Carroll pulls away from McDevitt

Just by looking at the starting lineups from Monday night’s Philadelphia Catholic League game between Bishop McDevitt and Archbishop Carroll it was apparent Carroll would have a decided advantage in the game.

Four out of the five Patriots starters were listed at 6-foot-3 or taller and four of the five starters were seniors with junior guard Colin Daly being the lone exception. McDevitt however took the court with only one starter listed at over six foot tall and more importantly took the floor with two freshmen, two sophomores and one junior.

“I think the differences in the teams were clear especially in the third quarter,” McDevitt coach Sean Ryan said.

McDevitt was able to weather an early storm from the big and talented Carroll squad but the game got out of hand in the third quarter as the Patriots pulled away from the Lancers for a 77-39 win.

In the first half McDevitt was able to use its athleticism to alter some of Carroll’s shots coupled with some poor shooting by Carroll the Lancers were able to keep the game in arms reach for the first quarter and half.

“I thought my kids played good spurts throughout the first and second quarter but when you have freshmen and sophomores sometimes one mistake makes another mistake, makes another mistake,” Ryan said.

“We had a game plan for them. We’ve seen Carroll play a couple of times. Try to limit [point guard Josh] Sharkey. He’s a creator. He’s one of the best creators in the area. When he got going in the third that was lights out for the game.”

The length and experience of Carroll really put the pressure on McDevitt on the offensive end. Its hard for young players to consistently make good decisions and with long arms in passing lanes and closing out on shots it makes it even harder especially when the Patriots went to a press to start the third quarter.

“Being that we’re so young we have to learn what its like to play and experience a good team like Carroll is,” Ryan said. “The length that they have, the three point shots against some other teams that we had, we’re not going to get them tonight.”

For McDevitt the Catholic League loss is just another notch in what Ryan calls “the process” for a young and learning Lancer’s squad.

“It’s been a process. It kind of took a while for us to settle on who we are and what we’re trying to do,” Ryan said. “Once we had our rotation set it made things a lot more simple for us. I think the Christmas break kind of showed us how we’re going to move things moving forward.”