 |
Space's Shake 'N Bake Sean "Space"
Bradley, a sophomore at North Catholic, has offered his services to write for the
site. He played freshman b-ball for the Falcons and is very much a fan. He promises to
drive our old buddy, North assistant Thomas "Hockey Puck" McKenna,
absolutely crazy, and we thank him for that (smile). You may reach Sean at BigDoGieSeaN32@aol.com |
FINAL
THOUGHT . . .
Well
this is my last report and hopefully my best. This
could be the longest thing I ever wrote in my entire life.
I want to congratulate the Prep for winning the second straight title over
Dougherty. Who thought that was going to
happen? I sure didn’t. It was not the
regular season for North, though. Most people
believed that North couldn’t win maybe 4 or 5 games. There could have been a REAL
shocker, but not this year. Coach McCarron
had these kids under the whip. Every day
they were busting out what they got. Look at
what they almost had. It looked like a
miracle season almost stealing the second spot in the Northern Division. Then a simple bump in the road made the miracle
ride crash. Chalie Evans hurt his
ankle on Friday the 13th against La Salle and never looked the same. His first game back was in the pre-playoff game
against Wood. You could tell he was not close
to 100% but he still was out there fighting. This
kid played his heart out and when North was against the ropes Chalie was there to lift
them back into the game. This kid should have
a good college career and cannot wait to hear what he does for his up-coming school. Chalie received second team All-Catholic this and
just missed the career 1,000 points. He
probably would have had it with ease if he didn’t have the sudden injury. Another player that stepped up big was Sean
Thomson. What did Sean do for the team? Well he was the one who didn’t make the
mistakes. Who scored when needed, made the
right pass when needed, or even at his size a huge board.
You never know what this kid is going to do when he steps on the floor. He is only about 5’6 but had the heart of any
bigger guy on the court. He did a great job
this year by leading North. He is looking
forward to a great future. Here we go, let's
start with Ryan Davis. Since Davis is
one of my main men, I only see the negatives but he did do a great job. Without the oaf I don’t think they would have
won as many games as they did. He wasn’t
a physical player but he did get up there and grab some boards. He was a threat in the middle -- you don’t
want to drive near him because he will throw the ball in the stands. The big 42 did a good job. Got to give him some
props, but I wanted to see a dunk from him and he didn’t throw one down for me. Another senior, Paul Chladek, definitely
did not disappoint me at all this year. Paul
came up clutch for defense had had big buckets late in games. He could have contributed more but really didn’t
get all the playing time down the stretch of the season. I
don’t understand why, because Paul is a good player.
He’s also more than a player; he’s a top 5 student at North. Nice season for Paul. Well they are the senior players who hopefully
will have a successful college career in basketball or whatever they are going to do. Good luck fellas!
Now
the future of North, we have a third team All-Catholic coming back in John Adamski. Now everyone knows that John just can shoot that
3-ball. He played great games this year,
having 10 games in double digits in scoring. He
came up HUGE when they needed a 3-ball but sometimes he did get out of hand. If he gets better on the defensive end and can get
to the bucket more successfully, then John will be disgusting. He has the height, speed, and the ability to play
the game and to be a great player. Watch out
next year for 32. Who’s next? Nate Edwards. O.K., Nate didn’t have the season that I
predicted but this kid got great abilities. He
might have had an up-and-down season, but he’s only a sophomore! Every one that started to doubt on Nate should
just be quiet. Nate had 6 games in double
digits in the scoring column. For any other
sophomore that is good. People like me got to
hype for him, but look he has great talent. He
can get to the bucket with no problem just needs to work on his pull up jump. He gets that down he’ll be fine. Well everyone knows he needs to work on his
temper, but that’s fixable. Coach
McCarron can make Nate into an upcoming star. Brett
Bryan had all his hype in the beginning of the season.
He did start one or two games but then suddenly his playing time decreased.
Brett can just shoot the rock. He doesn’t
look like a shooter so nobody guards him but at the end of the night you will know who
Brett is and what he does. We will see him
next year a lot hitting his 3-balls. Next is Hanif
Edwards. He just came out of nowhere, but
he can play. In the JV games it was a joke. It was the Harlem Globetrotters out there when he
was out there. He relieved Sean Thomson and
got quality minutes this year. He knows how
to score and dish the ball; he is an all-around player.
We will see him in the starting line-up next year. After Nif is Andrew Pomager. After the first couple games everyone was amazed
by this kid. He is only 14 correct? Yeah, he is.
He can shoot, play D, and drive. He
is a complete player as a freshman. Only waiting to get better. I can’t wait to see him as a senior. Also will see many minutes next year. We are all waiting to see the muscle next season. Jeremy Coombs will finally be back in
action. After missing half of the season
because of problems he was not in shape for the rest of the season. Next season I imagine that coach McCarron will
have the big man in shape and we will see a lot of Jeremy next year, probably in the
starting lineup. After Coombs I have to talk
about Danny Breen. Dan sits behind me
in French and sometimes hooks me up when I’m not paying attention. He is also not bad on the court either. He has a really good shot. If he develops the rest of his game he will be
coming off the bench next year, but he will get quality minutes. Next is John “Sweet” Daley. How sweet is this guy? Too sweet for me.
