PCL Finals Matchup
Archbishop Ryan
vs
Roman Catholic
Monday February 26th @ The Palestra
Archbishop Ryan
Overall Record: 17-7
League Record: 10-3 (5th Place)
Key Contributors:
| Name | Year | Points | PPG | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Sorber | Sr | 449 | 18.7 | 24 |
| Darren Williams | Sr | 421 | 17.5 | 24 |
| Jaden Murrary | Sr | 190 | 7.9 | 24 |
| Rocco Morabito | Sr | 98 | 4.5 | 22 |
| Ryan Everett | Sr | 99 | 4.1 | 24 |
| Brandon Russell | Jr | 91 | 3.8 | 24 |
| Matt Johnson | So | 16 | 0.8 | 19 |
History:
Archbishop Ryan is looking to win their first PCL championship in the school's history! Ryan has been to the championship four times in the past. Here's a look at those championship games.
1979 vs Roman L 61-47
2002 vs Neumann L 66-53
2008 vs North Catholic L 51-45
2022 vs Neumann L 61-57
Roman Catholic
Overall Record: 22-2
League Record: 11-2 (1st Place)
Key Contributors:
| Name | Year | Points | PPG | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shareef Jackson | Jr | 299 | 17.6 | 17 |
| Travis Reed | Sr | 237 | 10.3 | 23 |
| Hunter Johnson | Sr | 197 | 8.6 | 23 |
| Sebastian Edwards | Jr | 184 | 8.4 | 22 |
| Robert Cottrell | Sr | 190 | 8.3 | 23 |
| Kabe Goss | Sr | 72 | 6.5 | 11 |
| Sammy Jackson | So | 147 | 6.4 | 23 |
History:
Roman Catholic is the most storied basketball school in the Philadelphia Catholic League. They are one of the original members of the PCL from its inception in 1920. Since that time Roman has racked up a league record 33 Catholic league titles. From 1924-1928 they won 5 straight and from 1989-1994 they won 6 straight. To be much more recent though, in the last 10 years Roman has been in 8 title games winning 5 of them!
My Thoughts!
I try my best to stay away from predictions but here are some of my thoughts. Stating the obvious but I absolutely love the matchup between Shareef Jackson and Thomas Sorber. I think if they “cancel out” each other, that’s where things get interesting. Roman is the deeper and more balanced team in my opinion but Ryan has proven they can get it done on the backs of Ryan Williams and Thomas Sorber. Roman has to be hard to prepare for because besides Shareef Jackson they have 6-7 other guys that could be on that night.
Also I think the way Roman decides to guard Williams and Sorber will be key. Last night a ton of the buckets from Ryan’s “other guys” came from the defense being fixated on those two. Ryan Everett buried three 3’s on kickouts, Jaden Murray had easy putbacks due to Sorber having two guys boxing him out, and Matt Johnson had two wide open layups because the defense wasn’t even worried about him scoring.
All in all I think it’s a great matchup and if you took a poll at the beginning of the year I bet this is the game that the people wanted to see!
Let me know your thoughts and predictions in the comments!