On the Trail With Ted
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    Some observations, notes, etc., on games I saw in March/April during the 2000-01 season . . .

APRIL 17
DONOFRIO CLASSIC FINAL
Roadrunners 63, HBA Waterview 58
    The only truly effective player for the losing squad was Northeast's Steve Smith, a 6-7 sr. F. With La Salle coach Billy Hahn watching and enjoying, Smith went for 21 points (8-for-11 from floor) and 14 rebounds while outplaying Villanova signee Marcus Austin (four points, two boards), among others. He was active and remained mostly calm even when his mates failed to get him the ball in scoring position. Long-time buddy Dick Weiss, of the New York Daily News (and formerly OUR Daily News), loves Smith. He even thinks Steve could play in the pros someday. Waterview's other main scorers, Parkway sr. G Daniel Rumph and Central jr. G Sharif Bray, had trouble getting off their shots, at least in comfortbale fashion, against the strong and athletic Roadrunners. Rumph went 1-for-11 en route to six points. Bray went 5-for-13 en route to 11 points. Even Northeast sr. F Ty Teasley, the picture of consistency on mid-range jumpers, had an off night (3-for-12, eight points). I do wonder what would have happened if Roman sr. Tamal Forchion had not disappeared from view midway through the tournament. His blacksmith-style body would have enabled him to easily bang with the Roadrunners' up-front guys. Oh, well. A team can only go with the guys who show up.

MARCH 10
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
FINAL
Neumann 60, Roman 59
    Richard "Tabby" Cunningham. If you didn't know about him before, you do now. With sr. PG Cantrell "Man-Man" Fletcher unavailable due to a torn ACL in his right knee, Cunningham got the start (as he had in the semifinals) and, in a word, was spectacular. With others on both teams looking tight and shaky, Cunningham was calm and confident while leading the Pirates to the title. He shot 6-for-9 (one trey) and 6-for-7 for 19 points and had four assists in a route-going performance. Sr. C Brandon Brigman, playing with a re-broken left (non-shooting) hand, went 1-for-11 from the floor, but toughed out five rebounds and notched seven blocks. A pin will be inserted in his hand Monday, and it's doubtful he'll play in the Alhambra Tournament even though he's only a few points short of 1,000. Sr. WG Robert "Beattie" Taylor, Cunningham's second cousin, had 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in a gritty outing. Jr. F Michael Haddix had 10 points and seven boards. Jr. WG Chris Del Brocco hit a pair of big-moment treys. Sr. F Jeff Thomas had three boards and three steals in eight minutes. For Roman, sr. F-C Tamal Forchion had 16 points, 11 boards and three steals while sr. F Brent Welton mixed 16 points, seven rebounds. Sr. WG John Huggins scored 12 points, but shot just 2-for-13 from the floor. Sr. PG Jim Kelly hit two incredible treys in the final moments and the second had to be a 25-footer. On Roman's final possession, sr. F Scott Paxson made an on-target three-quarter-court pass that was caught by Forchion. Kelly was right nearby, but in the tangle of bodies, Forchion kept possession while his momentum carried him forward and his good basket was correctly ruled a two.

MARCH 10
PUBLIC LEAGUE
FINAL
Gratz 40, Frankford 34
    Oh, well. One good quarter is better than none. This game was largely unentertaining and was often downright boring through three quarters. But in the fourth, Gratz turned up the defensive intensity, the rooting sections got involved and things got much more interesting. When the Bulldogs made their winning burst, the lineup included three subs -- soph PG Omar Johnson, jr. WG Augie Woodlin and sr. G-F William McNeil -- and all made major contributions. McNeil scored eight points in the quarter and it was his steal, 60-foot drive and not-easy dunk that put the Bulldogs ahead for good, at 36-34. Sr. F Michael Cuffee (11 points) then went 4-for-4 at the line. Tough-guy jr. F-C Michael Blackshear only had one point, but grabbed six rebounds in this slow-paced affair. Frankford shot just 9-for-30, but went 14-for-19 at the line. It also was guilty of 22 turnovers; 10 in the last quarter. Sr. PG Kevin "Chip" Green had 12 points, two assists and three steals. Sr. G-F Nicholas King added eight points, five blocks. Sr. WG Tyrone Reed scrapped for nine rebounds. Sorry this report isn't a shade longer, but honestly, what happened for too much of the game -- mostly nothing -- doesn't merit it.