He is a good player though. We
did see him in the paper a couple times in the scoring column this year. Has a nice little mid-jumper and is under sized
but can play down low. Daley is like a Charles
Barkley (smile). Next is my partner Joe
Rod. Rod really improved this season by
working with the big men. He’s getting
taller and been hitting the weights. If he
gets up to 6’5 he will be pretty big on next season roster and will see him in a lot
of the games. Last is Radime Rivera. That’s probably not how you spell your first
name but I just call you “Rad” anyways. Well
he didn’t get much time on the varsity but I know we will see him next year. He might have only seen varsity time in two
games this whole season but I played him in CYO and he’s a competitor. He will fight and scratch for loose balls and is
not afraid to taste the floor. He also knows
the get to the bucket and we possible can be seeing him bringing the ball up. All these fellas did a great job playing this year
and contributing to an awesome season. Really
all of these players are threats but there is only one player to watch out for next year
and that is Sean “Space” Bradley!
I
want to thank everyone that read my articles this year and want to say good job to all the
other writers and good luck for whatever you guys do.
For me 3 words…Sean “Space” Bradley. Thanks a lot.
FEB.
20
CATHOLIC NORTH
Wood 65, North Catholic 56
This
one was a real tough loss for the Falcons. Bringing
the Northern division into a swirl of problems. Now
let me get this clear. North and Ryan play
Sunday the winner gets a #3 seed award. Also
McDevitt plays Wood on Sunday, if Wood beats McDevitt then they go into a playoff with the
loser of the North-Ryan game. If Wood loses,
then both Ryan and North make the playoffs. You
feel me? Probably not…
Well If North would have won this game, I wouldn’t have written that paragraph
but that’s my J.O.B. It was an
entertaining game even though North was trailing the whole game. No one for North played solid, the only players
that came to play were wearing black. Since
the absence of Chalie Evans began, everything has been rough. If he comes back any time soon he won't be
healthy, at least not 100% as we wish he was. Since
his ankle injury no one wants to step up. North
went down 7-0 in the first quarter even though they fought back and bought the score
closer. Wood’s guards Brian Klumpp
and Tim Walters played very well tonight. They
definitely took advantage of the defense and were like picking at the holes we were
showing them. It didn’t help any that
guard Nate Edwards wasn’t playing his best b-ball. It was just a mess from the beginning. North did have a few spurts thanks to John
Adamski draining a 4- point play to get us fans back into it. And it was ridiculous how someone can make someone
fall and hurt the kid. Jesus, what a sick
move by Andrew Pomager making Theo Jenson ankle crack. He was down for about 5 minutes, and all the
trainers were out there. I would quit; sorry
buddy. Even though we had those hype times,
big man Rob Pearson tore it up. This
kid is not any little 6’8; he’s a big bear.
Even though he looked like a white Shaq out there, he had that little
stroke. Hitting baby jumpers all night, he
finished with 19 and he was a workhorse on the boards having 7 boards. Let me add that that North totally shut down Matt
Spadafora. He only had 6 points, even
though he was the biggest threat in my eyes. Now
for North to get this far proving people that they aren’t sweet, and start losing at
the end, I don’t know they better step it up before they are watching Wood or Ryan
playing in the well deserve spot that they should be in.
Let me add some great calls by the North boys. Noses, mustaches, suits, ankle, foreheads, any
thing you can think of, someone was ripping on you about.
And a question that all North boys wanted to know is, how you’d
disappear after the game. (Smile)
**SPACE’S MAN OF THE GAME- Rob Pearson, I don’t like giving it to kids
from the other team, but if this kid didn’t play the way he did, it could have been a
whole different game.
FEB.
13
CATHOLIC NORTH
La Salle 54, North Catholic 33
My
fault for the late report fellas. But no one
really wants to hear about this embarrassing loss to La Salle. I knew something was going to happen, it was
Friday the 13th. I was just waiting for my
luck, but Chalie Evans had his bad luck before I did. Evans went down with an ankle injury that can keep
him out for a long period of time. In my eyes
Evans is the middle of the team. He brings
something to the court, not only his Tenacious Defense but also his ability to score the
ball is just disgusting. So even before the
game the Friday the 13th curse already struck the Falcons.
