The Drift From Griff

pic to come . . .

Mike Griffenberg, the son of Roman's chief scout, recently earned a degree in journalism and has agreed to write for the site. We welcome him!
Mike may be reached at mgriff3@hotmail.com.

Roman Finishes in Fifth Place in Hawaii

     As Roman head coach Dennis Seddon was walking out of the gym after Roman’s game with Punahou (Honolulu) an Iolani Prep Classic tournament official approached him and said, “Congratulations coach, you are the Hawaiian state champs.”
     The Cahillites (6-2) followed their Tuesday victory over first-ranked Iolani with a 48-41 win over second-ranked Punahou on Wednesday. The win gave Roman a 3-1 record in the tournament and a fifth-place finish. Roman’s only loss was to nationally ranked Fairfax (Los Angeles).
     Seddon was satisfied with his team’s performance in Hawaii.
     “Our goal was to win two games,” he said.
     Once again it looked like the Cahillites were going to get off to a slow start when they had a turnover on their first possession, but they were able to get on track after that and get their first early lead of the tournament. Roman led 14-10 after the first quarter and 29-20 at halftime.
     Roman was led by senior guard Bob Jordan with 13 points. Also having strong games for Roman were Bill Lally and Mike Ringgold with nine points each. Ringgold was also named to the all-tournament team. He averaged 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds a game for the tournament.
      Most of Roman’s players believe the trip was successful, but everyone on the team thinks they can play better.
     “Overall, we played ok at times,” said Lally. “There were spurts where we played good, but we fell apart at times.”
     In the second half it looked like Roman was going to pull away and win handily, but Punahou was able to keep it close. With two seconds remaining in the third quarter Jordan drove through the lane to give Roman a 40-28 lead. However, Punahou scored the first three baskets in the fourth quarter to cut Roman’s lead to 40-34 with 6:32 remaining.
     With 4:58 remaining Punahou sophomore guard Miah Ostrowski hit a jumper to cut Roman’s lead to 42-39, but that was as close as Punahou would get. Ostrowski had an outstanding game for Punahou with 24 points.
     Jordan gave credit to Ostrowski for putting Punahou on his shoulders.
     “ [Ostrowski] did a good job of keeping them in the game,” he said. “But we were able to shut down [Ostrowski] at the end of the game.”
     Jordan did a remarkable job covering Ostrowski in the fourth quarter, even though he is still recovering from a November knee operation. He had two parts of his meniscus taken out during the surgery.
     “I have only had six days of practice,” Jordan said. “It is slowing me down a little.”
     In the championship of the tournament Rice (New York), who upset Fairfax in the semifinals, beat Xaverian (New York) by 20 points.
     The Cahillihites have a tournament in Reading Monday and Tuesday before they open up Catholic league play against St. Joe’s Prep on Jan. 4 at Philadelphia University. Seddon thinks his team will be ready when Catholic League play begins.
     “I expect us to be very competitive,” he said. “The southern division has a lot of talent. Every game is going to be a war.”
     Lally expects Roman to be more than competitive.
     “We match up well with Prep and Neuman,” he said. “If we play well, no one in the Catholic League can beat us.”

