Neumann-Goretti earns fourth straight title

Some basketball players mope for hours, even days, if their coach even slightly takes them to task.

Not John Davis.

One of these days, after getting villified by Carl Arrigale, Davis might actually stand, applaud and go give the guy a heartfelt hug.

"That's one thing about coach," Davis said. "You only get really yelled at when you deserve it. I appreciate that about him."

The 6-4, 198-pound Davis, a junior, plays forward for Ss. Neumann-Goretti, which now owns its fourth consecutive Class AAA City Title. That crown was garnered last night at Southern High, as the Saints bested Boys' Latin Charter, 66-57, and Davis' contributions were highlighted by 21 points (with two dunks) and 15 rebounds.

Alas, he also received a technical foul, right before halftime, for talking smack to a Warrior and that slipup sent Arrigale raging down the warpath.

"Carl dug into me," Davis said, referring to the team's halftime get-together. "I got that dumb tecnhical. He told me I'm a better player than that and that I'd better get focused for the second half.

"You can't take it personally because he IS gonna yell. You have to shake it off. You can't hold grudges. He's not making stuff up. He's talking about things you DID do wrong. I can always say, 'Yup, he's right about that.' We use it for motivation."

On the tech sequence, only one of four possible points (by Davis) was garnered by the team's two shooters. BL then came up empty on its following possession and sixth-man La'Quan Coaxum sent the Saints into the locker room with momentum by nailing a right-side, up-top trey on a pass from Hanif Sutton.

That drew N-G within 31-29. Yes, the mighty Saints were trailing. In fact, less than 3 minutes earlier, their deficit had been 28-21.

Hmm. What had we here? Overconfidence? Post-euphoria Syndrome?

Four nights earlier at the Palestra, N-G had captured its fourth consecutive Catholic League championship, topping St. Joseph's Prep, 59-57, in overtime, while running its league record in that time frame to 70-0, counting playoffs.

"That was a big, exciting day, then night," Davis said. "We had a really big pep rally -- that's a tradition for championship games -- and then the game was great and then we all went to Chickie's & Pete's with our families. We had one of those rooms in the back.

"We were there until REAL late. Nobody went to school the next day."

When Davis was asked whether Boys' Latin's strong early play had created even a hint of concern, he responded by shooting back "no" three times.

He then added, "We weren't concerned at all. We knew we hadn't played a great first half and Carl had told us exactly what we had to do in the second. Doing everything right, we knew we'd be OK."
So, why had the Saints sputtered early?

"We came out with the approach that this was more like an all-star game," said Davis, who was clutching his MVP plaque. "Lots of fans. Lots of energy. A much bigger gym than ours. I don't know, it just seemed like it wasn't (a playoff game)."

In all, N-G's serious run featured a 20-3 advantage. Coming out of halftime, Billy Shank, usually a threeball specialist, popped in a pair of runners, then Ja'Quan Newton swished two free throws after being hacked on a break. Davis' follow made it 39-31, then Newton fed Derrick Stewart (Rider commit) for another transition bucket.

To that juncture, BL was 0-for-8 in the quarter.

Of all the Saints, it's likely Davis felt the most comfortable in Southern's gym. Davis, who lives near 4th and Washington Avenue, often pops into the place for free-play sessions and he darn near lives there in the summertime, when guys such as Bernard Smith, a former M.L. King star and Sixers' assistant, and Southern product Arthur "Bunky" Russell put him and others through workouts.

"It helps when you know the gym," Davis said. "I had a lot of friends and family members cheering for me, too. At least 30. Maybe more like 40. A lot of people know me around here."

Davis, a lefty, shot 7-for-11 and 7-for-12. He packed 14 of his points into the second half along with 11 of his rebounds.

Newton also scored 21 points, but his points were more evenly distributed (11, nine). Newtown also posted eight rebounds and four assists while Stewart snagged 11 boards.

BL's leader, like pretty much always, was senior guard Maurice "Doo-Wop" Watson, a Boston University signee. He totaled 22 points, five assists and a whopping 10 steals and, especially in the first half, he could not have expended more energy. Junior wing guard Yahmir Greenlee added 16 points and now needs 10 to reach 1,000 for his career.

Both teams will play next Friday in state tourney openers; N-G has seized the last two championships.
John Davis can't wait to get reamed out again.