Ryan tops Carroll as Brockington scores 1,000th
Until Izaiah Brockington reached a milestone late in the fourth quarter, Fred Taylor finished what was likely Sunday's most rousing play as Archbishop Ryan held off visiting Archbishop Carroll, 71-56, in Catholic League action.
Until Izaiah Brockington reached a milestone late in the fourth quarter, Fred Taylor finished what was likely Sunday's most rousing play as Archbishop Ryan held off visiting Archbishop Carroll, 71-56, in Catholic League action.
The original author of Taylor's emphatic, two-handed dunk, however, was sophomore guard Amin Bryant.
But, in true Bryant fashion, the 6-foot-4 guard simply enjoyed the moment from behind the scenes near half court while fans cheered and teammates celebrated with Taylor after his powerful dunk in traffic.
"It just makes me happy," Bryant said. "I don't get the points, but I get the assists. I just want to win."
While Bryant did the little things, senior forward Matis Kulackovskis dominated down low, finishing with 29 points and 10 rebounds, with eight coming off the offensive glass.
Kulackovskis also grabbed some postgame face time with an assistant coach for Bowling Green.
Brockington finished with 14 points, the last of which marked No. 1,000 for his career after a free throw with 31.7 seconds left.
Bryant finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and three assists.
His no-look pass to Taylor resulted in a 38-25 advantage after Taylor converted the three-point play with 4 minutes, 40 seconds left in the third quarter.
"I like my role," Bryant said. "I don't need the credit as long as we win."
Bryant's physical play on defense helped Ryan (15-3, 6-3) erase a five-point first-quarter deficit that it never relinquished.
When Carroll (12-6, 4-5) eventually got within seven points with 4 minutes, 33 seconds left, Bryant vigorously denied Justin Anderson during an inbounds play that forced a bad pass to Colin Daly, who stepped out of bounds to retrieve the ball.
"That's my game," Bryant said. "I started off as a football player then I started playing basketball. I take a lot of pride in [defending] whoever I'm guarding."
Bryant played middle linebacker and defensive end for the North Philly Blackhawks, but a helmet to his left knee made him think twice about playing in high school.
Carroll, which trailed, 28-19, at halftime, was led by Anderson and AJ Hoggard, who each finished with 15 points.
The Patriots, however, were outrebounded, 37 to 24.
Taylor added nine points and eight rebounds for the Raiders, who will host Neumann-Goretti on Friday.
"The momentum of this one was a big confidence booster for a lot of my teammates," Bryant said. "We just have to be ready for Neumann-Goretti. That's a big-time game."
Archbishop Ryan 14 14 19 24 - 71
Archbishop Carroll 12 7 20 17 - 56
AR: Matiss Kulackovskis 29, Izaiah Brockington 14, Amin Bryant 11, Fred Taylor 9, Chris Palantino 3, Ja'quill Stone 5.
AC: Justin Anderson 15, AJ Hoggard 15, Colin Daly 8, Khari Williams 3, Devon Ferrero 3, Mark Bradshaw 5, Keyon Butler 7.
@AceCarterINQ