Neumann-Goretti edges Roman in Catholic League semifinal

The sport was basketball, but you would have thought a high-jumping competition had broken out.

John Davis at one end. Derrick Stewart at the other.

Sounds simple, right? It wasn't. Not even a little bit.

But those players' leaping abilities Wednesday night made the difference, ultimately, as Ss. Neumann-Goretti edged Roman Catholic, 47-46, in a classic of a Catholic League semifinal at the Palestra, thus extending its CL-record winning streak, counting the regular season and playoffs, to 52 games.

"I never thought about losing," said Davis, a 6-4, 175-pound sophomore forward.

He sounded convincing, too.

"Not at all," said the 6-6, 195-pound Stewart, a junior center. "I just kept thinking about how we were going to find a way to win. Especially how I was going to finally help us. I wasn't doing too much there for a long while, really. Missing my shots. Getting beat for rebounds."

Davis' heroics came first.

With 24.8 seconds remaining, Roman, holding a 46-45 lead, inbounded under N-G's basket. The flip was high, toward the right side of the lane, and Davis soared to deflect it. The ball went over the baseline, possession to N-G, and senior point guard Lamin Fulton (St. Peter's) then buried a 15-foot, left-baseline jumper.

"I figured I just had to go up and get it," Davis said, simply. "We were trying to win the game. We had to make big plays.

"I thought there was a chance to tip it, and there was."

Following a timeout, the final sequence began with 9.5 seconds remaining. Roman's Shafeek Taylor inbounded across from the benches, a shade inside halfcourt. He passed the ball into the west-end backcourt, where guard Montana Mayfield gathered it in.

Soon, Mayfield's defender, Hanif Sutton, was bumping into Taylor's pick and Davis was switching onto Mayfield. Mayfield, a lefty, made a hard drive into the lane and wound up maybe 10 feet from the basket.

His late floater was . . . blocked!!

Stewart soared and . . . got it!!

The Saints immediately exploded onto the court. A chest-bump festival broke out. The elation knew no bounds. But as the excitement died down, slightly, there was also a show of class. After the players and coaches passed through the handshake line, some of the Saints noticed that Mayfield was standing in front of Roman's bench with, understandably, a pained look on his face.

Several went over to offer hugs and/or pat him on the head.

"Montana beat me. Definitely. No doubt about that. Got around me into the lane," Davis said. "But that's the thing about this team. We back each other up. I was thinking how Roman was maybe going to hit the last shot. I was knowin' somebody'd have my back."

Said Stewart: "Actually, I thought they'd be going low to [fellow leaper Fortunat "Junior" Kangudi]. I was preparing for that challenge. But when I saw Montana had Johnny on him, I figured he'd go to the basket.

"I had to fight my way around three people, maybe. And then jump over another. It was like, 'I think I can get this.' That was such a great feeling, especially because of what had been happening."

While going 1-for-8 from the floor, Stewart managed to post only four points. Though he did snag nine rebounds, Kangudi battled for 16 (along with 10 points). Davis contributed 11 apiece of points and boards.

Because of some great defense by Britton Lee, Fulton was able to shoot only 4-for-13 from the floor. He scrambled to 14 points. Mayfield had 13 points along with six assists.

N-G will go for its third consecutive title Monday night, also at the Palestra, at approximately 8:15. Its opponent in the all-AAA final will be Archbishop Carroll. The Saints won 19 CL games, counting playoffs, in the 2009 and '10 seasons.

"Play hard. Get the next stop. Work for your buckets. Those were my only thoughts," Davis said. "Losing? Never came into my mind at all." *