Archbishop Carroll’s Derrick Jones glides to the basket during the Patriots’ loss to Roman Catholic in the Catholic League semifinals last month. Tuesday night, the senior standout had a dominating game, scoring 22 points, grabbing 22 rebounds and blocking five shots, to lead the Patriots to a 59-32 victory over Erie Cathedral Prep in a PIAA Class AAA semifinal game. (Tom Kelly IV)
By Aaron Carter
Derrick Jones has heard the critics:
All he can do is dunk. He’s not strong enough to play on the interior, he doesn’t shoot well enough from the perimeter, and he hasn’t led his team to any championships.
When the 6-foot-7 senior for Archbishop Carroll isn’t being serenaded by chants of “overrated” from opposing fans, that’s what he hears most often.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Jones said after practice Wednesday. “Well, it bothers me a little bit, but at the end of the day, I dunk, and I do that well. It’s not the only thing I do well, but it’s just one thing everyone sees.”
When your name rings out across the nation in your freshman year, and you commit to UNLV on national television as a senior, not all the attention is positive. The fact that the Patriots haven’t won any championships during his tenure has only encouraged the naysayers.
However, thanks in large part to Jones, the Patriots are on the verge of statewide glory. Carroll will face Neumann-Goretti at 8 p.m. Friday for the PIAA Class AAA state title at the Giant Center in Hershey.
“I came into Carroll my senior year with the mind-set that I don’t want to lose,” Jones said. “I want to go out a winner.”
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