Boys’ basketball
North Catholic takes League championship

Sports Columnist
By John Knebels

Anyone out there who thought, before the season began, that North Catholic was going to win the Catholic League boys’ basketball championship, raise your hand.

Now, go into time-out for telling a fib.

Truly, even though the Falcons showed early on that they would be a power to reckon with, the thought of them emerging with a title was more fantasy than reality.

As the saying goes, that’s why you play the games.

Behind sophomore Woody Redding’s 21 points, and senior teammate Velton Jones’ 11 points and seven assists — and with several thousand fans screaming from their seats after every basket and rebound at the venerable Palestra — the Falcons defeated Archbishop Ryan, 51-45, to capture their first league title since 1987 and eighth overall.

However, this one was among the most improbable — maybe even more so than the title 21 years ago over a Roman Catholic team that was heavily favored.

“It’s great for everyone associated with North Catholic,” said an ecstatic coach Mike McCarron. “It was a very tough game. We got behind but did a nice job in the second half. Winning this is just tremendous.”

The scene after the final buzzer, while difficult to imagine three months ago, was one of unbridled joy and simultaneous disappointment.

“As great as we feel, Ryan has to feel really bad,” said Redding. “But they had a great season. They don’t have anything to be ashamed about.”

Early on, Ryan controlled the scoreboard. The Raiders led, 23-18, and clearly possessed the momentum until an early flurry in the third quarter by the Falcons turned into a 33-30 lead heading into the final stanza.

From that point, North Catholic (22-5 overall) refused to relinquish the lead despite Archbishop Ryan’s best efforts.

Finishing the season 17-10 overall, no one could have predicted that Ryan, coached by Bernie Rogers, was going to reach the league final. Like the Falcons, the Raiders were a very good team, but good enough to survive playoff semifinals against a team from the Southern Division?

But the Raiders served notice they were seriously trying to seize their school’s first-ever boys’ basketball title when they walloped a good Cardinal Dougherty team by 26 points in the first round.

Indeed, the all-Northern Division final, the first of its kind since 1970, came down to two teams that might have won some serious cash had they participated on the television show “Survivor.”

In the league semifinals, North Catholic dropped St. Joseph’s Prep by a closer-than-indicated 52-41. Meanwhile, Archbishop Ryan benefited from a questionable foul call inside the last second of regulation and sank two free throws for a 44-42 victory over a flabbergasted Monsignor Bonner team.

“I think it’s good for the Catholic League to have different teams in the championship,” said the Falcons’ Jones, a transfer from the Public League who said point blank that he believed he could make the difference between a “nice” team and a “great” team.

“Every year, it’s the same teams (usually Roman Catholic, Neumann-Goretti, or the Prep) at the end. It was time for somebody else to have a chance,” Jones said.

Like, for instance, North Catholic?

“Oh yeah. Turns out we had the best team.”

Three months ago, few could have imagined that statement would turn out to be true.

John Knebels may be reached at: jknebs@aol.com.