Archbishop Carroll gets defensive in win over Norristown

WEST NORRITON >> The Archbishop Carroll defense hounded Norristown all night in a 64-28 win at Norristown Area High School Tuesday.

The Patriots called timeout halfway through the opening quarter after taking an 8-5 lead. They returned to the floor with more energy on defense and closed the quarter ahead, 17-7.

“That’s what we do at practice,” Carroll senior guard Shawnn Smith said. “We just emphasize defense every day and we bring it to the court.”

“We go hard in practice,” Carroll sophomore Moses Hipps agreed. “That’s what really pushes us to go hard in games. It’s easier if you’re going hard in practice – you’re used to going hard and it’s really easy to lock people down and lock in on defense.”

It was more of the same in the second quarter. Carroll forced Norristown into seven turnovers in the eight-minute frame and outscored the Eagles, 17-6, to take a 34-13 lead into halftime.

“We just followed the scouting report that we got this week,” Hipps said. “We do a good job of making sure we watch film on the team that we’re playing next. We also work on getting back on defense. We focus on defense a lot – that’s our big thing. We take pride in locking people down. When we feel like it’s going back and forth, we say, ‘We need three stops in a row.’ That’s when we go on runs because our defense turns into offense. We take pride in that.”

Carroll carried the momentum into the third quarter and built a 49-17 lead before pulling most of its starters in the fourth quarter.

“A lot of coaches and programs pride themselves on defense,” Carroll coach Francis Bowe said. “I just think with this team, knowing that we’re not going to come out big, it has to be the defensive side of the ball, it has to be boxing out. They’re bought in. Seeing results like tonight, it helps us coaches for the future for sure.”

Hipps led the Patriots (3-0) in scoring with 14 points. Blake Deegan added 12 and Harold Ivery 10.

John Dinolfi led Norristown (2-2) with 10 points and Zaki Gomez added seven.

“We’re coming off a back-to-back on Monday night we traveled,” Norristown coach Binky Johnson said. “No excuses – Carroll is the better team at this stage of the year – more experienced, more poised. Coming into tonight we knew we had a daunting task coming off of a game (Monday) night against Academy Park, which plays hard. Coming in here today against a powerhouse like Carroll, we knew we had our work cut out. I like the fact that our energy and effort stayed there despite having four games in five days.”

Stuffing the stat sheet

Hipps did a bit of everything for Carroll Tuesday. The sophomore, who wanted to improve on creating his own shot and creating for others this year, hit a pair of long three-pointers in the first quarter and added eight rebounds and four assists to his 14 points. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter.

“His range is out of this world,” Bowe said. “He has the NBA range down, but he also knows how to effectively use it, especially within our offense. We can get the defense shifting here or there, maybe their best defender will try to stop that. We get him moving a little bit. He’ll still take that shot. We’ve never second guessed it – we look and it has a chance to go in. Early on in the season it’s been going in.”

Hipps also helped on the defensive end, which allowed the Patriots to take complete control of the game.

“I feel like my defense improved a lot,” the 6-foot-4 guard said. “That’s what I’ve been focusing on this year. It’s helped us be a better team and elevate to a better team. I feel like last year I was a liability on defense. This year I’m one of the strongest defenders on the team in my opinion and it’s showing in the way that we’re playing defense.”

PCL tests

Tuesday was Norristown’s second game against a Philadelphia Catholic League opponent less than a week into the season. The Eagles faced La Salle in the Triangle Club Tournament championship game Saturday.

“This group, we’re older but we’re inexperienced,” Johnson said. “The fact that you play quality PCL teams like this, you don’t see the rewards right away. You see them later on when you get in your conference play and playoffs – you’re prepared. What we see in the first week of the season compared to what we’re going to see in the back 18 of our games, something like this is really going to pay off down the stretch.”

Archbishop Carroll 64, Norristown 28

Archbishop Carroll 17 17 15 15 – 64

Norristown 7 6 4 11 – 28

AC: Cole-Newsome 2 2-4 7, Hipps 4 4-5 14, Smith 4 0-0 8, Deegan 5 0-0 12, Ivery 5 0-0 10, Dixon 0 0-0 0, Rogers 2 0-0 5, West 3 1-1 8, Monastero 0 0-0 0. Total 25 7-10 64.

N: DiMichele 0 0-2 0, Dinolfi 4 0-0 10, Gaymon 1 0-0 2, Gomez 3 0-0 7, Johnson 1 1-2 3, Kirlew 0 0-0 0, Mobley 2 0-0 4, Stinson 0 0-0 0, Watson 1 0-0 2. Total 12 1-4 28.

3-point goals: AC: Coleman-Newsome, Hipps 2, Deegan 2, Rogers, West. N: Dinolfi 2, Gomez.