MARCH 7
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SEMIFINAL
Roman 84, Dougherty 53
    Did anyone get those license plates? Dougherty was run over by MULTIPLE buses. Along with a tractor-trailer. When Cardinals' coach Mark Heimerdinger called time with 6:05 left in the second quarter, his team trailed, 26-4, and was shooting 1-for-17 from the floor with seven turnovers. Roman's lead reached 36-6 before Dougherty finally settled down. Sr. F-C Tamal Forchion had 23 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. Sr. WG John Huggins shot 10-for-17 for 20 points. Sr. F Brent Welton had 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Sr. G Joe McCourt played 13 minutes as the sixth man and claimed nine rebounds. He didn't hit a jump shot, though, so assistant Jeff Stepp is still not allowed to shave. Freshman F Charron Fisher had 11 points and 12 boards in 11 minutes. Dougherty needed to do well early to gain some confidence, but since it didn't happen, the outing turned into a disaster. The Redbirds wound up shooting 20-for-71 overall and 4-for-21 on treys. I felt the worst for jr. WG Tim Smink. He was expending every possible ounce of energy and things just weren't going well. He looked so frustrated, like he was going to burst into tears any second. Smink and sr. G-F Mark Seidenburg ended with 11 points while soph G Isaac Greer had 15. At one point, a long pass sailed right to Heimerdinger, who caught the ball and acted like he was going to launch a lengthy trey. Anybody who doesn't love this guy is disturbed.

MARCH 7
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SEMIFINAL
Neumann 61, Ryan 39
    Sorry, folks. I only saw the last two minutes of this one after arriving from St. Joe's and the Frankford-Franklin semi. From what I was told, this one carbon-copied Roman-Dougherty. Neumann jumped out early, Ryan struggled and all suspense was removed. Freshman PG Richard "Tabby" Cunningham had nine points and three assists while starting in place of Cantrell "Man-Man" Fletcher (torn ACL). Sr. WG Robert "Beattie" Taylor shot 11-for-17 en route to 25 points. Sr. C Brandon Brigman, playing with a re-injured right hand, settled for 21 minutes, getting nine points and 10 rebounds. Jr. F Michael Haddix had nine points and 11 boards. For Ryan, which shot 12-for-44 from the floor and 11-for-27 at the line (ouch and double ouch), sr. PG John Pellegrino (12) and sr. G-F John Capella (10) reached double figures.

MARCH 7
PUBLIC LEAGUE
SEMIFINAL
Frankford 50, Franklin 34
    Things did not look good early for Frankford as Franklin sr. G Rodney Warren scored 11 points in a 15-6 first quarter. But Franklin's momentum quickly disappeared and the Pioneers won the next three quarters, 44-19. Sr. F Michael Branch had 14 points and 11 rebounds and he was especially effective as Frankford went on a 14-2 run to start the third quarter. He scored twice on follows and once on a nice feed from sr. G-F Nicholas King. King had 10 points, nine rebounds, five assists, three blocks and three steals in a nice overall effort. He struggled early with his shooting, then did the smart player's thing -- he got closer to the basket. Three of his second-half field goals came on pull-up, 10-foot jumpers in the lane. Sr. PG Kevin "Chip" Green nicely handled the heavy ballhandling load, though late in the game he got a little carried away and committed a bad turnover. Coach Bernie Handler immediately yanked Green and inserted little-used jr. Isaiah Thomas. Thomas was undoubtedly nervous, but he did OK in his short stint. For Franklin, Warren finished with 17 points. But the Electrons' two top players, sr. C Jamal Nichols and sr. F Dwayne Shelton, somehow got just 11 shots between them. Very strange. Frankford's defense was good, but not THAT good.

