Stinson’s clutch shots help Archbishop Wood topple Roman Catholic in 2OT

WARMINSTER >> It went just like Archbishop Wood drew it up, sort of.

Down three in overtime with 1.3 seconds left on the clock against Roman Catholic, Vikings boys’ basketball coach John Mosco called a timeout and diagramed a play. In the huddle, Jaylen Stinson offered a suggestion, even though the shot wasn’t supposed to go to him.

Naturally, the ball found Stinson and the team’s third option calmly caught the pass, took a dribble and buried a corner three to extend the game at the buzzer.

Boosted by Stinson’s big shot in the first overtime and another in the second, the Vikings made enough plays in the second overtime to edge the Cahillites 94-93 Sunday afternoon in another PCL classic.

“It was a specific play but we had to adjust because of the way they were playing the outside, they didn’t want us to have any threes,” Stinson, who scored 25, said. “I started from high, came low and made the adjustment. When he closed out and jumped, it was one dribble and up.”

More than one Wood player started to have flashbacks of the seven overtime game against Paul VI (Va.) back in December but Vikings point guard Rahsool Diggins wasn’t interested in doing all that again.

“My first thought was ‘we gotta to win, I’m not playing any more overtimes,’” Diggins said. “They (the fans) were celebrating but I was walking over like ‘we have to win.’”

For the second time this week, Wood (13-3, 9-0 league)  saw a PCL adversary erase a double-digit second half deficit and for the second time this week, Wood found a way to win. Roman (8-7, 4-3), which was coming off a gut-wrenching double overtime loss to Neumann-Goretti on Friday, saw a handful of factors add up to just enough to reverse its fortunes.

In front of a sold-out, capacity gym, the two teams made it known early a good one was on deck. Spurred by 10 points from Diggins, Wood went up 18-13 but a bucket by Roman’s super sophomore big man Jalen Duren and a buzzer-beating three by Nasir Lett assisted by Duren tied the score.

Both teams only had five players score but in the second quarter, Roman was carried by Duren. The forward, a top-five nationally ranked prospect in his class, was nearly unstoppable all game and finished with 34 points, 19 rebounds, six blocks and three assists.

He had 12 of the Cahillites’ 16 second quarter points but the issue for Roman was Wood was countering those buckets with threes and rapid offense.

“We as a group are trying to get better and I thought took a step forward in that fourth quarter,” Roman coach Matt Griffin said. “It was an opportunity to win the game and we’re learning. We’re learning how to win games and we haven’t figured it out yet. When you’re in these games and it’s this high of intensity, for a lot of these guys, it’s there first time in these games and we have to learn how to close them out.”

Wood, which led 45-34 at the break, used its rocket offense to continue extending its lead into the third quarter. Roman didn’t get Duren as involved in the third but the guard trio of Lynn Greer III, freshman Xzayvier Brown and sophomore Justice Williams picked up their scoring efforts.

Diggins, who led Wood with 28 points, hit a deep three late in the quarter to put Wood up 66-55 but like Monday’s win over Bonner & Prendergast, the Vikings wouldn’t have an easy finish.

“We need to stop letting teams come back after halftime, I think that’s what messes us up a lot,” Wood junior Daeshon Shepherd, who netted 24 points, said. “They get more fire in them and we don’t come back with that same fire they come with and that’s what they’ve been beating us with.”

Shepherd noted Roman’s defense got a lot more aggressive in the fourth quarter while Diggins cited the Cahillites’ efforts to get the ball out of his hands. Griffin, who said he saw what Bonner’s defense did in its comeback Monday, made a couple adjustments to try and get Wood out of rhythm.

“We used one of our reserves, Christian Kirkland, to use his length and disrupt them a little bit,” Griffin said. “It was a bit of an unconventional man-to-man, a soft trap. I knew we were going to have to increase the tempo of the game.”

Roman’s ramped-up defense worked, both in getting a couple turnovers and breaking Wood out of its team-centric offense. Vikings coach John Mosco likened it to “playing like sophomores again” and felt his guys were too quick to settle or take a bad shot in the fourth quarter.

Coupled with a few Wood drives to the rim that refused to drop and Williams carrying the mantle of responsibility for his team, the Cahillites came all the way back. Williams was outstanding all game, posting a career-best 32 points including the go-ahead bucket in the first overtime.

“Justice was terrific, that was his best game of the year,” Griffin said. “We’re not pleased with the result but we’re pleased with some of the improvement we’re seeing within our team and I though Justice did a terrific job.”

