Roman Catholic repeats as state champion
HERSHEY, Pa. - When Lamar Stevens dunks, the 6-foot-7 senior for Roman Catholic leaves no room for doubt. After an emphatic, powerful showing against the rim, Stevens also led Roman Catholic to a 73-62 victory against District 8's Taylor Allderdice in Saturday's Class 4A championship at the Giant Center in Hershey.
HERSHEY, Pa. - When Lamar Stevens dunks, the 6-foot-7 senior for Roman Catholic leaves no room for doubt.
After an emphatic, powerful showing against the rim, Stevens also led Roman Catholic to a 73-62 victory against District 8's Taylor Allderdice in Saturday's Class 4A championship at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Stevens, a Penn State signee, finished with a game-high 27 points, including five momentum-seizing dunks en route to the Cahillites' second straight state championship.
"It was my last game and I was just trying to impose my will however I could," Stevens said. "I was lucky that I had great players to set me up. They just made it so easy for me. It was my last game and I wanted to leave my mark. Hopefully, I did."
Stevens' first indelible imprint - a two-handed dunk in traffic - came with about 2 minutes, 40 seconds left in the third quarter after an assist from Tony Carr.
Moments later, a one-handed tip-dunk followed and seemed to steal life from the Dragons (28-2) and their fans.
"No question," said Roman coach Chris McNesby. "And they're a team that was close with teams at halftime and at the end of the third quarter broke away from everybody."
Allderdice, playing for its first state championship, beat Reading, 70-45, after leading by just one point at halftime of the teams' semifinal matchup.
Saturday night in Hershey, however, the Dragons (28-2), led by James Jackson's 22 points, jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead before the Cahillites (27-4) narrowed the gap.
However, another third-quarter dunk by Stevens - in which a defender backed away instead of contesting - appeared to cement the Cahillites' control with a 55-44 edge after the quarter.
"After Lamar came out with those dunks," said Dakquan Davis, "it was like the whole intensity changed to our side. That team started slowing down and it looked like they gave up a little bit."
To be fair, Davis also said his Cahillite teammates don't even test Stevens at the rim in practice.
"I haven't seen it in practice, no," said Davis, who sparked Roman in the first half before finishing with eight points. "Everyone just moves out of his way."
About Stevens, who transferred from the Haverford School, Davis added: "I've seen him do it all year. When he first transferred here, I was actually surprised. Now, we're used to it."
Nazeer Bostick added 15 points, while his teammate and fellow Penn State signee Tony Carr added 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
"These seniors," McNesby said, "that's what it's about. Carr, Bostick, Paul Newman. This is the legacy they've left on our program. It's always how do you want to be remembered, and they put a stamp that's forever."
Allderdice 17 13 14 18 - 62
Roman Catholic 10 23 22 18 - 73
A: James Jackson 21, Tim Jackson 9, Ramon Creighton 19, Jordan Rawls 5, Dajuan Dugger 2, Jahi Ogbonna 4, Tyler Williams 2.
RC: Tony Carr 13, D'Andre Vilmar 4, Paul Newman 4, Lamar Stevens 27, Nazeer Bostick 15, Dakquan Davis 8, Mikeal Jones 2.
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