Gillespie, Wood beat Neumann-Goretti in a thriller

About 2,500 fans packed the hot and steamy confines of Archbishop Ryan to see Thursday night's show.

Two of the area's top basketball players gave onlookers just that.

Archbishop Wood senior Collin Gillespie led the Vikings to an 82-73 Catholic League victory against Neumann-Goretti and fellow senior Quade Green.

Gillespie, a Villanova commit, finished with a career-high 42 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Twenty-six of his points came in the second half.

Green, a Kentucky commit, finished with 30 points and seven assists.

After the game, Gillespie, hands in his pockets, hair barely mussed, appeared reserved about his team's victory.

"We came in thinking we could play with them," said the 6-foot-2 guard. "We played against them in the summer, but everyone said 'Oh, Quade wasn't there.' He's one of the best players in the country."

Gillespie added that his - and his team's - plan wasn't to take matchups personally, but instead to stay together as a team.

The electric atmosphere and raucous crowd inside the packed gym at Ryan enjoyed the brand of basketball both teams played.

The Saints (11-6, 7-1) led, 40-36, at the half with Green leading the way with 17.

Gillespie, however, scored 10 points in the third quarter and added 16 more in the final frame.

"He's tough as nails and has a lot of [courage]," Wood coach John Mosco said of Gillespie.

Later, Mosco added: "He doesn't care. He just plays basketball. This game could have been Saturday afternoon at the park. He just plays, and that's what I love about him."

Gillespie shot 13 of 23 overall, 4 of 11 from behind the three-point line and 12 of 17 at the foul line.

This, however, was far from a one-man effort for Wood (13-3, 7-1).

Matt Cerruti added 10 points for the Vikings, while Tyree Pickron added 11 points and Andrew Funk finished with 10.

Funk also hit a critical three with 1 minute, 52 seconds left that supplied a 74-67 edge.

Keith Otto also added eight points and Shawn Thompson supplied physical defense on Green in the fourth quarter.

Green, a 6-foot guard, shot 11 of 25 overall and 2 of 6 from three-point distance. He also picked up his fourth foul with 6:24 left in the final frame and played offense-defense after that point in the game.

Poor free-throw shooting, however, also cost the Saints, who shot just 14 of 23 (60 percent at the line).

Wood finished slightly better at 17 of 24 in freebies.

For the Saints, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Marcus Littles also added 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting.

The next possible time these two teams could delight fans would be in the PCL playoffs.

As it was Friday, the plan for Gillespie and Wood will likely be the same.

"We did it as a group," he said. "I couldn't have done [any of it] without my teammates and my coaches. I keep saying we just played, but we really just stay together all the time. We're a great group of kids who love to play together and that's what we did."