It seems like La Salle hit a lot of their open shots and got running early. Also it didn’t help that North couldn’t
score. The only player for North that showed
me some stuff was Sean Thomson. He is
the leader for this North squad and you could tell he wasn’t happy about they way
they played. La Salle wasn’t going to be
stopped with all the people in the packed gym. Nick
Shattuck played a solid game; with a solo dunk that got everyone out of their seats. Both guards for La Salle, Ryan Kirk and Colin
Fitzgerald played well for La Salle taking advantage of the loss of Evans. It didn’t help that Nate Edwards was
in early foul trouble. Now the guard position
was limited, but it gave more time to guards John Adamski, Danny Breen, and Hanif
Edwards to show their stuff. North was
just outplayed and out hustled in this match up. We’ll
see what happens and what spot North hopefully slips into a good slot were we can go far
and beat La Salle. That’s all I want.
** SPACE”S MAN OF THE GAME- Sean
Thomson, he showed me what this team means to him.
He really wanted to go far this year. Good
play by Explorers Ryan Kirk and Nick Shattuck.
FEB.
5
CATHOLIC NORTH
Dougherty 67, North Catholic 61
Guess who’s back in action? Not
just me, but Jeremy Coombs is back too. Finally,
he gets back in the uniform. The 6’6
muscle is back. I wanted to see him back in
action, but I’m a slacker and didn’t make the JV game. Thinking that North was playing Dougherty maybe I
might be able to see my boys Joe Rod and John “Sweet” Daley get
some action. But nah, this one was so close,
right to the buzzer. Before the season in one
of my articles I said North wasn’t going to be easy to beat. I think every Dougherty player will agree with me.
This
was a packed one! Both ends were filled and
so were the steps. In the first quarter both
teams came out strong like every game. North
hit their shots and ran their offense well. I’m
guessing Dougherty did the same because they had some clean looks in the first. At the end of the first it was tied 11-11. Thinking it was only the first quarter I tried not
to get my hopes up. The second quarter was
different though, the momentum started to shift in the Cardinals favor. They started to find cleaner looks, attacking all
the holes and were draining their shots. Dougherty
went up 29-23 hitting the locker room. After
the horn to the second half rang, Dougherty came out bumping the Falcons around. It looked like it was going to get dirty. You could tell Dougherty was going to pull this
one away, but then something must have sparked the players and went on a little run. Dougherty started to get frustrated; it looked
like North started to push back, get a little physical.
It must have been working. Then
it looked like the refs finally started to see things.
In my opinion seeing nothing. It
looked like Kyle Lowry got his fouls when he wanted one. Kyle went under the basket (on my end) and made a
sick reverse. Two seconds later I hear a
whistle -- and one. If this was street ball this would have been two things; late and you
would have been laughed at for trying to get that one.
Nate Edwards couldn’t believe it either. After Nate slammed the ball, Dougherty’s
coach Mark Heimerdinger was looking for
a T, screaming at the refs. After the ball
actually stopped rolling from Nate’s slam the ref called a T. I thought I was going to get thrown out after this
call, but Nate got tossed after getting in the refs' face.
After the drama they took it and hit most of their foul shots. Taking the lead into the fourth with a 52-39 Dougherty. In
the beginning of the fourth North went on an 8-0 run to make it 52-47 Dougherty’s
favor. Great plays by John Adamski and Chalie Evans
Tenacious Defense kept them in. North was in
fil trouble having 10 fails that means 2 shot on a fail.
Double penalty killed us. Timmy
Smith knocked down his icing foul shots, and I saw some
good defense by the Dougherty in the last 2 minutes.
I thought I was going to run on the court 2 nights in a row. North’s wrestling team SMOKED Wood in the
championship Wednesday night. So close but
couldn’t pull the biggest upset in a LONG time.
Notes
Great plays by DeSean White (19pts, 8 rebs) and
Shane Clark (11pts and 3
rebs). Kyle finished with (18pts, 5ast,
5rebs, 4stls) and Timmy Smith scored all his points on fail shots, good job. Also good play from Evans TD, Ryan Davis (8pts, 2blks), John
Adamski (17pts), Paul
Chladek
(MEAN POST MOVES 4pts, 5 rebs), Sean Thomson (6pts 5 ast) Andrew Pomager (10pts, 5reb) and
Hanif Edwards (No turnovers at
PG). Nice solo dunk by Shane Clark as my man Jimmy Quinn and the North fans
were yelling that he looks and wants to be like Darius Miles. I couldn’t sit with them tonight. I would have
been laughing the whole
time, losing concentration at the great calls they had tonight.
That was only one of
a bunch. Adamski had a bunch
of huge threes that kept them in it. Hanif
Edwards had Timmy Smith on roller blades, and what a sick post move by Paul Cladek almost
made me leave the gym.
**SPACE’S
MAN OF THE GAME- John Adamski, I can’t talk about it, he’s disgusting.
JAN.
16
CATHOLIC NORTH
La Salle 48, North Catholic 45
This is one of the best games I ever saw in my entire life. It was a big game for North Catholic to show
their stuff to the Catholic League. I had no
voice after this game. North came out slow,
not getting into their offense and playing sloppy defense while the Explorers came out
hot. In the first quarter LaSalle went up
14-0. North only scored 2 points in the first
quarter, at the end of the quarter LaSalle was up 18-2.
