Roman Catholic, Camden to renew basketball rivalry on Monday

Arthur Barclay will never forget the most famous game between Camden and Roman Catholic.

“There wasn’t a seat in that place,” Barclay said of the January 2000 meeting at Temple’s Liacouras Center between two of the Delaware Valley’s most fabled basketball programs.

Camden and Roman Catholic will meet again Monday at the Kyle Lowry Classic at Harriton (Pa.) High School.

Norristown and Coatesville will play in the first game of the showcase at 6:15 p.m., with Camden and Roman Catholic set to take the floor at 8.

Camden (7-1) is coached by former Temple standout Vic Carstarphen, who is in his first season. The Panthers are led by 6-foot-1 senior guard Ethan Tarte (15.5 points) as well as 6-8 junior Lance Ware (11.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.5 blocks) and 6-6 sophomore Jerome Brewer (13.9 points), a transfer from West Catholic.

Another key sophomore for Camden is 6-6 TaQuan Woodley (9.2 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.8 blocks), a transfer from Neumann-Goretti.

Roman Catholic (8-4) is loaded with South Jersey connections. The Cahillites feature 6-6 senior Seth Lundy, a Penn State recruit who lives in Paulsboro.

Lundy’s older brother Xavier was a star player at Paulsboro High who also played at Rider University.

Roman Catholic 6-5 senior guard Hakim Hart, a St. Joseph’s recruit, played his sophomore season at Kingsway in South Jersey. And Roman 6-1 junior guard Lynn Greer III played at Marlton Middle School with many current Cherokee players before enrolling at Roman.

Roman and Camden played in the first event for the fledging Scholastic Play-by-Play Network in January 2000. Roman was led by the late Eddie Griffin, who was the No. 7 pick in the 2001 NBA draft.

Camden featured Barclay, who played at Memphis, as well as Dajuan Wagner, the No. 6 pick in the 2002 NBA draft.

The game at Temple marked one of the first showcase-type events for high school athletes and drew a capacity crowd that included 76ers superstar Allen Iverson.

Wagner played a day after a pin was removed from his broken hand. He struggled with his shooting and ball handling, and Roman won comfortably.

“No way they beat us if Juannie’s healthy,” said Barclay, a volunteer assistant for the current Camden team. “Eddie was great, but they couldn’t have contained Juannie.”