed (13 points) and junior forward Kevin Regan (11) were Roman's other double-figure scorers.
Eight players scored at least two points for the Cahillites, who had a 35-point cushion with 2 minutes, 28 seconds remaining.
"Everybody stepped up," Brookins said. "They are playing with confidence. We did what we needed to do. That's stepping up. And that's what we did."
Roman broke the game open in the second quarter. Taking advantage of Explorers miscues, the Cahillites ended the half with a 14-3 run to take a 32-16 lead.
La Salle 6 10 15 18 - 49
Roman Catholic 11 21 14 27 - 73
LS: Tom Cooney 2, Mike Donohoe 9, Brendan Duffy 4, Joe Forcellini 4, Eddie Joyner-Mitchell 12, Tom McAloon 5, Todd Stokley 10, Brennan Woods 3.
RC: Rakeem Brookins 31, Kawaun Chavis 2, Andre Horne 10, Abdul King 2, Anthony Mayo 2, Koron Reed 13, Kevin Regan 11, Daquan Walker 2.