North still couldn’t get into their offense in the second quarter but started
to play defense. LaSalle would hit any shot
from the court when they had no hand in their face. If
you got a wide-open look, you were guaranteed to have your name called after the play. The whole first half was problem for North and for
LaSalle it was smooth sailing. After Nate
Edwards went down with an injury everybody knew somebody had to step up. He only finished with 2 points and 3 snatches. LaSalle’s Ryan Kirk was up and down
knocking down shots from everywhere, he was hot tonight with 12 points and 3 boards. Also LaSalle’s Nick Stattuck was a big
factor. He made big plays down the stretch
having some big blocks and rebounds. He had
11 points, 2 blocks, and 3 rebounds. After
the third quarter all momentum was in North after outscoring them in the third. Andrew Pomager came out playing quality
minutes in the fourth. Pomager played in the
hype; he didn’t look like he was going to intimidated by anyone. He finished with 8 points and three boards. The fourth quarter was so pumped, though. John Adamski just started to fire out in
the third and forth quarters. He had game
high 21 points. He was just giving out
facials to every LaSalle player on the court. It
was crazy; he just would not miss. It was a
back and forth game in he forth, and North never took the lead but was right behind
LaSalle. The game was so pumped that when Chalie
Evans got pushed into a LaSalle’s bench someone had to cheap-shot him. After the T, the scoreboard started to flick on
and off. So they stopped the to check it
out. During the time, Chalie thought maybe
he could get a couple of practice shots. I
don’t think the LaSalle parents liked it as they started to scream at the refs. Typical North Catholic huh? After the time North knocked down the foul shots,
they played the TD. Then Sean Thomson came
up with a huge steal and bought it down to start the offense. He was fouled but missed the foul shot. North fouled with only a couple seconds left. La Salle hit 2 big foul shots to ice the game to
only 3 points. With 5.5 seconds left, who
were they going to give the ball to? They
gave John Adamski the ball and he forced a shot with no time left on the clock and it
rimmed out. Look, if North got out to a
better start they would have won the game. If
North can stay on the court with LaSalle they are going to be in the playoffs this year. They played an OK game. If they played the
same game they played against Judge, they would have blown La Salle out. But only losing
to La Salle by 3 is a great accomplishment knowing that they are one of the best teams in
the Northern Division. The Falcons should not
put their heads down because of this game.
**SPACE’S PALYER OF THE
GAME- John Adamski, your shot is
nasty. How many points did you have in the
second half? His shot is really ridiculous. He is Aaron McKie this year, sixth man
coming off the bench hitting the huge shots. Sixth
man of the year!
JAN.
11
CATHOLIC NORTH
North Catholic 79, Father Judge 60
In
attendance today were North’s QB, Joe Waclawski and me. We were chillin' at
the game today. He was looking forward to the
Eagles game and so was I. After the great
North WIN, everyone cleared out to watch the Eagles beat the Packers. I think I almost had 3 heart attacks during that
game. It was nuts. Everyone was rollin’
out. Anyway, did anyone know the spread for
the North vs. Judge game? I am Vegas Vic
this year. No lie, when I wrote up the chart
for the Northern prediction, I had a big W next to the AWAY Father Judge. I’m HOT this season. I have North only winning 5 games, but I was
incorrect. If North played the way they
played today, they make the playoffs with ease. They
did lose to Dougherty BIG, but who doesn't? North
was just in better shape in this one, when they needed an extra jump they got it, when FJ
needed one they were too tired. I’ll
think the Falcons will have to holla at asst. coach McGinty (smile). He got all of us in shape…even me and
that’s what won them the game. The first
quarter showed nothing because everyone was fresh but the Falcons had a 15-13 lead at the
end of the first. The second quarter was all
fast paced. North PG Sean Thomson led
the Falcons, pulling the ball out when needed and not letting North get all up in the
hype. Sean is such a solid point. This kid is
so small, but also so quick and he knows how to defend and and he can split defenders like
it's no problem. He was huge. He only had 2
points and 2 dishes but he was a huge factor by leading them today in the victory. My sixth man of the year is John Adamski. I thought I was bad luck for J-ski but today he
was on fire. Huge game for him, having 14
points and 2 hustle steals. He was all over
the floor; he’ll be sore for practice tomorrow.
He came in when they needed that push to get the hype for NC and did a great
job. He really iced the game because it
looked like he was always fresh whenever he checked in and he was knocking down big shots
for North. I mean North was just outplaying
Judge it was bad. North was up 10 at half
with a 41-31 lead. After all the hype in the
first half North never looked back, going up 63-46. Big
time game for North’s freshman, Andrew
Pomager. Yes, he is 14 years old, but
plays like a senior. I think I have kids older than 14.
