Izaiah Pasha has presence to get Cardinal O’Hara to PCL quarterfinals

MARPLE – In short order, Izaiah Pasha has become central to the plan for Cardinal O’Hara. Even on a night like Wednesday, when the game wasn’t coming to him quite as easily as it has during the junior guard’s All-Catholic season, the presence of Pasha opened space for others.

It also went a long way toward opening up a 49-47 win for the eighth-seeded Lions in a Catholic League playoff affair with Bonner-Prendergast.

On a night when the Friars hung tough despite missing two starters, O’Hara needed everything it could get. And often that meant making the most of what Pasha can do, particularly when defenders flocked to him and opened space in behind for others to fill.

“With his length and his speed, he really opens up the floor,” forward Pearse McGuinn said. “He makes everything a lot easier for everyone else. You can always get an easy bucket when he facilitates.”

Pasha still led the Lions with 15 points, albeit on just 6-for-13 shooting. His game didn’t flow as it normally does, the lanky guard chasing it more than letting it come to him.

But with the Bonner defense needing to respect Pasha’s speed off the bounce and his ability to wriggle into the lane, that left gaps for others to exploit. And O’Hara, as it has all season, alternated who filled those roles.

The Lions shot better than 50 percent (19-for-34) from the field and hit five of nine 3-point looks, with Pasha canning both of his trifecta attempts. In the first half, the opportunities fell to Amir Speights, who did a ton of work defensively but also came up with 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting.

He hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter and worked the in-between spaces in the lane to score seven points in the second quarter as O’Hara created space with a 15-0 run.

“My teammates trusted me,” Speights said. “I’ve been playing real bad lately, but they still trust me to make the right plays. I had a little bit of confidence and played up to par.”

McGuinn took his turn in the middle two quarters. He made four consecutive shots, including a 3-pointer, on the way to 14 points. He worked hard off the ball and, as a superb passing big man, threaded the gaps that opened if the Friars shaded too far toward the 3-point line.

He finished a reverse lay-in off a back cut from a Hunter Johnson dime early in the third quarter, then reciprocated by finding a slashing Johnson from the wing.

“I wouldn’t be a good passer if my teammates didn’t move,” McGuinn said. “My teammates make all my passes look good. It’s really just my teammates. We work so well together.”

Bonner, the ninth seed, battled, despite being without regular starters Deuce Ketner and Saaid Lee, further pruning an already tight rotation. Brady Eagan set the tone with six first-quarter points, attacking McGuinn despite giving up several inches in height. The Friars outworked O’Hara on the boards with a 23-17 advantage. That’s where Shakur Smith found most of his game-high 16 points.

“It was kind of hard missing guys coming into this game,” said guard Baasil Saunders, who scored nine points. “But the guys that were here stepped up. They gave it their all, and that’s all we were looking for.”

O’Hara went up by nine when Pasha shook a defender and hit a pull-up jumper early in the fourth. But Bonner turned up the defense and O’Hara got sloppy, committing turnovers on five of nine fourth quarter possessions (after just two turnovers in a clean first half). McGuinn dished to Pasha to restore an eight-point edge before Bonner chipped away with second-chance points, first from Jamal Hicks, then Smith in the post on an entry pass by Saunders (who had four assists).

Bonner got within two points when Saunders put back an AJ Dreger miss with four seconds left, but O’Hara didn’t have to inbound, allowing the clock to expire.

It sets up a date for O’Hara at top-seeded Roman in Friday’s second round. O’Hara is the lowest remaining seed, after No. 7 Devon Prep defeated No. 10 Archbishop Carroll, 70-67.

For a team that lacks a senior contributor, and that coalesced in last year’s truncated season before adding Pasha as a transfer from Central Dauphin East, it’s all a learning experience. Each step is valuable for a group that knows it won’t reach its final form in this tournament or this season.

“We’re still a young team,” McGuinn said. “We used last year to grow as a team. This year, we started to beat teams. Last year, we didn’t beat teams. … This is only a preview. We’re not losing any guys. We don’t have any seniors. So we only have up to go from here.”