Donovan rains ‘threes’ as Carroll defeats Wood

ISN'T IT time for a loss-of-locks story with a happier outcome than Samson's?

C'mon. Really. That guy is so 437 centuries ago.

Say hello to Jay Donovan, a basketball player at Archbishop Carroll High. Just don't be tempted to still call him "Shaggy."

He's shorter on hair and longer on quality hoops, if the 6-3 ("with shoes on"), 170-pound senior swingman's performance Monday night in a Catholic League basketball game can serve as a reliable barometer.

Not only did Donovan snipe 5-for-8, with three treys, for 13 points as the Patriots downed visiting Archbishop Wood, 50-42. He also soared (kinda) for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 rebounds and that total led all participants.

If Donovan skips school Tuesday, here's guessing where he'll be . . . Getting another haircut.

"Short hair. It's workin' for me. It feels awesome," Donovan said, laughing. "It was getting too long. Even coach Riley [Eric, assistant to Paul Romanczuk] was busting on me. He kept telling me I needed to find a barber.

"I got it last Friday before we played Bonner. My barber, Joe, he's the man."

Man-to-man. That was not the defense played by Wood. At least until the final 3 1/2 minutes. Donovan could not have been more appreciative.

Picturesque drives are not his thing. He's one of those quiet assassins who stands in the corner, or maybe on the wing, and awaits crisp passes from the likes of sophomore Yosef Yacob or Niagara-bound senior Juan'ya Green.

Donovan will love that their names were mentioned rather early in the story. That's how he is. During an 8-minute interview, he mentioned almost every teammate and hearing him say, "Hey, come back tomorrow and see how great our janitors sweep the hallways," would not have surprised.

But let's throw out some game stuff first.

"Seeing a zone, that's like Christmas. More than Christmas," Donovan said. "Wood was trapping hard, so I was finding open spots and my teammates were finding me."

Surprisingly, Carroll fell into a 9-0 hole. With two regulars and a three, Donovan owned seven points by the end of the quarter and the deficit was only one, at 13-12.

"This past summer, I started to get really confident with my shot," he said, "and I'm just trying to carry that through the season.

"I knew I was going to be a senior and that I really had to step it up with the loss [to graduation] of guys like DJ [Irving] and Ben [Mingledough]. I worked out every day with my personal instructor, Irv Magill, and I got so much better at ballhandling, footwork, defense. And I've been shooting every day after practice with coach Riley and Tom Rymal, of the JV team. Tom had a good game tonight, too. Maybe 13 points? The hard work is paying off for him too.

"Sometimes if I miss the first couple shots . . . I wouldn't say I lose confidence, but it's a lot harder to get it going. When I hit those first few, I had the feeling."

When Donovan was asked if he knew what other cool contribution he'd made to the win, he thought for a moment and then said, "Rebounded a little bit?"

Indeed. And the next words out of his mouth were another commercial.

"I've been working out with [teammate] Franco Pellicciotta; he wanted me to give him a shoutout, too," Donovan cracked. "No, really. Pretty much every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - well, depending on our game schedule - we've been doing workouts to improve leg strength."

Pause.

"I have a lot more bounce in my step."

After taking just one shot in the first quarter, Green finished with 20 points. The highlight was a streak of six consecutive makes from late in the second through early in the fourth. He also had five assists and two steals. Inside bulwark Tracy Peal had no points, but several times grabbed offensive rebounds that turned into buckets for fellow Patriots.

Wood star Joe Getz, played doggedly by Yacob, totaled 17 points; he added five boards and four steals. Freshman big-'un Joe LoStracco shot 4-for-4 en route to nine points and Kyle Adkins mixed four assists with five steals.

On free throws, Carroll scored the final six points over the final 47.5. Wood, meanwhile, could not knock down deep jumpers.

Donovan, who lives in Audubon, Pa., owns a 3.9 GPA and figures he'd liked to major in sports management.

Donovan hoped to see major minutes last season, but that did not work out. Two rotation members - Peal (Malvern Prep) and Shane Randall (Academy of the New Church) - are transfers, but Donovan has still found a way to not only contribute, but sometimes even star.

"This feels great," he said. "I can't even explain it. I have some of the best teammates, especially transfers Tracy and Shane, and as long as we keep playing like we did tonight . . . This was a huge win. Wood's good.

"I worked hard all summer. Never took a day off. This is where hard work gets you."

Primed to become Samson's lack-of-hair apparent. (Positive-outcome version.)