PHILADELPHIA — There were a lot of missed shots, bad fouls and long fallow periods by two teams prone to offensive funks Friday night at Archbishop Ryan.
And then there was Thomas Sorber.
For the host Raiders, in a first-round PIAA Class 5A tournament game with Sun Valley, that was enough.
The Georgetown signee accounted for 24 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks, three steals, two assists and constant low-post deterrence as an uneven Archbishop Ryan constantly if unsteadily pulled away from Sun Valley in a 67-43 slog.
Sorber was just unstoppable, by any force other than his personal foul count. He shot 9-for-12 from the field. While he was inhibited somewhat by fouls, with two cheap ones in the third quarter and his fourth with 7:11 to play, he was still the gravity that ties Ryan’s universe together as the District 12 second seed seeks to return to a state semifinal.
“Obviously the game plan was to pinch on him and stop him as much as we can,” Sun Valley guard Noah Griffin said. “Six-ten is six-ten. You can’t teach height.”
The game was a contrast in pace, from a lightning quick first period to an interminable second half. Ryan scored 27 points in the first eight minutes. It hit five of its first six looks from 3-point range, with two each from Rocco Morabito and Ryan Everett. Then it went cold and the game went ragged.
The Raiders (18-9) went 3-for-13 from 3-point range the rest of the way. Sorber scored six of the 10 points in the second quarter as Ryan took a 37-21 edge into the break.
For a Sun Valley team that scored 29, 25 and 35 points in its last three District 1 games, the first-quarter output was less than ideal.
“We didn’t like to see that, that 27 points at the beginning,” Griffin said. “But in the second quarter, the third quarter, we held them to like 10 points. That was better. We just had to keep scoring.”
Though overmatched, Sun Valley (16-11) battled. Kaiden Robinson hit a big 3-pointer in the second quarter, a run inspired by a Josh Yanonis cartoon swat of an Everett 3-pointer. Blaize Eldridge, despite foul trouble, ignited the team in the third with solid defense on Sorber.
But that third was … ugly. Eldridge was whistled for his third foul six seconds in. Sorber picked up fouls two and three in the first two minutes. After an Everett 3-pointer capped a 9-2 Ryan spurt to start the half and make it 46-23, neither team scored for more than three minutes. Neither team hit a bucket for more than four minutes, until Ryan reserve Christian Durham banked home a top-of-the-key triple. And Ryan, which somehow played a Catholic League final in the 40s after overtime, was content to allow the first 2:52 of the fourth elapse with neither team scoring.
When someone finally did break the ice, it was Sorber, pogo-sticking for offensive boards and an and-1.
Morabito was the only other player in double figures for either side with 10 points. Everett and Jaden Murray had nine each for Ryan.
Aaron Freeman and Eldridge led Sun Valley with nine points each. Griffin had eight, plus seven rebounds and a team-high three assists and three steals. Robinson added seven points.
It’s not the ending Sun Valley wanted. But a program that has now won at least 15 games in each of the last three years and battled its way to states left the Northeast with nothing to hang its head at.
“We’ve got a small school,” Griffin said. “Not a lot of our teams make it to states. The fact that we made it here was a big accomplishment.”