MARCH 6
PUBLIC LEAGUE
SEMIFINAL
Gratz 69, Bartram 39
    Oh, Braves, where art thou? Barely in St. Joseph's Fieldhouse. Talk about disappointment. I thought this had a chance to be the game of the season. Instead, Gratz turned it into a laugher. What happened? Well, Gratz received contributions from all 10 members of its rotation and Bartram kept having no success finding its way. With the score 21-20 Bartram, Gratz went on a 16-1 run to complete the half. The Bulldogs did so mostly with a lineup including one starter, jr. F Michael Blackshear, and four subs -- soph Gs Omar Johnson (eight points, five assists) and Dashay Brown and sr. Fs William McNeil and Anthony Geiger. All were solid to great. Coach Bill Ellerbee called the performance Gratz' best of the season. Gratz's headliner was 6-4 sr. F Michael Cuffee. If this kid were academically qualified, he'd have a D-I scholarship by now. He shot 8-for-9 (one trey) and 3-for-3 for 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds. His shooting form and touch are perfect and he plays quite hard. Blackshear didn't look to score very much, but claimed 12 rebounds. Sr. F Brandon Millwood had a ferocious dunk. Sr. PG Messiah Reames shot 5-for-5 and 5-for-6 for 15 points and dished three assists. He did what he wanted, pretty much. Bartram had difficulty attacking Gratz' matchup zone. The Braves never found a comfortable starting point and thus wound up taking a series of under-pressure, bad-angle shots. They got almost no effective penetration. Sr. PG Bobby Leach and sr. WG Robert Bouknight combined to shoot 7-for-30. Sr. CG Shawn Roberts had 11 points and six boards, but eventually had to line up in the high post so Bartram could have half a prayer at doing something inside. The forwards shot 2-for-16. Ugh. I felt badly for the Braves and their fans. It had been an exciting season, but, man, did it end with a stinker.

MARCH 4
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
QUARTERFINAL
Neumann 43, Carroll 39
   Forget the 18 points scored in the last minute by St. Joe's Marvin O'Connor against La Salle. The amazing most stat we heard all weekend was this: Carroll sold ZERO tickets at school last week in anticipation of this game. The kids must have known something because this one was certainly nothing special. Plus, the CL's best guard, Neumann's Cantrell "Man-Man" Fletcher, injured his right knee 10 minutes in and it's feared he has at least a partial tear of the ACL. Also, it's possible that teammate Brandon Brigman, a 6-8 center, again broke his hand. Geeez! With Fletcher out, 6-2 sr. WG Robert "Beattie" Taylor had to play the point. He did a good job at ballhandling, but shot just 3-for-13 and dished just one assist. The best Bucco in this one was 6-7 jr. F Michael Haddix, son of the ex-Eagle. He had nine points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks. Most of his rejections came on help defense, when he stepped over to pick up 5-7 soph PG Kashif Payne streaking down the lane. Payne had murdered the Bucs in Carroll's two regular season wins. He had 12 points here, but was 3-for-11 from the floor. He did add six assists. Jr. WG Ramer Jones had some good moments for Neumann. He scored nine points and for a while did an excellent defensive job on Carroll's dangerous wing shooter, 6-2 sr. Dave Hoopes. Later, Jones tired badly. He threw up two woeful, way-short shots and Hoopes drained three treys at the other end. Carroll's 6-7 soph C, Jordan Ingram, was mostly a non-factor. He worked hard and claimed nine rebounds, but went 0-for-7 from the floor while battling Brigman and/or Haddix. With 14.4 seconds left, Neumann jr. WG Chris Del Brocco missed a one-and-one and Ingram rebounded. As the Patriots came upcourt, the coaches were SAYING "Time out," but not really yelling it. Play continued and Payne missed a right-wing three. Haddix rebounded and hit the front end of a one-and-one at 4.2 to effectively end it. In the locker room afterward, Neumann coach Carl Arrigale had a tough time talking about the injuries to Fletcher and Brigman. When the brief session was over, he turned away and appeared to have tears in his eyes. Injuries have been marring things for the Pirates for two seasons now, and they were a killer in last year's title-game loss to Roman.

MARCH 4
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
QUARTERFINAL
Ryan 63, La Salle 55
    Amauro handled this one.

