The End of Cardinal Dougherty Basketball . . . Return to TedSilary.com Home Page   On Oct. 8, 2009, the archdiocese announced it would be closing Dougherty (and North Catholic) in June 2010. The Cardinals played their final game on Feb. 20, falling to Ss. Neumann-Goretti, 89-58, in a Catholic League quarterfinal. The Cards won their final home game, 61-52, over Conwell-Egan on Feb. 14. Below are some items concerning the program.

ED MORRONE'S WEBSITE REPORT ON THE SCHOOL'S FINAL VICTORY . . .

FEB. 17
CATHOLIC FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFF
Dougherty 64, Conwell-Egan 53
  Well, if we learned anything from the first day/night of the Catholic League playoffs, it’s that the two schools that will soon be closing its doors will not be going away without a serious fight. Up in the Northeast, North Catholic survived Judge on Bob Makor’s buzzer-beating jumper that allowed the Falcons to breathe for a few more days. Over in Fairless Hills, the conclusion wasn’t nearly as exciting, but Dougherty got what they came to Egan for: a bit more life. It was an extremely emotional win for a team on a mission…well, that is until they collide with powerhouse Neumann-Goretti on Saturday afternoon, but that doesn’t matter now. On this night, the Cardinals did what they set out to do and they did it in pretty dominant fashion despite playing in enemy territory (and were the only one of the four road teams to win in the first round). Considering the Eagles haven’t won a playoff game since LBJ was in office, Dougherty had to feel pretty good going into this one. Their play early on suggested a loose team who has nothing to lose because hey, let’s face it, they don’t. One major storyline worth noting is that Dougherty did not shoot the ball well at all in this contest. Their best quarter was a 5-for-13 third period, and as a team they shot just a shade above 31 percent for the game as a team. So how did they win so decidedly? They played defense, owned the glass and turned in a mesmerizing performance at the foul line. Case in point: the Cardinals shot just 4-for-16 in the first quarter, but they grabbed 10 rebounds, goaded Egan into a 2-for-10 shooting effort, made a conscious decision to attack inside and get to the line and forced turnovers. Sr. F Brandon Brown led the charge for Dougherty with six in the first frame, while sr. F Art Comas and sr. G Dawan Earle chipped in with three-pointers. For Egan, sr. G Andrew Schaefer was 2-for-3 in the opening quarter, while the rest of the team was 0-for-7, which was pretty much how the rest of the night went fot the Eagles. The Cardinals took a 14-8 lead into the second and kept their foots on Egan’s throat early, not allowing a field goal for over three minutes. Meanwhile, the Cardinals scored the first seven of the quarter to make it 21-8, the crown jewel of which was when Brown blocked a shot, threw a gorgeous outlet pass up the court to streaking soph. Jamal Nwaniemeka, who laid it in for an easy two and was fouled in the process. Egan then made a slight push, scoring the next eight. It began when first-team All-Catholic sr. F Ike Robinson followed a Schaefer miss, then jr. F Sean McCarthy banked in a trey from the top of the key. Schafer followed with a trey of his own from the left wing to bring the Eagles within 21-16, and the crowd was legitimately into the game for the first time all night. But considering this was not Egan’s night, the spurt was short-lived. Soph. Laquan Coaxum missed a layup for Dougherty, but sr. G Brandyn Wims was right there for the follow to push the Cardinals lead back to seven. On the next Dougherty possession, Wims drove into the lane as if to shoot, then dished it out to a wide-open Brown as soon as the second defender bit. The result? Swish! Dougherty led 26-16 and went into the break with a 29-16 lead. At that point, the advantage seemed insurmountable. I don’t know what it is about Egan, but I’ve seen them play on their home court twice this season and they were thoroughly manhandled each time (the other was a late-season blowout against Wood). When they get down early, they just seem lethargic and things tend to snowball from there (missed shots, turnovers, etc.). Schaefer opened the third quarter with the first of his three third-quarter treys, and if not for this kid Dougherty may have won by 25. However, Egan only briefly got within 10 points in the period, and Dougherty’s standout was sr. F Ryan Colbert, who started tonight despite seeing little playing time during the