And if you say you didn’t doubt him, I wouldn’t believe you. I mean he’s a freshman. He played against
little kids last year but he is tearing the Catholic North Division up so far. Tonight he had 12 points, 15 rebounds, and 6
dimes. People told me he had 10 dimes and
that would be a trip dub. (If he did I will
remind that in my next report. Sorry if he
did. I’ll check with Hock.) You can’t call North a two head monster of
soph. Nate Edwards and Chalie Evans any more.
Even though they are the leaders of this team. Nate had been struggling but he bounced back and
had a good game with 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Chalie had a huge game knocking down a bunch of big shots and really kept
them with a comfy lead. Also going perfect 3
balls percentage Brett Bryan (9 points). For
Judge, Steve Wolf was very much shut down. Soph
Justin DeCristofaro trying to get Judge back in the game with 2 huge treys. He finished with 10 points. John Geiger did not have a strong
performance. He and Wolf missed a lot of down low shots.
Maybe the refs let the kids play today.
Speaking about missing down low shots, note to Ryan Davis: dunk it,
kid. The Crusaders were just outplayed and
outhustled -- outeverythinged. If North plays
the game they played tonight I have a new prediction -- NC makes the playoffs and comes in
third without a doubt. I’ll see when
North plays a huge game against La Salle on Friday night.
If they win that one they proved to the Catholic League that they are no
joke. Coach McCarron is doing wonders
for this program.
**SPACE’S MAN OF THE
GAME- John Adamski- Big factor in this
game, knocking down huge shots and got me all hyped.
JAN.
5
CATHOLIC NORTH
North Catholic 58, Conwell-Egan 42
Last year when I played freshman ball, we used to warm up to those blown out
speakers on the roof. I think the basketball
is going prime getting a student DJ to play at their home games and also to have a cool
reporter like me to report the games and have my genius comments and predictions. If you feel me… well let's get to the
opener…
So
far I’m right having Conwell-Egan only beating McDevitt with a loss tonight to North. Have my first step to North’s 5-9 prediction. No one from North liked that prediction; I was
getting hated on before the game today. Well
this one got off to a slow boring start. I
know North couldn’t get into their set offense and Egan took advantage of that in the
first quarter. I saw that JR Brett Bryan
made his first start but played only about five minutes in the first quarter. Everything was out of whack for the Falcons, and I
thought this would be a close one. The first
quarter ended 9-7 Egan. They drank something
before the second quarter because NC came out looking great. North’s big man Paul Chladek had a
great second quarter and boosted North’s confidence.
With great hustle Paul finished with 9 points and 8 boards just in that
quarter! Egan did a great job of shutting down all-star Chalie Evans to only 2
first half points. Evans did bounce back in
the second half made some big plays and big shots and finished with 11 points. At half it was North up 27-21. After the big quarter North never looked back. They had another big quarter led by Andrew
Pomager. He finished with 14 at the end
of the night. He showed off some of the
skills and looks to be maturing into a big time player.
The freshman came up huge tonight for the Falcons. Conwell-Egan’s Dan Gibney was the only
Eagle that showed up at the Pit. Dan had a
scrappy 18 points and 4 hustle steals. North’s
tenacious DEFENSE came to play tonight. In
the fourth quarter North’s press, led by sr. Sean Thomson, came up with some
big steals and iced the game. Sean had 5 big
steals and 6 points. The Eagles did a great
job of holding North soph. Nate Edwards down to only 6 points. If Nate went off tonight…whoa, it would have
been a huge BLOWOUT. Somehow somebody got in
my man Nate’s head, taking the frustration out on the Egan player throwing a mean
'bow to the chest and gunning the ball at him. Get
em’ Nate! North also did a good job of
defending Matt Burns. Whenever he
would sneak past a hole in the defense you would hear SHOOTER! Matt finished with only 6. Well you can put a “dub” in North’s
column as the they go on to 1-0. Next game
for North is against Dougherty on Jan 9…Let's pull an upset!
-Check out my flashy picture, you like the bed head? And/or the devil's red eyes??
…Still gets the ladies though, Ted knows the deal.
**SPACE’S MAN OF THE GAME- Andrew
Pomager showed me some skills tonight. You have to like what you see…He’s
only a freshman.
JAN.
4
NORTHERN DIVISION PREVIEW
I’m not trying to get on the same
thing as in Jack’s reports, but I thought it be pretty cool to do the same. Now we both have our likes and dislikes. Well you can compare who will be the winner of
this one. So, these are my picks, I
didn’t use any sources and didn’t really see any of these teams. Well I hope you like it…
1. Dougherty 14-0
Dougherty is really
just too nasty. Kyle Lowry, Tim Smith, Bilal Benn, Shane Clark,
and DeSean White… are you serious? Call
them the “Fab Five” or whatever you want nobody I stopping them. They will stay nationally ranked and nobody will
beat them. This is the Lakers
of high school ball. Some say they don’t
play as a team only as individuals…everyone knows that’s there’s no
“I” in team but there is not a “WE” either.