Missed free throws left the door open just enough for Wood to force overtime as Roman went 9-of-13 from the stripe in the fourth. Down 74-72, the Vikings went for a trap and according to Stinson, just wanted to force a tie-up with the possession arrow in their favor.

Instead, the junior came up with a steal, got to the rim and drew a foul with 9.9 left in regulation. Stepping to the stripe for the first time all day, the guard sank both shots and Wood got a stop to send the game extra.

“You have people on the sidelines telling you ‘it’s time to go,’ my dad specifically, he’s always in my head at times like this,” Stinson said. “I was built for this, basically.

“It’s inside support, everybody on the court pushing each other. Marcus (Randolph) was pushing me, I was pushing Sool, we’re all pushing Daeshon, Muneer (Newton’s) almost putback dunk; that actually gave us a lot of energy.”

A single missed foul shot in overtime gave Wood another window with 16.2 left. The Vikings initial plan, a quick drive to the rim for two, got knocked out with 1.3 left, setting up one shot to either keep playing or take the first loss of PCL play.

“We practice that every day in a situation drill, except we have two seconds left and not 1.3,” Diggins said. “We drew up something different this time but got the same shot. That was our third option.

“It’s chemistry. We didn’t care who took the shot as long as it got up. It went in, so we had a chance to close the game out and win.”

Stinson had stuck two clutch shots on the previous two possessions to keep Wood in the game and he knew if the ball came his way again, he was ready. So, the guard offered up a slight adjustment to Mosco’s play design.

“I said ‘Jaylen start in the corner’ and he said ‘why don’t I start up and go to the corner?’ so that’s what he did, got the pass and had enough smarts to take his time, pump-fake and calmly hit the three,” Mosco said. “I think they’re really maturing, we’re getting a lot more focused as a team and they’re really believing in each other to play together like that.”

Despite five early points from Shepherd, Wood again fell behind after two hoops from Duren and faced a 91-90 deficit going into the final minute. Stinson got fouled, hitting both before Williams answered with 39 ticks on the clock to keep Roman up a point.

Already with two clutch free throws and a game-saving three to his name, Stinson had one more big shot to take. As the clock ticked inside 30 seconds, the junior dribbled into the lane with his left hand, got the ball to his right and lofted in a tough runner that fell for the 94-93 lead.

“He’s a warrior,” Mosco said. “His dad took him to every basketball court around and he’s been playing since he was young. I think his mom taught him how to shoot though.

“They know they’re allowed to shoot any time if they’re confident and he’s a real confident player.”

Wood forced a tough shot following Stinson’s make but turned the ball over on a long pass with 4.2 left. Roman was able to get a shot at the buzzer, but it was ultimately off the mark and handed the Cahillites their third PCL loss of the season, all coming in overtime.

“Life is hard, basketball is hard,” Griffin said. “You don’t win every game, but I’m a big believer on ‘how do you respond?’ We lost two overtime games, we could easily pout, put our heads down and blame other people or say ‘we’re going to learn from it and get better.’”

Wood, after going 4-0 this week, will have a light week to recover and get back in the gym before it travels to the league’s other unbeaten team in Neumann-Goretti on Friday night. Mosco, who served as an assistant under Saints coach Carl Arrigale before coming to Wood, joked it would be “another easy one.”

Stinson and Mosco noted Sunday’s game was a good regular season win, but didn’t help them win a PCL title or state title, so they didn’t want to get too emotionally high off of it. At the same time, the Vikings couldn’t ignore the atmosphere they had competed in.

“I told them ‘you guys came here for games like this,’” Mosco said.

ARCHBISHOP WOOD 94, ROMAN CATHOLIC 92 (2OT)
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 18 27 21 8 11 9 – 94
ROMAN CATHOLIC 18 16 22 18 11 8 – 93
AW: Marcus Randolph 3 3-4 11, Rahsool Diggins 11 3-3 28, Jaylen Stinson 9 4-4 25, Muneer Newton 1 3-6 6, Daeshon Shepherd 8 6-8 24. Totals: 32 19-23 94.
RC: Lynn Greer III 6 4-9 16, Xzayvier Brown 4 0-0 8, Justice Williams 9 13-14 32, Jalen Duren 14 6-10 34, Nasir Lett 1 0-0 3. Totals: 33 23-33 93.
3-pointers: AW – Stinson 3, Diggins 3, Randolph 2, Shepherd 2, Newton; RC – Williams, Lett.