Neumann-Goretti holds off PET for AAA City title

John Davis spent the week on Idolized Row.

If he had to guess, he'd be unsure whether he heard "great job" or "I'm so happy for you guys" more often.

That's how it goes when your school, Ss. Neumann-Goretti, becomes the first school in Catholic League history to win three consecutive championships, while also achieving within-the-league perfection - 19-0 twice, then 16-0.

"We were getting a lot of love," Davis said. "We kept hearing nice things again and again from students and teachers."

Tuesday morning, Davis also saw a nice thing . . . A $5 bill popping out of someone's wallet.

"A fellow student bought me lunch," he said, smiling. "I had a chicken sandwich."

Then came Friday night. What Davis and his teammates had was their hands full against a squad that proved to be anything but a type of fowl.

The occasion was the Class AAA City Title, matching Neumann-Goretti against Philadelphia Electrical & Technology Charter at Archbishop Ryan.

When the Saints gathered in a classroom for their postgame meeting, fresh off a 62-54 victory, the first comment out of coach Carl Arrigale's mouth was, "Congratulations on another championship. But we're better than that."

That approach wasn't lost on Davis.

"I felt my team could have made things a whole lot easier, and that we could have beat them by more," said Davis, a 6-4, 180-pound sophomore forward. "We came out kind of relaxed. Not excited enough about playing the game. We come out excited, we get them out of the way early."

This was a contest to decide the city's best team at a specific enrollment level, and both entrants own lofty spots in the Daily News' City Top 10. PET draws many of its players/regular students from South Philly, same as N-G.

Coming off such a high as Monday's takes time. We give the Saints that. But again, this was another title game, plus District 12's No. 1 state-playoff seed was on the line.

"I guess we were too overconfident," Davis said. "We're going to get the right feeling back this week in practice, no doubt [before a first-round game Friday; details TBA]."

The lefthanded Davis, who has become quite the force in his first season as a starter, battled for 18 points and 17 rebounds.

More than once, he enjoyed short outbursts of dominant play, only to see the Pub squad Charger right back into contention.

The deal wasn't fully sealed, in fact, until star guard Devante Chance was unable to convert a layup off a spin-move drive and David George could not guide home the follow. That sequence followed a double-bonus conversion, with 25.3 seconds remaining, by frosh Ja'Quan Newton that had made it 59-54.

"Once we settled down and made plays . . . " Davis said.

Arrigale, walking past, piped up, "When did that happen?"

Davis smiled, then continued: " . . . they really couldn't do anything about it. But they are a good team."

The tone was set at the outset. PET zoomed downcourt at every opportunity and mostly took the rock to the rack. There'd be no milquetoasting.

The gamelong leader was soph guard Hakeem Baxter, who scored at least four points in every quarter and finished with 19. Chance, George and Carrington Ward thirded 27 points, while George added 11 rebounds.

Davis' scoring assistance came primarily from game MVP Derrick Stewart (15) and mad bomber Billy Shank (12 on four treys). Sub Hanif Sutton had five assists.

N-G seized a 53-44 lead with 3:55 left when Newton, after rebounding a missed jumper by Stewart, hit Shank for a right-wing trey. The pad then eased upward to 11 as Davis, after reaching back at a crazy angle to grab an offensive board, converted a follow.

PET was not inclined to go quietly. In fact, it came close to going out very loudly, and what a development that would have been.

(By the way, Ryan is where N-G, after winning the 2009 CL title, fell to Archbishop Carroll in an AAA quarterfinal. The Patriots proceeded to become the CL's first state champ. N-G triumphed last season.)

After right now, "basking" and "glow" will not be found in the same sentence for a while.

"This is a new season," Davis said. "That last one's over. All that matters now is winning another state championship." *