No one knew.
And Lamin Fulton tried his best to keep it a secret.
But in the second quarter of Neumann-Goretti's PIAA Class AAA semifinal Tuesday night against Lancaster Catholic, the nagging pain in his wrist got to be too much.
So when Fulton went down, teammate Billy Shank stepped up, scoring 14 of his game-high 26 points in an 82-75 win that vaulted N-G into Friday's championship at Penn State (8 p.m.) against Montour, champions of District 7. Shank went 6-for-10 from three-point land, shooting 4-for-6 during a second-quarter stretch.
"Lamin took a fall and someone had to step up and be the leader," Shank said. "I wanted that to be me, our team deserved to win this game."
"I wasn't even aware his wrist had been bothering him," N-G coach Carl Arrigale said. "It got obvious as the game went on, but he put together a great effort tonight and really showed his toughness."
Fulton finished with 16 points and eight boards, but it was a team effort - on both ends of the court - that found N-G boasting a 19-point lead at the half against a team that entered the game with only one loss all season.
"We knew this team was going to be strong. I don't care what league you play in, when you lose one game all season, you're going to be tough," Arrigale said. "Our defensive intensity was fantastic in the first half, but we fell short a little in the second, so that'll definitely be something we'll have to tighten up."
Collectively, N-G had four players in double figures as John Davis (17 points, 12 rebounds) and Ja'Quan Newton (15 points) were instrumental. Derrick Stewart was a beast underneath, collecting 13 rebounds and finishing with seven blocks.
"This feels great," Shank said. "I think a lot of people didn't think we were going to be a strong team this year and wrote us off. But now, people still realize that Neumann is still a powerhouse in the Catholic League. We are because we rely on each other and when one guy goes down, he knows one of us is there to pick him up. That's how we started our season, and that's how I hope we finish it."