     For Roman the third time was not a charm.
     For the third consecutive game Roman Catholic struggled early, but was able to beat host team Iolani Prep 55-50 in the consolation round of the Iolani Prep Classic Tuesday afternoon in Honolulu.
     “I am disappointed with how we came out,” head coach Dennis Seddon said. “This was a classic case of ‘island fever’. There was not a lot of focus out there.”
     Roman (5-2) has been plagued by turnovers all tournament, and Tuesday’s game was no exception. The Cahillites committed three turnovers in the first 1:20 of the game, which led to Iolani getting out to an early 5-0 lead.
     Senior captain Malik Perry thinks Roman took Iolani for granted.
   “We underestimated them because they are from the island,” he said. “We came out relaxed.”
     Roman appeared to be tired when it came out for pre-game warm-ups, and that carried over into the game. The Cahillites were down 13-8 after the first quarter and 27-20 at halftime. They also had 13 turnovers at the half.
     Perry didn’t have a shot in the first half, but he didn’t let that get in the way of his leadership role at halftime.
     “There were a lot of people walking around with their heads down,” he said. “I told the team to keep its composure.”
     What Perry and coach Seddon said in the locker room appeared to work as Roman came out more focused in the third quarter. Out of halftime senior guard Bill Lally hit a three-pointer to cut Iolani’s lead to 27-25. Perry followed that up with a lay-up to cut the lead to two. Iolani’s Vinny Nip, who led the team with 16 points, answered that with a three-pointer of his own.
     From there Roman went on a 19-5 run and it looked like they would run away with the game.
     “I was impressed with how we responded in the second half,” said Seddon.
     However, Iolani showed why it is the three-time defending state champion and fought back in the fourth quarter.
     Roman’s biggest lead in the fourth quarter was 44-35, but Iolani went on 12-2 run to take a 47-46 lead with 3:09 left in the game when Kyle Pape (11 points) hit two foul shots. Roman took the lead right back with 2:56 left when Perry made a lay-up while being fouled. He made the foul shot to give Roman a 49-47 lead. Perry had another strong game with 14 points and nine rebounds.
     Iolani stormed right back and took a 50-49 lead when Kawika Shoji (13 points) hit a three-pointer with 2:40 remaining. Those were the last points Iolani scored.
     With 2:16 remaining Roman took the lead for good 51-50, when Perry put back a Brian Wanamaker missed foul shot.
     Perry was not excited about this win.
     “We are better than we have shown in this tournament,” he said. “We got a win, but we can play better.”
     Two players that had excellent games for Roman were Brian Wanamaker, brother of Bradley, and Bob Jordan. Wanamaker had seven points and four rebounds off of the bench. He also did a great job defensively.
     “We feel [Brian] can help us off of the bench,” said Seddon. “We project him as our defensive stopper.”
     Seddon was also proud of the way Jordan played in the fourth quarter.
     “He took over the leadership role in the fourth,” he said. “He also hit some big foul shots for us.”
    One player that is having a huge tournament is junior forward Mike Ringgold. Against Iolani he had 15 points and nine rebounds. For the tournament he is averaging 20 points and six rebounds per game, but he thinks there is room for improvement.
     “I am playing well, but I could be playing a whole lot better,” he said. “I am missing a lot of foul shots.
    Roman plays Wednesday at 3:30 Hawaii time against Punahou (Honolulu). Roman was originally scheduled to play Male (Louisville), but there was another bracket change. Iolani and Punahou have already met once and are scheduled to meet two more times during the regular season. If Roman wins they will finish in fifth place.

     Former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano once uttered the words, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” He would have been proud of Roman Catholic’s basketball team.
     Roman played hard but eventually fell to Fairfax (Los Angeles), who is ranked No. 11 in the country in USA Today, 58-48 Monday in the quarterfinals of the sold out Iolani Prep Classic in Honolulu.
     “They played very, very hard,” Roman head coach Dennis Seddon said. “When you play against a team that is, maybe, two or three in the country and you're in the game, that’s a confidence builder.”
     The Cahillihites (4-2) didn’t play with much confidence in the first quarter, though. They had six turnovers before they scored their first points. Roman was down 7-0 and didn’t score until there was 56 seconds left in the first quarter. Roman shot 1-11 in the first quarter.
      “Our emotions were too high,” said senior captain Malik Perry. “Everybody wanted to prove something.”
     Perry had another strong game for Roman. He had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Roman’s leading scorer was Mike Ringgold, who followed his 31-point performance against Kamehameha with 14 points.
    After a slow start, both teams started to get into a rhythm in the second quarter. Roman was down 7-2 after the first but was able to tie the game at 9-9 with 6:31 left in the second quarter. Unfortunately, that was as close as Roman would get the rest of the game.
     Fairfax was led by 6’8 senior forward Jamal Boykin with 18 points. The Duke signee was held in check by Roman’s 2-3 zone for most of the game. He was held scoreless until the first minute of the second quarter.
     “He’s a good player,” said Perry. “He made a lot strong moves.”
     One player that had a breakout game for Roman was sophomore forward Bradley Wanamaker. He had a solid all-around game with eight points, six rebounds and five assists.
     Coach Seddon believes that Wanamaker could be very good player by the end of the year.
     “One of the goals of the trip was to build up the confidence of Bradley,” said Seddon.
     Roman played a tough first half but still found itself down 26-17 at the half. After halftime it looked as though Fairfax would pull away. They opened the third quarter with a 12-5 run to extend their biggest lead of the game to 38-23.
     Roman was able to fight back and cut the lead to 40-34 after a layup by senior guard Bob Jordan (12 points). However, that was close as Roman would get. On Fairfax’s next possession junior guard Donovan White (11 points) hit a three-pointer. White also added another three-pointer as he was falling down at the buzzer to extend Fairfax’s lead to 46-34 at the end of the third quarter.
     The Cahillites didn’t quit though. Perry stole an entry pass on Fairfax’s first possession of the fourth quarter and drove it the length of the court and threw down a dunk that revved up the crowd. That was Roman’s last hurrah.
     “Sometimes when you get down so many points, that when you claw back you don’t have a lot left at the end of the game,” said Seddon.
    Roman’s next game is against host school Iolani Prep (Honolulu) at 3:30 Hawaii time. Nobody on Roman expects a letdown.
    “We are going to take our anger out from yesterday on them,” said Wanamaker.
     Perry has a different take on it.
     “This is going to be a test to see how we come back from a loss,” he said.
    Roman was originally scheduled to play Male (Louisville) on Tuesday, but the bracket was switched on Monday. Coach Seddon said he didn’t know the switch was made.
     “I don’t really care who we play,” he said. “The only thing that upset me was that it screwed our scouting schedule.”
     Roman’s next game will be on Wednesday against either Male or Punahou (Honolulu) depending on the outcome of the games.

