Carroll’s Nasir Ralls looks to pass the ball around Bishop Shanahan’s David Maddrey-Rylander Friday night. The Patriots couldn’t hold on down the stretch in a loss to the District 1 champion Eagles in the PIAA Class 4A opener. (Tom Silknitter – For MediaNews Group)
By Matthew DeGeorge
The play in the fourth quarter had broken down, and Bishop Shanahan was looking for a fix.
Archbishop Carroll had turned up its pressure, the defensive energy that got it back in front in the third quarter of its PIAA Class 4A opening-round affair Friday night. Two Carroll players surrounded the ball just inside the halfcourt line, and Shanahan needed an out.
The find was to Anthony Aquino, the sixth man in a rotation that only rolls six deep. And while other Carroll defenders took to more conventional targets, Aquino found the lane open wide for him and laid in off the glass with his right, a confident blow-by that belied where he might have fallen on the chart of offensive options.
The basket was part of a 13-3 fourth quarter run that ultimately sent the District 1 champion Eagles past Carroll, 72-63. It tidily typified the difference between the teams Friday: Where Bishop Shanahan got contributions from everyone and anyone who stepped on the floor in a cohesive offensive performance, Carroll’s (arguably superior) talent was undone by the lack of connection wrought by a season of ill-timed injuries.
(click on this link for the full article, subscription may be required)