MARCH 23
PIAA CLASS AAA FINAL
(At Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center)
Neumann-Goretti 48, Montour 45
  Ninety-one up, one down. Those are the final numbers for N-G’s magnificent, four-year run through league play (70-0), City Title contests (4-0) and state playoffs (17-1). The only setback was suffered vs. Carroll, at Ryan, in a state quarterfinal in the 2008-09 season, the Catholic League’s first as a PIAA member, and the Patriots stormed forward to capture the  title. The three since then? They belong to the Saints, of course, and they’re the first team to go the threepeat route since Kennedy Christian, in Class A, netted four in a row from 1998-2001. As the score indicates, this one wasn’t easy. Wasn’t really pretty, either, truth be told. As the final seconds ticked off, we still weren’t sure whether another four minutes would be necessary because Montour’s Kevin Scuilli, having nailed one from the right corner on the previous possession, was launching a trey from the left corner (after sr. F-C Derrick Stewart left open the door by missing both ends of a double-bonus at 6.8). Flying at Scuilli was sr. G La’Quan Coaxum. Oh, baby. And the shot wound up being . . . slightly short. Reason? Coaxum, who stands 6-2 and has pretty good hops, got the tip of one finger on the rock. The Saints stormed the court, the 31 cheerleaders quickly followed (another 30 were not on hand because of a dance – smile) and all kinds of fun was had. One of the signs of a great team is that it can win even in butt-ugly fashion, and that was definitely the case tonight. Consider this: At halftime, N-G had NO assists (and even for the entire 32 minutes wound up with just four, on 16 field goals). Montour played admirable defense and N-G experienced major flow problems. It wasn’t as if the Saints shot 33 percent or something even worse. They were 16-for-38. But sharp passes to open guys off penetration were mostly a rumor and you haven’t seen that too often with these guys. Meanwhile, Montour nailed six of its first seven shots and three of those were treys and it was obvious, these dudes meant business. With the score at 15-7, sr. WG Billy Shank provided a spark for N-G by nailing a trey and then digging in defensively to force a five-second call. Soon, jr. PG Hanif Sutton, who rarely makes an impact with his own buckets, was driving hard for a pair of layups to make it 15-15 and 17-17. The game retained back-and-forth status from there and the difference-maker, ultimately, was soph WG Ja’Quan Newton. He posted a key assist and seven of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and when he hit the back end of a double-bonus at 57.7, the lead seemed (somewhat) safe at 47-41. Not really. The Saints kept that from happening by hitting just one of their final six free throws (ouch) to finish 14-for-30 at the line (ouch squared). Even though the season is over, coach Carl Arrigale might hold foul shooting practice after school on Monday (smile). Anyway, an all-time disappointment was avoided and the four-year accomplishments of this program are truly incredible. Congratulations to everyone! Jr. F John Davis (11) and Shank (10, two treys) joined Newton with double-figure points while Stewart (11) and Davis (eight) were the only guys with more than three rebounds. N-G forced just 10 turnovers and no one had more than one steal. The assist leader? Newton with two. Three of the guys in the six-man rotation are underclassmen and at times this season the other young bucks off the bench have shown impressive flashes while waiting their turns. Will N-G be considered the favorite going into the 2012-13 season? Well, some other teams have quality underclassmen, but Davis (great frontcourter), Newton (great backcourter) and Sutton (top-notch defender) is a good place to start.