Ryan is another team that is solid in a lot of positions.
They have three solid players in Joe Mullin, Jim Welsh, and Joey
Zeglinski. All three know how to score
the ball and win games. They will win the games everyone expects them too but could have
trouble with a team that matches well with them. Also
have a huge 6’8 Soph. Kevin Hudgeons; let's see what that kid has to show this
year too.
I have to be seeing things I swear. If you
look under the team photos for LaSalle they all are almost all the same size. I never saw a team like that. Well I don’t know much, but Colin
Fitzgerald and Nick Shattuck are the two main players for the Explorers. They played some good teams in the pre-season, so
they will be ready to go right from the start.
Wood seemed pretty good last year when I saw them, but that was last year. All I really know is Matt Spadafora is not
a bad player at all. He is one of the top
players in the Northern Division I think. To
help the Vikings is sr.G Tim Walters. Wood
has a lot of talent and can match up well with any team in the North. Also big men John Gwiazdowski (6’4)
and Rob Pearson (6’7)
finish big pieces of the puzzle
I think Judge is really good team but I think they will lose eight big games because they
rely on Steve Wolf way too
much. Steve is definitely top, there not many
who can stop him They also got John Gieger and Joe Sanford that will have
to come up huge in games if the Crusaders want to win more than six, which they are
capable of.
North can match up with a lot of teams and will be very dangerous this season. I only have them down for five wins but as all the reporters said North improved a lot. The two-headed monster of Charlie Evans and Nate Edwards will be very hard to stop, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Falcons win more than five and sneak into the playoff race.
7. Egan 2-12
I wouldn’t be surprised if Egan and McDevitt split but I think C Mark Kostic
will be too big for the Lancers. Who knows, I
played the Eagles in a summer league this year and they looked terrible. Maybe it was because it was their first game back,
well hopefully. This team is young; I played
against some of these guys last year for the freshman team.
We just have to wait and see…
Sorry fellas, it was hard to put you guys in last place without a win but I had to. The Lancers are more of a fast paced team and that could rattle some coaches. Greg Stitt leads the Lancers. He knows how to fill up the stat chart. Also watch out for Andrew Crawford and soph Tom Maha.
DEC.
31
NON-LEAGUE
Episcopal Academy 60, North Catholic 34
Really, if you
told me North would come out and win this game I would call you nuts. North did lose by 26, you probably think BLOWOUT,
but North really gave them a fight. It was
one of those games were Episcopal would have a great quarter and North couldn’t do
anything. That’s what really killed the
Falcons. The first quarter was sloppy;
Episcopal went up 13-4 in their favor. Thank
God it wasn’t like that the whole game because I would have probably left. North was outscored in every quarter in the game.
Some were not bad though; at half North scored 16 to make 31-20 going into half. The third quarter was ridiculous while the
Churchmen outscored North, 19-5. They had all
the momentum in the third quarter, only letting North score 5 with a couple of blocks and
2 Vincesanity dunks by Gerald Henderson that almost made me fall through the
bleachers, and set the tempo for the rest of the game.
He finished with 19 points and 7 boards.
No one for North really stepped up. North’s
Nate Edwards only had 9 points, but he still is banged up from that ankle injury. Charlie Evans finished with 12 knocked down
a couple big shots for North to actually keep it a game.
Episcopal’s Wayne Ellington came up pretty big with 16 points. Episcopal has a little bit of everything; they
have a solid point guard in Dylan Brown, who I liked, and also a sharp shooter in Brian
Shanahan. I hate sharp shooters but this
guy can shoot. Shanahan finished with 14; 12
of the points were 3 balls. Sean Thomson
also played a solid game with limiting on NC turnovers and taking charge with pesky
defender Dylan Brown on him. Both of these
speedy guards were going at it. You gotta
love that. Episcopal is a dangerous team --
as I said they have a little of everything. North
was simply outmatched; you can’t do anything about that. Well I just can’t wait until the season
starts on the 5th against Conwell-Egan
** SPACE’S MAN OF THE GAME- I loved Gerald Henderson he got mean bunnies.
DEC.
