FEB. 8
CATHOLIC NORTH
N. Catholic 71, McDevitt 50
Tonight was senior night for McDevitt and Coach
Jack Rutter had to bid farewell to 5 seniors. Pat Doyle,
Matt Davis, R.P Boyle, Matt Shervin and Dan
Drennen. These guys have been very dedicated to McDevitt
basketball for the past four years and now after last night they
have 1 game left in the Lancer basketball uniform.
The game started up with a bang Dan Drennen
drilled a three to get the game going. Dan had the
responsibility of filling in for James Williams
last night. Williams did not play. But Drennen stepped up
extremely well. Right off the bat you could easily tell North
wanted to speed it up and run. McDevitt didn't want any of that
and slowed it down every time they got the ball. 4:00 minutes in
Drennen hit another huge 3 ball. At the end of 1 it was 19-15
North.
The second started up and you could tell that
McDevitt was going to need more inside presence in the 2nd
quarter. The quarter began with a 4-minute McDevitt drought. It
was finaly ended with a beautiful drive and layin by Matt
Shervin. At that point Coach Rutter put in jr. Rodney Ellis.
And Rodney, who shares a very close resemblance with Snopp Dogg,
pretty much took over the game. He was exactly what the Lancers
needed. He was a complete animal on the boards, fightin' for
everything and usually getting it. He had 7 points in his 4
minutes and McDevitt went into the locker room down 2.
The second half began and the teams traded
baskets and then came the dagger to the heart of the Lancers.
Coach Rutter took out Ellis from the game. Once this happened
North went up 14 and never looked back. McDevitt looked like
they were going to make a run but it never materialized. The
Lancers had the best team in the league on the ropes and they
let them out.
For McDevitt Davis had 5, Doyle had 7, Bobby
Boyle Jr- 4 Shervin 2 Dan Drennen 19, Linburg Green 2
and Rodney Ellis 11. They fought very hard and never gave up but
it didn't work out.
On Sunday the Lancers close up their season
against the kids from Cheltenham Ave. Nothing would make the
seniors season like knocking the Explorers out of the play-offs.
And if there is an appearance by my cousin "Bagpipe Boy",
Stephen Peter Augustine Stanton, then it will work in the
favor of the Lancers. Not many know that Steve got the Explorers
pumped up on Friday night by playing McDevitt's school song.
Yep, you heard it here first Stanton played "Scotland the
Brave", McDevitt's school song. I would like to think that its
not a coincidence but fate. McDevitt is destined to end the
Explorers' season on Sunday.
Lowdown Player of the Game- Dan Drennen he
had an absolute awesome game. He filled in better than anyone
expected him to do. He by far had his best game of his varsity
career last night.
JAN. 27
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
McDevitt 55, Judge 51
Sunday was a big
day for McDevitt basketball players new and old. It was the 2nd
Annual Alumni Game, and the stars came out for this one. 1,000
point scorers Ryan Presson and Wayne Bishop were 2
of the many players who returned. Others included Mike Morak,
Ron Brett, Toure Wright, Bill Murphy, Isaiah Pinckney, Anton
Stewart, Darnell Faulk, Chris Palmero, and Billy Holden
Jr. The player of the game was Robert Georges; he
led the gray team to a 2-point win, and supplied some
entertaining dunks.
Sunday was also Coaches
vs. Cancer at McDevitt, so there was a 50/50, T-shirt sales, and
a few other fundraisers. All the profits, along with the
admission fees, went to the charity. There was also a half-court
shot competition, throughout the day. Other alumni strictly in
attendance included Sean Hughes, an All-Catholic kicker,
and Bill Holden Sr. Mr. Holden, the freshman football
coach, participated in the half-court shot competition, his shot
only made it to the foul line and his excuse was that he had to
hold his cane in his stronger arm and he couldn’t get any
mustard on the shot.
