Newton delivers as Archbishop Wood slips by Bishop McDevitt in overtime
CHELTENHAM >> Muneer Newton has made a habit of playing his best when his Archbishop Wood basketball team most needs him to.
The senior forward’s breakout year has been a big part of the Vikings’ unbeaten run in the PCL so far and with Bishop McDevitt threatening to end that spotless start, Newton came through again. Turning things up in the second half, Newton first helped Wood rally to tie with the Royal Lancers, then had the winning play of the day.
Newton’s putback basket with three seconds left in overtime was the difference as Archbishop Wood topped Bishop McDevitt 71-69 in a Catholic League classic Sunday afternoon.
“I’m just playing ball,” Newton, who scored 19 points in the win, said. “Previously, I’d be thinking about too much and what could happen but now, I’m just playing.”
Newton is the only member of Archbishop Wood’s starting five yet to sign with a college basketball program, but his strong season has led to a handful of offers coming in over the past few weeks. Surrounded by four future Division I players, the athletic forward determined he needed to be a little more aggressive this winter and has looked for his shot more than he used to.
Prior to the 2011 MLB season, the Philadelphia Phillies assembled a lethal starting pitching rotation headlined by Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt but they made sure to include the fifth starter Joe Blanton in everything, going as far as refusing to hold a preseason press conference without Blanton. There’s a similar vibe with the Vikings this season, as the other four seniors in the starting lineup have been quite vocal about getting Newton signed to play college basketball with UConn-bound point guard Rahsool Diggins the loudest about it.
“They all love him and are trying to get him some looks,” Wood coach John Mosco said. “But, they’re doing within the system and Muneer is taking advantage of them.”
It’s been a challenging season for the Royal Lancers, who felt they had strong if somewhat inexperienced lineup that could contend in the PCL. Then, news came down that the school was going to close at the end of the academic year, putting a veil of uncertainty in front of the team’s players on top of trying to navigate COVID-19.
McDevitt can’t seem to get much of a break on the floor either, as a handful of tough losses have belied the team’s abilities. Coach Will Chavis has tried to keep the focus on improving with each passing day but noted it’s been a difficult few months for the program.
“In this league, it’s a couple detail things that you have to do in order to finish a game off,” Chavis said. “We had it, but we missed free throws at the end. That’s potentially five points we didn’t get.
“We’ve done a good job sticking together and trying to learn. It’s been tough, we had a shutdown due to COVID, the school closing, it’s a tough year for all these kids in general. I’m proud of them for fighting, sticking together and trying to do their best.”
Wood jumped out to a 4-0 lead but trailed much of the remainder of regulation as the Lancers went on an 8-0 run in response and kept the Vikings a few possessions away through most of the first half. Junior Justin Moore, who came over to McDevitt after two years at Cheltenham, was the leader in that operation, netting 10 second quarter points as the Lancers took a 33-25 lead to intermission.
Moore was terrific, scoring a game-high 26 points while junior Terrell Pitts had a big third quarter on his way to 16 points. Senior Hunter Healy, a Lansdale Catholic transfer, posted a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds and deterred or altered quite a few shots by Wood’s rim-attacking guards.
The Lancers have two games left, both at home, against Lansdale Catholic and Cardinal O’Hara. The find themselves in a tie with fellow Class 3A teams Devon Prep and West Catholic in contention for the league’s lone PIAA representative and with all games between them complete, will rely on tiebreakers to determine who gets to play on.
“Before our season even starting, they’re questioning what’s going to happen to them next year and that’s already a barrier within itself mentally,” Chavis said. “Despite all of that, they’ve done a good job. We’ll see what happens, we just have to continue to play hard and compete.”
With his team needing a boost in the second half, Newton came forward to provide it. He and senior Marcus Randolph scored all but two of the team’s 18 third quarter points as Wood rallied for a 43-43 tie heading into the fourth.
Randolph, who led Wood with 22 points, bulldozed his way to several critical baskets, including a pair of traditional three-point plays in the last minute that capped an 8-0 run for the tie.