season. I was skeptical when Ted chose to highlight Colbert (as well as Comas) in the DN on Monday, but he really showed his stuff in this one. All three of his field goals came down on the block—the first two on nice finds by Wims and Comas and the third on a third attempt in traffic (he had missed the first two tries and grabbed both of his own misses) right at the end of the quarter. The sequence was huge, because Egan had finally drawn to within eight and could have ridden the momentum into a fourth-quarter comeback. Instead, the Cardinals went into the fourth with a 43-33 advantage that seemed pretty safe. The fourth was pretty much a wash despite the fact that Egan drew within eight or nine points on several occasions. They never got closer though, because the most important quarter was when the Cardinals decided to put on their free throw display extravaganza. The Eagles began fouling often with about three minutes left, and Dougherty responded by posting a clutch 17-for-20 mark—just in the fourth quarter. Jr. G Christen Gibbs went 7-for-8 by himself, and nobody missed more than one attempt in the quarter—in fact, the only one to miss more than one attempt the entire game was Coaxum, who shot 6-for-8 at the stripe. The Cards finished 27-for-33 (82 percent) as a team…just an unbelievable display. As I said, you just got the sense early on that there was no way the Cardinals were losing this game. They played poised and together throughout and found many ways to compensate for a less than stellar shooting performance. It was a terrifically balanced effort as well, as Wims led the way with 12 points to go along with his five assists. Brown contributed yet another double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Colbert erupted for 10 points and eight boards. Gibbs tallied nine points (all at the foul line) and youngsters Nwaniemeka (8 points, 6 rebounds) and Coaxum (8 points, 7 rebounds) were big-time contributors as well. For Egan, Robinson ended a stellar career on a down note. He filled the stat sheet by having 15 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks and four assists, but he shot just 5-for-16 from the field due to the fact that Dougherty was throwing double teams at him all night. Schaefer was the leader with 17 points, mostly on treys (5-for-13 in that department) and got a nice round of applause after fouling out late in the fourth. Soph. G Carlton Whitehead added 11, while sr. F Mike Payne tallied five rebounds and five blocks on a poor shooting night (1-for-7). A major, major factor in this one was the crowd. I’d say about 15-20 Dougherty students made the trip and sat at the top of the bleachers, but they were L-O-U-D. Egan’s student section was completely full, but the Cardinal faithful absolutely owned the home crowd (very, very weak effort on their part). Wims and Dougherty coach Bill Day gushed about the fan support after the game, and who can blame them? Here’s hoping they travel out to Radnor on Saturday afternoon, because the Cardinals are going to need all the help they can get against mighty Neumann-Goretti. Still though, it was really nice to see Dougherty rally together to keep their season alive for at least a few more days. Seriously, how can you not root for a team that won’t exist this time next year? And I know it’s almost next to impossible, but how cool would it be to see Dougherty and North battle it out for the CL title on March 1 at the Palestra? If I had a wish between now and then, that’d be it—well, that and a million dollars (smile). Two other notes: 1) Got to chat with Randy Miller of the Bucks County Courier Times before the game, as Randy was in the house covering the game. I asked him why he wasn’t down in Clearwater, because I’m familiar with his work as the Phillies beat writer for that paper. He told me the dying newspaper business has affected him too, as he isn’t traveling to Spring Training for the first time in seven years and when I told him I was scuffling to find my place in the business, he quipped that I should “find another business.” I might consider that if I didn’t love this so much; 2) Special thanks to Benita Brown, mother of Dougherty’s Brandon, who recognized me and came over to say hello after the game. Benita had emailed me a few weeks back after a Dougherty-McDevitt game and I got to know her a little bit for a story I was writing about her son. Just a very nice woman, and it’s always nice to see parents come out and support their children in their athletic endeavors.