Archbishop Carroll cruises past Holy Ghost Prep
CHELTENHAM >> The Archbishop Carroll boys basketball team kicked off its PIAA Class AAA state playoff run with a statement.
The Patriots knocked off District 1 champion Holy Ghost Prep, 76-27, Friday night at Cheltenham High School in a game where the starters were pulled in the third quarter with a 40-point lead.
“You can’t overlook a district champion – a team that’s made it this far into states – you can’t do that,” Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk said. “You’re stupid if you’re going to do that. You have to play every team like they are a champion. Holy Ghost Prep is a district champ for a reason. They are one of the storied programs in Bucks County – in this area – but it was nice to see that we were ready.”
It didn’t take long for last year’s state runner up to assert its dominance. Carroll led 26-7 at the end of the first quarter and 48-9 at the end of the first half before putting it into cruise control down the stretch.
“If we are sharing the basketball and we’re taking open shots, we’re a good shooting team,” Romanczuk said. “You’ve got the Daly brothers (Ryan and Colin) that can really shoot the basketball. John Rigsby knocks down shots. Josh (Sharkey) is so good at getting those guys shots. It’s not only our shooting, it’s Josh getting them such clean shots right in their shooting pocket. He makes the game easy for them.”
Senior Ryan Daly finished with a game-high 23 points and classmates Rigsby and Sharkey added 21 and nine, respectively.
“I think – not only state playoff experience – but experience in general ,” Romanczuk said keys his seniors bringing their best at this time of year. “We’ve got three senior guards that have done it time and time again. Two of them have played since they were sophomores. You can’t overstate enough the value of experience, especially this time of year. I’ve got three really good senior guards. When they are clicking and playing as unselfishly as they did tonight, we’re a pretty good team.”
Carroll will face District 3 champion Bishop McDevitt in the second round Tuesday at a time and place to be determined.
“I saw them in person once and I have film of them I haven’t watched yet,” Romanczuk said of his next opponent. “I do know a little bit about them. We’ll take off (Saturday) and get ready to work on Sunday. (McDevitt) is a good team –once again we play a district champ. We go from playing the District 1 champ to playing the District 3 champ, so that’s what you’re going to run into this time of year.”
John McCrane led Holy Ghost in scoring with eight points and Jack Coolahan and Mike McFadden each added six.