“I told him ‘we don’t need any plays, just go and I’ve got you,’” Newton said with a wide smile. “He just said ‘alright’ and that’s how it went.”
Newton didn’t finish the quarter on the floor due to foul trouble, but early in the frame, he turned a steal into a ferocious dunk that seemed to put new life into the Vikings.
“It’s heck of a lift, especially for my teammates because we can hyped off of that,” Newton said. “We’re hyped up playing defense and that makes our defense even better. That’s the spark right there, every time if I’m not the one dunking.”
McDevitt scored the first six points of the final quarter but Diggins, who had been held silent in the third, came back with a vengeance. The program’s all-time leading scorer halved the lead with a 3-pointer and contributed 10 of his 19 points in the frame including a free throw that gave Wood its first lead since the opening quarter.
A steal by McDevitt’s Sharod Cannedy led to a putback by Pitts for a 60-58 lead with 56.8 on the clock. Wood failed to convert on the other end, but a missed foul shot on the front end of a one-and-one allowed Randolph to get a driving layup to fall for the tie with 23 seconds remaining.
Wood’s defense forced up a contested shot at the end of regulation and the teams spent the first 90 seconds of overtime trading scores to a 65-65 tie. Newton, still balancing foul trouble, was up for the final act.
“He’s just gotten a lot more confident shooting the ball and scoring with confidence,” Mosco said. “They trust him and he’s been doing it a lot more in practice, the shooting and scoring, so they know he’s there for them.
“He gives a lot of heart and energy. He plays the biggest game on the court, he plays with a lot of toughness and now we expect him to give us points.”
The senior scored off a dish from Diggins then after McDevitt’s Shawn Smith staked the Lancers to a 68-67 lead, Newton got a second chance hoop to put Wood back in front. McDevitt tied the game at the line with 42.4 left before the final sequence.
Diggins put up a difficult shot that was off the mark but Newton soared in, grabbing the ball and scoring over four assembled Lancers players under the hoop as the final seconds eroded. The Lancers set up one last play, but Diggins broke up the inbound pass to secure the win.
“I thought (Diggins) was going to dribble it out and take a last shot, so I figured on coming up to set a pick and getting a good shot,” Newton said. “Things happened differently, but I was able to get in there to grab a rebound and scored it.”
The win clinched at least a share of first place in the PCL for Archbishop Wood with one game left to play. However, the PCL title game originally scheduled for March 13 has been postponed to an undetermined date, which has left Mosco frustrated.
Wood, competing in Class 6A this year, has to play a Public League team on March 17 for the District 12 state playoff spot, with their first state game set for March 19. That doesn’t leave much of a window to get in a PCL final with several teams in the league still trying to make up contests due to COVID-19 shutdowns.
“We’re supposed to be the best league in the state and the area and top five in the country and we don’t come up with a playoff system beforehand,” Mosco said. “The Public League and several other leagues locally had some kind of playoff and our ADs dragged their feet and as a result the kids suffer.
“They’re into it when there’s a Palestra at the end of it but now we don’t even have a date for when the championship game is. All we can do is play everybody in front of us, show and play the game and if it works out we have a championship, then we’ll have a championship and if not, we’ll worry about states.”
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 71, BISHOP McDEVITT 69 (OT)
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 13 12 18 17 11 – 71
BISHOP McDEVITT 16 17 10 17 9 – 69
Archbishop Wood: Marcus Randolph 9 3-6 22, Rahsool Diggins 6 5-6 19, Jaylen Stinson 3 0-0 8, Muneer Newton 9 1-4 19, Daeshon Shepherd 1 1-4 3. Totals: 28 10-20 71.
Bishop McDevitt: Justin Moore 10 4-6 26, Shawn Smith 2 0-0 5, Terrell Pits 8 0-0 16, Allasane Amadou 1 0-0 2, Hunter Healy 4 3-4 11, Quin Gilyard 1 0-0 2, Naim Walker 1 5-7 7. Totals: 27 12-17 69.
3-pointers: AW – Diggins 2, Stinson 2, Randolph; BM – Moore 2, Smith.
