2024 PCL Championchip

It had been 727 days of Roman Catholic reigning as PCL Boys Basketball Champions. The Cahillites entered the 2024-25 season with one goal in mind: securing the three-peat. As difficult as it might seem, for a program as dominant as Roman Catholic, it was definently a feasible feat. Roman ventured into the PCL season dropping two games and finishing 11-2, holding the 2 seed in the playoffs. The only teams that the Cahillites lost to: St. Joseph's Prep (who would be the 1 seed) on a buzzer beater by senior Jordan Ellerbee and Father Judge (who would represent the 4 seed). Powered by Sammy ('26) and Shareef ('25) Jackson (both sons of former Sixers' Mark Jackson), the Cahillites added a star guard in sophomore Tyler Sutton, whose defense and skill would lead the Cahillites to The Palestra.

To finish the 2023 PCL Playoffs, Roman Catholic's Xzayvier Brown '23 famous three-point shot from way downtown to send the game into OT was the highlight of the Cahillites' magical season. In OT, they would knock off Neumann-Goretti, led by PCL great, head coach Carl Arrigale. The Cahillites were now 33-time PCL Champions, extending their record league in the PCL's history. Brown would take his talents to St. Joseph's University the following year. Brown's height and speed made him a top recruit for some schools looking to build their program. The Cahillites would enter the 2023-24 season with a different squad, but the expectations would be through the roof.

Roman Catholic would steamroll through the PCL season, and held the 1 seed in the PCL playoffs. The Cahillites would soon find themselves back in familiar shoes, playing for their 34th Catholic League title, a feat that no program had ever come close to. Roman Catholic took on Archbishop Ryan, and this Raiders' team was highlighted by stars: center Thomas Sorber '24 and guard Darren Williams '24. Darren Williams had arguably the greatest shot of the playoffs, when his foul line jumper fell against St. Joseph's Prep in the final seconds. Ryan would look to pull off an upset that was worthy of this talented team from Northeast Philadelphia.

It was a game that ended shot for shot. Ryan led, then came the Cahillites, then the Raiders responded, and then Roman Catholic returned and so on and so forth until Roman held the last possession of regulation. Feeding the ball to their star center, Shareef Jackson had time to shine in the pain. His layup banked off the backboard and dropped, sending this game into OT for the second consecutive PCL Championship game. As Roman was battling, they held a two point lead over Archbishop Ryan, then came the Raiders storming down court, with ten seconds left, and senior guard Ryan Everett '25 drained a three-pointer as clock continued to run and Roman Catholic possessing the ball with no timeouts. Senior Kabriel Goss '24 had the last opportunity to score for Roman. Shooting with less than 2 seconds on the clock, and contested heavily by Sorber, Goss had the shot of the season.

And for the second consecutive year in a row, Broad and Vine hosted the PCL Champions. What is more impressive than winning two back-to-back titles? Winning three, three in a row. After all, it had first been done by Roman Catholic under head coach Billy Markward, who won five in a row. Roman Catholic could continue to show why they dominated the PCL in basketball, they were just one championship win away, and the team in the way were the Father Judge Crusaders.

For a team who scored 180 points in their first two PCL playoff games, you would expect to say that the Crusaders cruised through the regular season. Well, you'd be wrong because the Crusaders finished at the 4 seed, and had three losses as well. After a four game winning streak to open up PCL play, the Crusaders fell short to Bonner-Prendergast, and then six days later, lost to Devon Prep in a nail-biting finish. The first game of Febraury against Archbishop Carroll was another instance when the team fell short, losing by four. The Crusaders would win-out the rest of the regular season, and was lucky enough to receive a first round bye in the playoffs.

While hosting a home quarterfinal matchup against Neumann-Gorretti, the Crusaders made sure that they would make a run to The Palestra. In a 14-point high scoring matchup, the Crusaders took down the Saints, setting up a PCL semifinal matchup against the dominant 1 seed, St. Joseph's Prep. To cap off the regular season, the Crusaders ended St. Joe's playoff hopes by winning 72-64, ending the Hawks' undefeated season. The Crusaders were the PCL's only hope to defeat the two-time defending PCL Champions. Father Judge would be highlighted by guard Kevair Kennedy '25 and guard Derrick Morton-Rivera '26. If Father Judge wanted to take down Roman Catholic, it would have to be a collective process.

The first three minutes of PCL play was a defensive shutout, both teams would not allow a single point and frankly, the clock ran for the entire time, too. Roman Catholic would be the first to score and jump out to a ten point lead with less than a minute left. However, two successful freethrows by