Sunday was also a time
for Mr. Rutter and the rest of the McDevitt community to
recognize Ryan McGinty. Ryan is a former McDevitt
basketball player who lost his battle with cancer, but won his
battle with Mr. Rutter over a new floor for McDevitt. Ryan’s
family donated the beautiful hardwood floor McDevitt now plays
on. Mr. Rutter presented Ryan’s family with a new McDevitt
jersey with Ryan’s No. 55 on it. This is the only number retired
by McDevitt athletics.
The stage was set: It was
"Ryan's Day" in Ryan McGinty arena, which was gloriously
proclaimed by Mr. Rutter, and the alumni was all there. The
stands were full with people ready to see McDevitt grab another
PCL victory after the Lancers had just beat the Cardinals of
Cardinal Dougherty two nights earlier.
Here’s the tip and James Williams wins it, leading to a pass to
Pat Doyle for an easy layup. This was Doyle’s third
consecutive game with the first basket for the Lancers. Judge
came into this one having lost two in a row (Egan, La Salle) and
now the Lancers from Royal Ave. were beating them.
James Williams dominated
in the first half. He was taking good shots and making all of
them. When he didn’t have the ball or was on defense he was
underneath the basket fighting for every rebound. For Judge
Andrew Vose went down with an ankle injury. But he did
return in the 4th quarter. Vose went down and junior guard
Pat Schultz stepped in and lowered McDevitt’s lead to 6, the
smallest it was for the rest of the first half. Schultz did
drill the 2 free throws but he missed a huge shot in the last
seconds of this game that would have put Judge up. Maybe Schultz
was out too late the night before getting his groove on at
Nazareth Academy. Just a guess.
Judge's best player and leading scorer, Bob Zanneo, was held to 8
points on the day. He was averaging 17 points coming into the
contest. The reason for Zanneo’s lack of success was Bobby
Boyle Jr. Boyle played Zanneo’s shadow on the afternoon and
he did it real well. His hustle defense was a huge reason
McDevitt found success. Boyle never left his side; he was
physical, quick and smart, and he frustrated Zanneo all day.
Going into halftime
McDevitt led, 31-19. The big question was whether they could
hold on to this surprising lead. Judge came out and was all over
the place in the second half. They were aggressive, efficient,
and you could tell they weren’t going to go away without a
fight. McDevitt seemed like they were going to let Judge take
the game away in the waning seconds. Schultz brought the ball up
with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter. After a few passes
Schultz got the ball back at the top of the key and unloaded a
3-ball. For a second it looked like all of McDevitt's phenomenal
play was going to be wasted, but the shot rimmed out and
Mikey Palmero grabbed the rebound and went to the charity
stripe for two shots. At the line Mikey P was as cool as the
other side of the pillow, nailing both free ones with 2.2
seconds left. These foul shots handed Judge their third-straight
loss. McDevitt left McGinty Arena, the victors for the second
time in a row.
This was McDevitt’s
winningest weekend in basketball since 2000. The win on Sunday
was clinched because of great rebounding, by Dan Drennen
and James Williams. Drennen had some huge boards on both
sides of the ball; he was a huge part of Judge not getting any
second-chance opportunities. The defense by McDevitt was great.
Boyle led the way for the Lancers and the rest of the squad
followed his lead. McDevitt also took very good shots, which
hasn’t been a strongpoint for the squad this year.
Williams finished with
22 points, 13 rebounds and 1 Daily News article. Matt Davis had
3 points, Pat Doyle had 5, Bobby Boyle Jr. had 2, Matt
Shervin had 12, Drennan had 7, Courtney Havens-Dobbs had 2
and Mikey P had 2, his only 2 of the year so far.
For Judge Zanneo had 8, Tom Ryan had 11, Andrew Vose had 13,
Josh Jaskowiak had 8, Jim DiLisio had 8, Pat Schultz had 2 and
Matt McLaughlin had 1.
