PIAA Class A & AAA: Second-Round Preview (March 8)

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By Josh Verlin

Bishop McDevitt (3-1) vs. Archbishop Carroll (12-3)
Where: Garden Spot HS; New Holland
When: 7:30 PM
How they got here: Bishop McDevitt def. Salisbury Twp. (75-48), Archbishop Carroll def. Holy Ghost Prep (76-27)

Skinny: Archbishop Carroll had perhaps the most impressive first-round performance of any team in the entire state, running out to a 48-9 halftime lead. Ryan Daly, a Hartford-bound senior, scored 18 points in the first eight minutes and finished with 23 despite sitting the fourth quarter; fellow senior John Rigsby added 21 for the Patriots. Last year, Carroll made it to the state final out of this same spot in the bracket, and they had to get through the District 3 champion in this exact spot, it was a fairly easy 83-54 win over Steel-High. McDevitt, powered by 30 points and 11 rebounds from 6-4 senior big man and 1,000-point scorer James Williams, had no troubles with District 11’s third seed Salisbury Twp. in its opener, but they know things will be much tougher against one of the top teams in the Catholic League. Last year, the Crusaders made it to the quarterfinals before falling at the hands of eventual champ Neumann-Goretti.

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