Neumann-Goretti is much more than just Green and Cosby-Roundtree
Carl Arrigale shook his head as he walked into the locker room at Arcadia University after his Neumann-Goretti Saints ran away from Public League power Imhotep on Wednesday, 87-73.
Carl Arrigale shook his head as he walked into the locker room at Arcadia University after his Neumann-Goretti Saints ran away from Public League power Imhotep on Wednesday, 87-73.
"He's a bad dude," Arrigale said.
The dude in question is Kentucky-bound guard Quade Green, who finished with 37 points, 24 of them coming in the second half.
The 5-foot-11 senior showed why he's the most complete offensive player in Philadelphia and a top-rated prospect nationally. The 37 points are also the most scored by a Saints player in Arrigale's 19 seasons as head coach, according to TedSilary.com.
What also came from that game, however, was the play of the Saints' supporting cast, which could figure prominently if N-G hopes to return the Catholic League crown to South Philly.
At 6-foot-9, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, is in no way an ancillary piece. The Villanova-bound forward scored 24 points and added 11 rebounds against the Panthers.
The main members of the supporting cast were Noah Warren, Mike Milsip, Chris Ings, and Dhymir Montague. That quartet combined for 24 points.
Warren, a 5-foot-10 lefty junior, played mostly junior varsity minutes last season, but he scored five points, including a three-point play that stopped an 11-1 Imhotep run in the first quarter.
Milsip, a 6-foot-4 senior, finished with seven points, including a six-point spurt to start the fourth-quarter that pushed the Saints' lead to 10.
Ings, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, finished with 10 points and was the only other N-G player besides Green and Cosby-Roundtree to finish in double digits.
Marcus Littles, a 6-foot-9 junior forward, also added seven rebounds.
"It's good for our guys, not Dhamir and Quade, but the guys who didn't play much last year," Arrigale said of the win in a raucous environment. ". . . That was the main thing I said to our coaches before the game. I don't know if we'll win or lose, but we'll find out about some guys. And I think we did."
Gillespie's first flight
Archbishop Wood senior Collin Gillespie heeded his coach's words Wednesday night in a win against Abington at Arcadia.
The Vikings had lost two games in Washington as part of a tournament at Gonzaga College High.
Before Wednesday's contest, coach John Mosco told his team to attack the rim and not settle for outside shots, which may have cost them in D.C.
Perhaps those words powered the 6-foot-2 guard during a key second-quarter dunk that set the tone for the rest of the game.
Gillespie stole the ball near midcourt and was chased by a 6-foot-8 defender.
"Before the game he told us to attack the rim, so I was going up to dunk either way whether the guy was there or not," Gillespie said.
As it turns out, that was Gillespie's first high school dunk.
"Do scrimmages count?" Gillespie asked. "In a real game, that was my first one."
His previous assault of the rim came last summer with the AAU squad Team Final Black.
Confidence, strength, conditioning, and leadership are all things he has worked to improve for his senior season.
Wednesday night's air may have been rare, but don't expect it to go to Gillespie's head.
"It felt good," said Gillespie, who has Division I offers from Maine, Albany, and Fairleigh Dickinson, while Philadelphia University and Holy Family are also in the mix. "It's like any other play, though. It did get us energized and give us momentum."