Friday night McDevitt
travels to Academy Road to take on the Raiders of Archbishop
Ryan. Ryan is a good match-up for Lancers. It should be a great
game. One thing is for sure, the Lancers have to keep playing
the way they did last weekend. Offense, defense, rebounding and
everything else they have to keep it up. if they do that there
is no reason they can’t make this a 3 game win streak.
Lowdown Player of the
Game- Bobby Boyle Jr.- He played amazing defense and also
supplied the play of the game; Boyle threw an in-bounds pass the
length of the court right into the bread-basket of James
Williams who easily laid it in.
JAN. 25
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
McDevitt 53, Cardinal Dougherty 50
There must be lights burning brighter somewhere
got to birds flying in the sky more blue.
Because Matt Shervin is
back!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes he is and he picked the perfect time to do it.
Big Matt led his team to their second win in the PCL this year
against none other than Cardinal Dougherty. Now McDevitt has not
beaten Dougherty since before this site was created. I do not know
when the last time we beat them; sometime in the '90's is my guess.
But that's over tonight because these guys did it.
The Lancers entered the electric atmosphere of
Ryan McGinty Arena fired up and looking good. In the first quarter
they were 6-9 from the floor, including 2 three-pointers, one by my
man Sherv and one by Pat Doyle. Shervin had a very
interesting start to the game however. He got the pass outside the
arc and unloaded. The result, an AIRBALL, and at that exact moment
at the scorers' table myself, Mr. Stout and Lauren Kelly
all said "Here we go again!" Shervin must have heard us because the
airball was it. He was done slumping and he caught on fire. Sherv reminded
me of Pat Burrell, who finally broke out of his multi-year
slump this past summer.
Even though it sounds like it, Sherv did not do it
alone in this one. Everyone got a piece of the pie tonight. After
the first it was 14-12 McDevitt. Dougherty was helping McDevitt out,
though, as they played extremely sloppy basketball. They had a ton
of turnovers. But James Williams had an excellent game. It
was his best rebounding game of the season, league or non-league
games. He finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds. It was a monster
performance by him. And another impressive statistic for Williams
was he only forced 1 shot by my account. The past two games he has
been doing better on that front. The first half ended in wild
fashion, Williams was driving down the court and went to shoot but
the ball slipped out of his hand. A Dougherty player caught it and
whipped an outlet pass to another Cardinal, who threw up the shot
well after the buzzer. It went in and the refs counted it. McDevitt
coach Jack Rutter went NUTS, rightfully so. The shot went up
quite obviously after the buzzer, but Dougherty went into the locker
room up, 30-25.
Dougherty came out and actually took care of
the ball for a while. Dougherty went up, 37-30, but those pesky
Lancers refused to give up and that has definitely been one of their
strong points this year. They came back and closed out the 3rd
quarter down 2, 37-35. McDevitt came out in the fourth quarter with
a rough start as they missed two layups off of the inbounds pass.
But this didn't discourage the squad; they knew that they were going
to pull out this win. With 5 minutes left Matt Shervin drilled a
Chris Palmero-esque 3-pointer from 4 feet outside the 3-point
arc.
This put McDevitt up 42-40. But Shervin wasn't
finished, with 3 minutes left Sherv stole a crisp pass and rumbled,
bumbled, and stumbled down the court for an easy layup putting
McDevitt up by 4. Dougherty didn't go away and brought the lead to 1
but Matt Davis launched a 3 and as the gym went quiet the
ball floated through the air, with the eyes of every spectator in
McGinty Arena on it, then dropped and rubbed the cotton like a good
basketball should.
Sherv drilled another bucket to put McDevitt up
51-47. Dougherty then turned the ball over on the ensuing possession
but stole it right out of the hands of Dan Drennen. A charge
call gave McDevitt the ball again but Davis missed the front-end of
a 1 and 1 and the Cardinals got yet another chance, but Shervin once
again stepped up and got a steal. Pat Doyle then sank a pair
of free-throws with 15 seconds left and this iced the win. Dougherty
hit a 3-pointer as the final buzzer rang but the Lancers were up 6
so the 3 did nothing but make this one look closer. 53-50 McDevitt
it ended and the smiles of the squad were wider than the
Mississippi.