MARCH 2
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
QUARTERFINAL
Roman 74, O'Hara 61
    Amauro handled this one.

MARCH 2
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
QUARTERFINAL
Dougherty 47, Judge 41
    There are runs and then there are RUNS. Judge was leading, 31-20, and most everyone was thinking, "Well, I guess Judge IS the better team, even though the first two meetings went overtime." Then, many great plays by Dougherty and many bricks by Judge later, the Cardinals were up, 41-33. Let's see. That's a 21-2 advantage (good thing I went to Penn Charter). In my opinion, the key for Dougherty was maintaining poise. Yes, some guys were upset as Judge went ahead, but the looks on their faces were those of urgency, not panic. Coach Mark Heimerdinger made a huge gamble by pulling out the ball with only a one-point lead very early in the fourth quarter, but he was convinced that his players could handle the extra pressure. If Judge had managed a couple of steals and easy baskets, everything would have turned out differently. Instead, jr. PG Mike McDonald did a great job of operating the spread offense and two players, sr. G-F Mark Seidenburg and soph G Isaac Greer, kept scoring and helping each other score. Seidenburg, a sub who has been bitten all year by the injury bug, had 14 points and three steals. Greer had 12 points and five boards. 6-7 sr. Bryan "Someone Feed Him" Green, undoubtedly motivated by not making All-Catholic, had six points, eight boards and four blocks and helped to hold the dangerous Rich Schmidt to nine points in a diamond-and-one (sr. F Donnell Smiley and Seidenburg also took turns on Schmidt). Jr. G-F Tim Smink added nine points for Dougherty while McDonald had six assists. For Judge, which shot 14-for-50, only tiny sr. G Pat Burnett hit double figures with 12 -- all on treys. Schmidt grabbed 10 rebounds and also had five assists. Sr. Gs Brian Mooney and Kevin Wolf, who are usually reliable shooters, combined to go 3-for-20. Mooney was playing on a tender ankle.

MARCH 1
PUBLIC LEAGUE
QUARTERFINAL
Bartram 91, Straw. Mansion 75
    Bartram has had some minor difficulties this season, but its motto in this one could have been Focus R Us. The Braves played hard and sensibly right from the start, entertaining their energetic fans. Sr. CGs Bobby Leach and Shawn Roberts led the way. Leach poured in 20 first half points en route to 35 total, and he shot 14-for-20 from the floor. He went explosively to the hole and mixed in jumpers. Roberts showed the kind of rebounding desire you'd expect from a 6-9 strongman. Man, did this kid want the ball. Very impressive. He also darted into and around the lane and fed his mates. He had a triple-double with 10 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Sr. WG Robert Bouknight (16) and sr. SF Anthony Boyer (15) also scored well. The game was a waste for soph F Khalil Abdus-Salaam. He incurred four fouls in eight minutes and missed his only shot. The best of the subs on this day was sr. F Aaron Williams. He logged five boards and three blocks in nine minutes. He could again prove valuable in the semis vs. Gratz as a defensive stopper against Michael Cuffee or Michael Blackshear. For Mansion, 5-11 jr. WG Maureece Rice showed outstanding body control while scoring 30 points and raising his career total to 1,023. He's the first soph in city history to reach 1,000 as a soph. Rice kept zigging and zagging to the hole and once he got close, he took his time to (mostly) make sure his shots wouldn't get blocked. Sr. F Demetrius Taylor also showed warrior tendencies (nine points, eight boards), but the other Knights added little. 6-6 freshman DeSean White has wonderful possibilities, but needs an attitude adjustment. At a crucial part of the game, he initiated an argument with Rice and he brooded whenever he was taken out. The Bartram-Gratz semi should be a treat. Bartram's best players are the three guards, Gratz's are frontcourters Cuffee and Blackshear. I'll be very interested to see how the Braves enter the gym at St. Joe's Tuesday. If they're wide-eyed and have we're-happy-to-be-here looks, forget it, they'll lose badly. If they show a business-like approach, and then get after it once the game begins, the same way they would at Bartram, they'll have a shot.