Roman Catholic Rolls the ‘Dice to Repeat in PIAA Boys AAAA

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, March 20, 2016 | 7:10 AM

After the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s PIAA boys Class AAAA Championship, newcomers Taylor Allderdice held a sizeable lead, opening the game on a 10-0 run on District 12 powerhouse Roman Catholic. In fact, it took the Cahillites nearly five and a half minutes to score a point from the foul line. That foul line just so happened to be the way Roman Catholic thrived Saturday, downing the District 8 champion Dragons 73-62 to repeat as state champions.

Allderdice found itself in foul trouble early and often, as three starters had to sit simultaneously in the second quarter, which allowed Roman Catholic to take the lead with 2:43 to play in the first half, and the Cahillites never looked back. Any size advantage Allderdice had was gone, as Tim Pugh (6’9”) and Jordan Rawls (6’5”) left the Dragons with a depleted front court that Roman Catholic too advantage of, getting to the foul line 30 times, compared to a total of seven by Allderdice.

Roman Catholic was led by Lamar Stevens, Penn State recruit, who had a game-high 27 points to go along with several emphatic dunks. Nazeer Bostick also had 15 for the Cahillites, while Tony Carr chipped in 13, eight of which came in a pivotal second quarter.

Allderdice got within a 10-point margin late in the fourth quarter, but Roman Catholic broke any pressure with ease to put the game out of reach. James Jackson and Ramon Creighton were the leading point-getters for the Dragons, both scoring 19. Tim Jackson also had nine.

After losing to Martin Luther King last season in the state semifinals, Allderdice seemed to get over the hump this season to make it to Hershey, with its only loss coming to Class A state champ Kennedy Catholic. Now, the Dragons must rebuild with seven seniors graduating, as the entire starting five will be gone.

Despite the loss, Allderdice has a lot to be proud of heading back west. The Dragons brought 10 busloads of fans all the way across the commonwealth, as this was the first state championship appearance not only in program history, but in school history in any sport at Allderdice.

Allderdice Dragons : 17-13-14-17=62

Roman Catholic Cahillites : 10-23-22-18=73

Tags: Allderdice