Davis ended with 6 points, Williams 14, Bobby
Boyle Jr. had 1 but it was accompanied by straight up hustle,
Shervin ended with 15 Dan Drennen had 4 but also rebounded very very
very well in the closing minutes, and Pat Doyle hit 2 3-pointers en
route to 10 points. He was kind of the glue that held the squad
together tonight, in the biggest win of the season. For Dougherty
Isiah Mason had 15, Sean Williams had 10,
Zaahir Allen had 9, Jahkeem Bogans had 8 and Brandon
Savage had 6.
Lowdown Player of the Game: MATTHEW
SHERVIN obviously had a great game, and hopefully he will keep it
up.
Notes:
-Sunday is Judge at HOME. Should be a good game.
McDevitt can definitely hang with them. They just need a great
performance by a senior to steal another win.
-Sunday also is the Alumni game and Coaches vs.
Cancer day so come out the Ryan McGinty Arena and support your
Bishop McDevitt Lancers.
REMEMBER IF YOU CANT BE AN ATHLETE BE AN ATHLETIC
SUPPORTER!!
-Fr. Bill Chiriaco provided great play-by-play
and Mrs. Drennen sang a great National Anthem.
-In case anybody was wondering, the opening quote is
Elvis Presley in one of his greatest "If
I Can Dream"JAN.
18
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Wood 55, McDevitt 49
I would like to begin by saying that plagiarism is a
crime, and the writer of Wood's game reports blatantly stole an
opening line from a Lowdown report (the O'Hara report from
December 7). Unbelievable! But there's only one question you can
ask about this criminal situation: Can you blame him? I mean
he does go to Wood, and we all know that school has been trying
to be McDevitt since Wood opened in 1964. For example their
coach Joe Sette. Where did he get that stomp-the-foot
things to get refs to blow
the whistle for Wood? You got it: The hardwood on Royal
Ave. And if you don't want to go back that far JUST LOOK AT
THEIR SCHOOL COLORS. But it's OK. Not everyone has the Royal privilege of being a Lancer.
Some just have to settle for being
Vikings.
This game started out intense. You could tell both teams
had been waiting for this. Senior Pat Doyle got the Lancers
going with a couple of quick baskets. But this one was close
from beginning to end. Both teams were unbelievably physical
throughout the game, and to say the least the officials were
inconsistent. Inconsistent for both teams so maybe
consistently inconsistent? But McDevitt led 17-12 after 1.
James Williams had a very good night for McDevitt. He
had 12 points and 14 rebounds (regardless of what other people
say), but Williams still forced a few shots, which has been a
huge bad habit for him all year. Matt Shervin had moments where
he looked like he was going to take his slump and throw it in
the trashcan. He drove beautifully to the basket twice, but once
again the slump took him over and he threw the ball away twice
in the fourth quarter.
Dan Drennen, who had another pretty good offensive night, played good defense along with Shervin and Williams to cover
Wood's big man, Dan "Yes, I Still Have the Sideburns" Comas. Comas
finished with 11 points but most of them came on free throws. He
had tons of opportunities for easy layups, but he had a LOT of
trouble "penciling in" the two-pointers.
Bobby Boyle Jr., Matt Daivs and Courtney Havens-Dobbs
played their tails off all night. Diving left and right all over
the court they didn't quit on this one ever. Friday night the
Lancers take on the Cardinals of Dougherty. McDevitt is now
looking for their second win and Friday night seems as good a
night as any to get it.
Lowdown Player of the Game: James Williams.
Notes:
-Wood's cheerleading squad tried to perform at halftime. But I
don't know if it actually worked out. They took forever on the
court and really delayed the squads from warming up.
-Nearly 1 Month until a Lancer championship baseball run begins.
-Hopefully there are no further acts of piracy against Lowdown
material.
