Roman forward shows shooting touch

MANNY TAYLOR is a 6-6, 250-pound forward for Roman Catholic. He was also a tight end/defensive lineman on the Cahillites' football team.

So, it may have come as a surprise when the big fella stepped out and buried a few jumpers yesterday at Philadelphia University's Gallagher Center against Catholic League foe Archbishop Carroll.

"It does surprise people," he said. "I know it surprised [Carroll] because they were telling their big guys to back off me. It came as a huge surprise to them."

Roman (10-2, 4-0) knocked off Carroll, 54-46, thanks in part to Taylor's team-best 20 points (8-for-13, four of six freebies). The 17-year-old junior also corralled eight rebounds.

Carroll (9-2, 3-1) entered the contest ranked No. 9 in MaxPreps.com's Freeman rankings and No. 1 in the state. Roman was ranked 297th and 10th in Pennsylvania.

"Our coach [Chris McNesby] has been telling us don't worry about the hype about Carroll and so all of our guys expected to win," Taylor said. "We went out there and expected to beat them the whole time."

The Patriots struggled from three, connecting on just 1 of 13 attempts. That lone triple was authored by senior guard Joe Mostardi with 56 seconds remaining.

Uber-athletic junior Derrick Jones finished with 17 points, five rebounds and one dunk off a missed shot for Carroll. Roman's TreVaughn Wilkerson answered with his own follow dunk to end an important third quarter.

After an 18-all draw at intermission, Roman took the third quarter, 17-11, for a 35-29 edge.

Senior guard Shep Garner (Penn State) scored seven of his 10 points in the final frame. He also added four assists and was 5-for-5 at the foul line. Wilkerson, a 6-6, junior forward, added seven rebounds and two blocks.

For the little guys: sophomore guard Tony Carr (6-1) nabbed seven boards, dished four dimes and controlled the Roman pace at the point. Carroll's senior point guard, 6-1 Austin Tilghman, chipped in 11 points, four boards and five assists.

But, leave the jumpers to the big man.

"The coaches have been telling me I can shoot that," said Taylor, an Abington resident. "I normally don't shoot them in games. Today was the first time in a long time that I've actually taken jumpers. My coach has been telling me he has a lot of confidence in me, so when I catch it and I'm open, I just shoot it."

Taylor said his preference is hoops ("I've played that longer") despite his ideal football size. He started playing the game at 10 and eventually found his way to former NBA veteran "Never Nervous" Pervis Ellison with AAU Team Final. (Roman teammates Wilkerson, Garner and D'Andre Vilmar also play.)

Speaking of coaches, Taylor has coach-speak down pat. He employed the one-game-at-a-time line when asked about defeating mighty Carroll.

Before your eyes glaze or roll, Taylor is certainly on to something.

It's still early, and the CL is stout at the top this season. Plus, the Cahillites still must face five-time defending champ Ss. Neumann-Goretti (Wednesday, Jan. 22 at PhillyU).

So, the young man is definitely thinking clearly.

"Because we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," he said. "We don't want to get bigheaded. It was a nice game, a nice win for us and a great win for the program, but now, we have a game on Wednesday [at West Catholic]. When we play them, that Carroll game is history. We'll just keep moving forward and build on it."