     Flying across the country to Hawaii can be difficult for a couple on vacation. Roman Catholic found out it is much harder for a high school basketball team.
     Roman struggled early but was able to beat an overmatched Kamehameha (Honolulu) team 66-44 Friday at the Iolani Prep Classic in Honolulu.
     Roman’s head coach Dennis Seddon knew exactly what he was getting into though.
     “I was worried,” he said. “They can get enamored with the atmosphere. They fell into that trap.”
    Roman struggled from the opening tap. In the first three minutes Roman had two charges, a turnover and a travel.
     One player that showed up from the start was junior forward Mike Ringgold. The transfer from Freire Charter had 31 points and 7 rebounds. Coach Seddon said that sky is the limit for Ringgold.
     “He started slow, but he had to get experience playing big-time basketball,” he said. “He will eventually be one of the better players in the Catholic League.”
   Ringgold agrees with coach Seddon.
     “You could see this all the time,” he said when asked about his career game.” My teammates did a good job of getting me the ball.”
     One of the teammates that Ringgold was referring to was Ray “Doodles” Sims. The junior point guard had a solid game for Roman, with 4 points and 8 assists.
     The fact that Sims only had 4 points doesn’t bother him at all. He actually prefers it that way.
     “I like to get my teammates to score before I do,” he said. “I like to get them in the flow of the game.”
      The game was close throughout the entire first half. Roman led 15-13 after the first quarter and 26-24 at halftime. The difference in the game was the third quarter. Roman finally seemed to have their legs and took it to Kamehameha. Roman outscored Kamehameha 21-3 in the quarter.
      Seddon said he didn’t give a prep talk at halftime, he just said they needed to cut out the mistakes.
     “Every possession is important,” he said. “Every time you turn the ball over you are losing points.”
     Another player who had a good game for Roman was senior forward Malik Perry with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
     The one facet of the game that Roman dominated was rebounds. It pounded undersized Kamehameha on the glass 33-18.
   Two players that struggled for Roman were senior guards Bob Jordan and Bill Lally. They shot a combined 2-11 for 6 points.
     Next up for Roman is the winner of Saturday’s Fairfax (Los Angeles) - Roosevelt (Honolulu) game. Fairfax is ranked No. 11 in the country in the USA Today and is led by Duke signee Jamal Boykins.
     Roman’s players are excited at the chance to play one of the best teams in the country.
     “If they win it will be a big game,” Sims said. “That game will determine how we play the rest of the tournament.”
     Kamehameha was led by Rykin Enos and Ikaike Hardie with 14 and 9 points respectively.
     The classiest move of the night was by Kamehameha player Quincy Crowell. After he fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter he went to Roman’s bench and shook everyone’s hand.
     Roman’s next game is Monday 6:30 pm Hawaii time. Regardless of the outcomes Roman has games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Roman is scheduled to get home Christmas Eve morning.