22
NON-LEAGUE
Mastbaum 57, North Catholic 54
North hadn’t lost a game in The Pit this year, until this one. It is going to be tough without Nate Edwards
in the lineup (ankle). Missing a head with a
two-headed monster is huge. They could have
used him as an extra lift tonight but JR John Adamski filled his shoes tonight, and
did well. Mastbaum came out quick in the first quarter. The momentum of the first half was
mostly contained by Mastbaum’s ending with a 31-25 lead at half. When the buzzer rang for the second half North
came out firing. They got themselves
together and got back to a 31-31 tie. The momentum shift was back and forth in the second
half. It was crazy. At the end of the third
Mastbaum led, 45-44. North’s Paul
Chladek came up huge by taking a big charge deep in the ball game. He played a good game scrapping some quality
points he finished with 10. Brett Bryan
came out smoking with the hot hand behind the arc, dropping 9 and a board for NC. He dropped three 3’s and swung the momentum
meter in North’s favor. North’s Charlie
Evans played a scratchy game, but still ended up with a huge 21 points and 6 steals. Mastbaum’s big men came up pretty big
tonight. Kevin Spencer played a solid
game by dropping 7 and ripping down 7. He
played silent during most of the game, but it's the quiet ones who kill ya. Also big man Tareik Belcher killed North
tonight. He finished with 15 points and a
bundle of boards and blocks. Back to
North’s side, PG Sean Thomson shifted a lot of the momentum while on a fast
break. He made this kid look absolutely
silly, passing the ball behind his back making this kid fall. It was definitely OHHHH material, and may see this
one on Sports Center tonight. A lot of bench
players got quality tics in this one. For
North diaper dandy Andrew Pomager, Brett Bryan, and Hanif Edwards got
some big time ticks for the Falcons. For
Mastbaum Tyrone Bates played a solid game, limiting his team's turnovers, and David
Pough got some ticks finishing with 5 points and 1 block. But there was one player that was just too
powerful. Marion “Buddy” Rose
ripped it up tonight. Nobody on the court was
stopping this beast. He came up with 24
points and 2 steals. I thought in the
beginning of the game that this kid was a joke, but I guess not. North put him to the test at the end to see if he
was the truth and he knocked down all 4-clutch free throws and he iced the game. All North could do was throw one up there and it
was no good. For NC all I can say is you guys
are banged up, keep playing hard and you will definitely win more games. So you can throw an L in the column but it's still
pre-season, no need to worry.
**SPACE’S
MAN OF THE GAME- I have to give it to Marion Rose, but I want to give pat on Paul
Chladek’s back for playing hard down low and playing well.
DEC.
16
NON-LEAGUE
North Catholic 74, Kennedy-Kenrick 51
Here we go again, the
Spaceman is back! This time we saw Southern
Division team Kennedy-Kenrick. Last year KK
went 0-24 and that’s not at the top, as you can see.
Two improved teams battled in this one.
North went into the battle without their young phenom Nate Edwards,
with a nagging ankle sprain. Nate told me he
shouldn’t be out for too long and we will be seeing him on the court in no time. For K-K, all I can say is Tom Amenta. This cat dropped 27 and had a couple boards and 3
steals. He was on his own with this one, but Amarilo
Matos also had a couple hustle plays but only finished with 11 to help out KK. In the beginning of the game KK jumped up only to
a 4-0 lead but North’s coach Mike McCarron was screaming and yelling to the
Falcons to play defense and ever since then all I saw was great hustle. All five starters did a good job. Since Nate Edwards was out, SF John Adamski
stepped in. John was limping and was taking
out too with an injury during the game. FR Andrew
Pomager stepped in for John and played well. He
finished with 4 points, 4 assists, and 4 boards. Paul
Chladek and Ryan Davis did the dirty work again for NC. Paul played great and sunk 14. My man Davis finished with 10 and 7 boards. North’s star SF Charlie Evans played
with a spark and he dropped 26 at the end of the night.
He knocked down all of North’s big jumpers and took over the game. In this one I couldn’t trash him like I did
last time. North’s PG Sean Thomson
took care of the ball, breaking KK’s press with ease.
Sean finished with 4 strips and 8 dimes.
KK could just not keep up with any of North’s starters getting beat up
and down the floor. There was one thing that
caught my eye in the game that will affect the season.
It helps the Falcons and can hurt the Wolverines. The Wolverine bench is mostly made of JV ballers
that are inexperienced and is just going to plain kill them in the season. Especially in the Southern Division, that’s a
big ouch. For the Falcons, as I said Adamski,
and Pomager came up huge, but the role players on the bench that get quality time, just
came up even bigger. Backup PG Hiniff
Edwards got quality minutes and played them well.
When it was all over he finished with 4 points, 2 dimes, and 3 hustle
steals. Backup WG Brett Bryan proved
himself that he could play tonight. He
finished with 11 and also took care of the ball with zero problems. North’s extended bench can really help out
the Falcons finish off games in the '04 season. Talking
about finishing off, three guys finished off this one for the Falcons. You have to love the guys that deserve these
little amounts of varsity minutes. Big men Umang
Patel and Joe Rod got there few ticks, and SF John “Sweet” Daley. At halftime I told Daley that he would get some
ticks and score if I could write “SWEET” on his forearm. He didn’t
like it, but dropped his first 2 points of the season for me. Thanks Sweet….
** SPACE’S MAN OF THE GAME – Sean Thomson and Brett Bryan, both
showed me what they could do when they have the ball.
Both proved a lot in this one.
DEC.
