Duren, Woodward’s battle at middle of Roman Catholic’s win over Methacton
WARMINSTER >> Methacton’s Jeff Woodward was eager for his Saturday afternoon assignment.
The Warriors’ senior center, a Colgate recruit, was slated to match up with Roman Catholic sophomore Jalen Duren, one of the top prospects nationally in his class. They’re similar in height but very different in style with the lean, athletic Duren a fearsome rim-runner and dunker while the bigger Woodward is a true post presence and deft passer.
Both big men were able to leave feeling better about themselves and while Methacton came out on the short end of a 59-52 loss as part of Archbishop Wood’s Diane Mosco Foundation Shootout, the Warriors realized they can hang with anyone.
“Games like this can really show it,” Woodward said. “We’ve always known we’re a good team but being able to go in and compete against a really high-level talent team like Roman that has a great history as a program, it goes to show we might be a public school and newer on the scene of competing in districts and states, we’re as good as anybody else.”
Roman didn’t have senior Lynn Greer III on Saturday but the Cahillites still always have a lot of talented basketball players and this year is no different for the defending PCL champions even if they’re on the younger side. Methacton on the other hand, is a veteran group very sure of its identity, disciplined and well-coached and the Warriors jumped out to a 12-2 lead.
Woodward has been the anchor all four years on varsity but has improved leaps and bounds since his freshman season. Duren’s game is still coming along but the sophomore’s otherworldly athletic ability has put him above where many other big men his age usually are.
So while Woodward may not jump the same way as Duren, he was eager to try and teach the underclassmen a few things with his refined, fundamental game.
“I just tried to play as much of my game as possible,” Woodward said. “Obviously, he’s a great player and has gotten all the things he has and you rarely get to go up against a player like him. But on the flip side, how many times in a year will he play someone like me, who can dive down into the post and make a couple moves? He’s got an excellent game but it’s differentiating styles so it’s a good matchup for both of us.”
Woodward did have to sit a long spell in the second quarter after picking up his second foul and no surprise, a Roman run to get back in the game followed but he still finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
Duren didn’t have his best shooting game but posted 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in the fourth quarter, two coming late to help seal the victory.
“Playing against an older guy, you know he’s going to work, I’m going to work against him,” Duren said. “He’s a very good player, I made him work, he made me work, I think it was a good game for both of us, a pretty good battle.
“He’s in the lane, he’s contesting shots and blocking shots so it makes our guards better and it makes me better by guarding him.”
Wood’s gym was packed for the matchup, with a really strong Methacton fan contingent adding a playoff feel to the mid-December meeting. That was part of the reason why Roman coach Matt Griffin jumped at the chance to get the game on the schedule, along with measuring his young team against one with Methacton’s experience.
“Our mentality from summer to fall to now is a lot different, we talk a lot about being resilient and how you handle adversity,” Griffin said. “Credit Methacton, because they’re a terrific team, they’re extremely well coached and they have a tremendous amount of experience. The way they play is terrific and we had to battle. It was an absolute grind and I was proud of the way we were able to grind and it’s not something we did in the past couple months.”
Griffin was pleased with the way the young guards stepped up. Nasir Lett hit a critical corner 3-pointer late while Xzayvier Brown and Quadir Brown gave Roman good minutes and forward Kyle Maska was a lift on offense with 11 points.
The fourth-year Roman head coach also felt like his big man showed a lot of maturity in how he approached the duel of the giants.
“Jeff Woodward is a tremendous player and he’s going to be an incredible player in the Patriot League,” Griffin said. “I was proud of the way (Duren) battled, playing against a guy like that only makes him better, it challenged him in every way and I was proud of the way Jalen continued to grind.
“Jeff has tremendous composure and poise in the post, he’s able to get guys up in the air and Jalen stayed down and stayed within it defensively. It was a tremendous battle and fun to watch.”
After Woodward went out, Duren had the first six points of an 11-4 run to close the first half for Roman. Only a couple timely points from Erik Timko, who led the Warriors with 17 points, kept Methacton up 27-25 at the break.
Following an exchange of baskets to start the third, Roman’s other standout sophomore, guard Justice Williams, led a 7-0 run to give the Cahillites their first lead. Woodward answered with two buckets and Timko hit two at the line as Methacton briefly regained the advantage.
“It’s really big for us, we know we’re as good as anybody else,” Woodward said. “People may not know who we are, but everybody inside the program knows how good we are and we can compete with anybody in the state. It’s good to prove our doubters wrong but to us, it’s just proving ourselves right.”
The game came down to the final minute. After Lett’s three and a pair of Williams free throws put Roman up 53-49, Methacton’s Owen Kropp canned a straightaway three to make it a one-point game.
Duren would play stopper after that, getting a block on Woodward down low on one possession and then going all the way out to the arc to block a Timko jumper on the next possession while Williams iced the result at the foul line.
“It’s effort,” Duren said. “I just do all I can to keep us in games and help my team win.”
ROMAN CATHOLIC 59, METHACTON 52
ROMAN CATHOLIC 9 16 13 21 — 59
METHACTON 16 11 13 12 — 52
Roman Catholic (59): Justice Williams 3 8-11 14, Jalen Duren 6 0-4 12, Kyle Masaka 3 4-4 11, Nasir Lett 3 0-0 9, Xzayvier Brown 3 4-4 10, Quadir Brown 1 0-0 3. Totals: 20 16-23 59.
Methacton (52): Erik Timko 5 6-6 17, Owen Kropp 4 2-2 11, Jeff Woodward 4 3-4 11, Brett Eberly 3 0-0 8, Cole Hargrove 2 0-0 5. Totals: 18 11-12 52.
3-pointers: RC – Lett 3, Masaka, Q Brown; M – Eberly 2, Kropp, Hargrove, Timko.
