Author:
KenZ
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Date Posted: 15:13:17 03/08/04 Mon
Second Article
THE TIME WAS September 2001 and the occasion was the first meeting between new coach William "Speedy" Morris and the members of the St. Joseph's Prep basketball program.
Among the wide-eyed were a pair of sophomores, wing guard John Griffin and point guard Chris Clark, both of whom already had made a varsity impact.
Morris made his various points, then opted to close with a doozy.
"By the time you get out of here," he said, glancing toward Griffin and Clark, "we're going to try to get a championship."
Those guys glanced at each other and blurted out simultaneously, "One championship? We're gonna win two!"
As the meeting concluded and Morris walked out of the room, mindful that The Prep had not won a Catholic League title since 1971, he shook his head and muttered to himself, "Those kids are crazy!"
Here's what he's saying now...
"They were prophets! They knew more than me!"
The Prep indeed has captured two consecutive CL crowns. No. 2, in stunningly easy fashion, came last night at La Salle University's packed-beyond-belief Tom Gola Arena (many, many were turned away) as the Hawks sliced and diced Cardinal Dougherty, 84-61.
The Prep closed out the first half with a 9-0 run that produced a 30-22 lead. The pad ballooned to 15 points, 44-29, as Griffin posted a four-point play with 4 minutes, 21 seconds left in the third quarter.
Just as in last year's title game, Dougherty walked on the court with more talent. Again, it mattered not in the least.
The Prep shot 27-for-44 from the floor (61 percent), 23-for-29 at the line (79 percent) and 7-for-12 on three-pointers (58 percent). It also connected on 17 of its first 24 field goal attempts (71 percent).
Leading the way were Griffin and Clark. (Somehow, you knew that was coming, right?)
Griffin, a Bucknell signee, shot 7-for-11 (4-for-5 on treys) and 9-for-9 for 27 points. Clark, recently offered a scholarship by Hartford but still undecided, shot 8-for-10 (1-for-2 on treys) and 8-for-9 for 25 points. Sophomore forward Reggie Redding (16 points, 7-for-10 from the floor) and senior center Mike Kearney (10, 4-for-6; late dunk to make The Prep's fans go berserk) also reached double figures.
Somewhere along the way, a Hawk could have closed his eyes and wildly whipped the ball at the basket. It would have gone in. Probably would have swished.
"That was pretty darn close to the perfect game," Dougherty coach Mark Heimerdinger said. "You know Prep is going to execute their offense and collectively guard you. You don't know they're going to shoot like that. At least in my eyes, we contested quite a few of their shots.
"At both ends, there were times when I thought we were making some pretty good plays. Then, bam, things would turn out Prep's way. It made me think, 'We're in trouble.' "
Dougherty entered the season with four of its five starters committed to Division I programs: center DeSean White (Providence; 14 points, nine rebounds), guard Kyle Lowry (Villanova; nine points, three assists), small forward Shane Clark (also 'Nova; 14 points, four blocks) and swingman Bilal Benn (Siena).
Benn was dismissed from school in January and just last week squeezed in a two-game season, both playoffs, for Cherokee, in Marlton, N.J., after sitting out a required 30 days as a transfer.
Back in early December, Heim-erdinger said he had told his players, "If you don't win the championship, you'll be remembered as 'One of the Guys With That Real Good Group at Dougherty That Never Got It Done.' Do you want to be remembered that way?"
He said last night, "It hurts to have it turn out this way...We'll have to live with it."
However hollow, Dougherty could have a chance at redemption. The Cardinals, Roman Catholic and The Prep all will compete March 18 to 20 at Frostburg (Md.) State in the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament.
Morris, who now owns eight CL titles (six at Roman, two at The Prep; he also won one at Penn Charter), said he preached all season "stars shine and teams win."
"We have that on the back of T-shirts," he added. "These kids just play the game so well. They get along and work hard and they're all in it together. They don't care who gets the points. Don't care who gets the glory. They're a team in the truest sense of the word."
For Griffin and Clark, the bond is tighter than tight.
Ask John to comment on Chris and hear him say, immediately, "He's like my brother."
Ask Chris to comment on John and hear him say, immediately, "He's like my brother."
"We were always real close. Did a lot together off the court, too," Griffin said. "And then this year, Chris moved not too far from me [along the Main Line] and that gave us a chance to get even closer. He's such a good player. He runs our offense so well."
Said Clark: "There's no one I'd rather have with me in a backcourt. We know each other so well. I know his spots. Where he likes to get the ball. How he likes to get it. We've spent a lot of time just working together [on chemistry] in the gym at Saint Joe's University."
Meanwhile, teams in search of a title might want to hire a coach named William Morris and find a player named John Griffin. Morris won two of his Roman titles in 1973 and '74 and one of his headliners was Griffin's father, John. The elder Griffin later played for St. Joe's University and was the coach before Phil Martelli.
"I just thought about that, how I won two titles with that John and two with this John," Morris said. "They've been pretty good to me, right? [Roman] John wasn't physically imposing, but he was one of the toughest players I ever coached. [Prep] John has a little more natural ability. They're both leaders and winners."
Speaking of winners, so is a piece of clothing.
As he always does for especially meaningful games, Morris broke out his lucky, baby-blue, V-neck sweater.
"It's 7-0 this season," he said. "No, wait. It's 9-0. Wore it for both Roman, Neumann and West games in the regular season and all through the playoffs."
No offense to the lucky sweater, but one suspects a more plausible reason for The Prep's success was a backcourt with equal amounts of skill at playing and predicting.
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