McPherson's dunks ignite Carroll over LaSalle
Jesse McPherson has a deep voice with a pinch of gravitas. The 6-foot-6 senior for Archbishop Carroll, however, prefers to let his play do the talking.
Jesse McPherson has a deep voice with a pinch of gravitas.
The 6-foot-6 senior for Archbishop Carroll, however, prefers to let his play do the talking.
That was evident Friday night as the youthful Patriots overcame visiting La Salle, 50-45, in a Catholic League contest that started slowly but crescendoed into a tension-filled final minute.
Two emphatic McPherson dunks in the third quarter jumpstarted the listless Patriots and seemed to charge their student section, which had little to cheer about early.
It should have been "leave your abacus at home night" during Friday night's first quarter. The fingers on one hand were enough to count the offensive output of both squads.
"I feel like we were settling too much," McPherson said. "I feel like we weren't aggressive enough. Once we started to get it inside and get things rolling, everything else kind of fell into place."
Tied at five after the first frame, the Patriots (9-3, 2-2) shot just 2 of 12 from the field and 1 of 5 from behind the three-point line.
La Salle (7-6, 1-3) wasn't much better at 2 of 10 overall and 1 of 7 from three-point range.
The result was an 18-17 Explorers advantage at intermission.
"At halftime my coach [Paul Romanczuk] just told me to stay aggressive," McPherson said. "That's been a goal of mine the entire season."
McPherson's first dunk was of the two-handed variety, a putback of a teammate's miss that gave the Patriots a 24-23 edge with just less than five minutes left in the third.
The second slam, also double-fisted, came after a nice inbounds pass from AJ Hoggard about 30 seconds later.
"When the crowd gets into it, it's hard for the other team," McPherson said. "They start yelling. The bench is going crazy. The atmosphere was crazy tonight."
McPherson also blocked sophomore Zach Crisler's desperate three-point attempt with 2.5 seconds left and the Patriots ahead by three.
La Salle had whittled away an early 6-point deficit in the final frame and even grabbed a brief 1-point lead after Matt Paulus hit a deep three with about 1 minute, 30 seconds left.
Carroll sophomore Mark Bradshaw responded with a layup that put the Patriots ahead for good.
McPherson, finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.
With this youthful squad, McPherson said his leadership motto has been, "Well done is better than well said."
He said that is a quote from a book titled, "The Hard Hat: 21 Ways to be a Great Teammate."
The book was assigned reading for fellow seniors Colin Daly, Jimmy Lake and Khari Williams, who were part of a book club designed by Romanczuk.
"I like the book," McPherson said with a smile. "Being honest, I'm not the biggest reader [outside of school], but I really did enjoy that book."
Justin Anderson, a junior, finished with 11 for the Patriots. Hoggard, a freshman, also added 11.
La Salle was led by senior Jarrod Stukes, who finished with 10 points, four assists and three steals. Konrad Kiszka also added 10 points. Sophomore Allen Powell added eight significant points off the bench.
A slightly contentious moment occurred after the final horn blared.
It seemed to be triggered by a Hoggard dunk attempt a few seconds after the horn at the basket La Salle would have been defending and across from Carroll's bench. With the game over, La Salle had already conceded defeat and walked toward the sideline as Hoggard attempt the dunk.
Some light woofing was exchanged before, during and after the players shook hands. But there was no pushing and each side dispersed after a about 20 seconds.
After the game, Romanczuk had Hoggard apologize to La Salle coach Joe Dempsey, who clearly accepted the apology.
"We don't want to ever mean any disrespect to any team we're playing against," Romanczuk said. "I like to think we run a program with integrity and class, and I know Joe does as well. I have so much respect for him and the La Salle program, and obviously things like that you don't want to happen."
Archbishop Carroll 5 12 15 18 - 50
La Salle 5 13 15 12 - 45
AC: Justin Anderson 11, Colin Daly 7, Jesse McPherson 11, AJ Hoggard 11, Khari Williams 1, Devon Ferrero 4, Mark Bradshaw 5.
LS: Jarrod Stukes 10, Konrad Kiszka 10, Zach Crisler 8, Sean Simon 6, Allen Powell 8, Matthew Paulus 3.
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