9
NON-LEAGUE
North Catholic 64, Chestnut Hill 49
It’s
still preseason and North waits January 5 to face Conwell-Egan, its first game of the
Northern Division season. Now even though its
preseason North Catholic always has to look good. Even
though we've got “defense” on our shorts, we've got the Indiana Hoosier
warm-ups; now that’s killer. Well
I’ll get to the game. North played
tenacious defense (TD). North had 15 steals
at the end of this one. During the first half
it was a back and forth game, but as you can tell it was sloppy, 15 steals. Well for Chestnut Hill Chris McInerney was
a big threat and he was knocking down jumpers like it was his J-O-B. At the end of the night he had 17 points and 4
boards. Another kid that impressed me was Julian
McFadden; he did a great job since pesky defender Sean Thomson played him. Sean
had 2 steals and McFadden dropped 12 at the final. North’s
Paul Chladek did a good job on handling the box out job on CH’s big man, Scott
Dziengelski. Gabe Eldred did a good job
knocking down 10; most of his points were deep in the game when they needed them. He had a couple big 3’s to keep Chestnut Hill
in the game but everyone knows the two scorers on North are just to powerful for them to
keep up. Nate Edwards didn’t play
his game he missed open and easy deuces. Nate
sunk 15 points offensively, but on the defensive side he had 6 steals, not too bad. Charlie Evans played his regular game
dropping 22 points and getting 3 steals. He
played a well game but I’m going to have to get on him for that wide-open lay-up he
missed. I think the key thing to this victory
was rebounding. I don’t have the total
rebounds that North had but Ryan Davis had 9 boards.
It was really key because if CH got most of the boards in this game it would
have been a close one for North. Davis also
had 7 points. If North wants to win more
games Davis and Paul will have to rebound the ball more effectively. Also another key for both teams: make your foul
shots. Both teams missed a lot of foul shots,
if Chestnut Hill would of made a couple of those missed foul shots it would have been a
closer game. A note for Chestnut Hill, they
live and die on the 3-point arc. They did
knock big ones down but not enough to win. There
is another “W” on North’s schedule as they wait for Egan on January 5. Note for the Catholic League North, North
isn’t sweet this year I would watch out!
**SPACE’S MAN OF THE GAME - Ryan Davis,
9 boards kid! Keep it up!
DEC.
5
NON-LEAGUE
North Catholic 74, Frankford 57
You know when it’s game time when the “pit” opens and
North is ready to play their first game of the 04’ season. Since everybody knows that North wears
“defense” on the back of their shorts, they really proved that tonight. Coach Mike McCarron was trapping, pressing,
and making Frankford commit stupid turnovers. Since
Frankford’s PG Ryan Smith was out with an injury, Jarrard Kennedy did a
well job limiting on Frankford’s turnovers. Nobody
really stood out for the Frankford’s offense except Lorenzo Byrd dropping 12,
and Louie Leonard assisted him with 10. For
North the two-man duo stepped up big time in this one.
Nate Edwards put home 23 with a bundle of rebounds, and Charlie
Evans scored from everywhere knocking down a bunch of treys finishing with 27. For North they look pretty solid, they probably
will sneak up in the standings upsetting teams, and could be a slight threat in the
Northern Division this year.
*Player of the Game- Charlie Evans
North
Catholic Team Preview
2) PF/C 6’3 SR Paul Chladek - Great
post moves; he is a strong man down low. He
is a small big man but can box out and fight and scratch with the best.
3) SF/G 6’0 SO Nate Edwards - The
future for North Catholic. He knows how to
get to the hole with no problem. He can also
pull up on you and knock down the jumper. Nate
will be very dangerous this year.
4) G/SF 6’2 SR Charlie Evans -
This guy can just straight out shoot the three ball.
He knows how to get easy “ink” with his scoring ability. He knows how to play defense, he’s a pesky
defender.
5) PG 5’5 SR Sean Thomson -
Sean doesn’t get the respect he deserves. He
does the dirty work of getting the assists and grabbing some long boards. Sean doesn’t really score but he matured from
last year and he is a good “floor general” this year. Sean is also quick and can dribble the ball.
6) SG/F 6’1 JR John Adamski-
John can shoot the ball from any spot on the court. His
shot from the 3 ball land is nuts, he will get quality minutes. He will come up clutch in the big games.
Bench
G 5’11 JR Dan Breen
- Can be very dangerous when he is open around the 3 area.
G 5’9 JR Brett Bryan
- Good PG, knows how to score and limits on his turnovers.
F/C 6’3 SO Joe Rod
- He can get to the bucket, good power, and good shot blocker.
F 6’2 SO Umang Patel - Knows to grab boards, also another good shot blocker
G/F 6’3 FR Andrew Pomlinger - “The Future”, mature player as a
freshie, can shoot, pass and drive to the bucket.
G 6’ JR Joe Szychulski- Good solid
guard, he knows how to defend in your face.
C 6’6 JR Jeremy Coombs - Big man down low, very strong kid,
not afraid to use his power