Sports

Smaller, less athletic Xavier gets by LaSalle

Being undersized and playing in front of a hostile crowd sitting literally inches from the court is nothing new to Xavier point guard Liam Monaghan.

“I have two older brothers who threw me around whenever we would play basketball, I’m not afraid of anyone else,” the sophomore said. “Knowing they were bigger than us actually motivated me and our team coming into today.”

Despite playing a much larger and more athletic LaSalle team in front of fans sitting on cafeteria tables directly on the sidelines demarcating in and out of bounds, Xavier was able to jump out to an early lead and never look back.

With the aid of 23 made free throws and 17 offensive fouls, including seven charges, called on LaSalle, Xavier handily defeated the Cardinals, 71-59, in CHSAA Class A boys basketball Friday night in Manhattan.

“This is a tough environment to play in for sure, with the crowd literally right on top of you,” Xavier coach Joe McGrane said. “But with that being said, Liam doesn’t see anyone, he just sees the rim.”

Despite scoring only seven points, Monaghan arguably impacted the game more than any other player on the floor. On defense, he held LaSalle star Shammgod Wells to a mere point in the fourth quarter and just four in the entire second half. He took a momentum-altering charge from Wells with six minutes remaining in the game, just as LaSalle was mounting a comeback with a 7-0 run.

On offense, he iced the game with two free throws with 18 seconds remaining, as well as fostering crisp ball movement that often led to good shot opportunities in the paint for Matt Crockett, among others, who finished with a game leading 21 points.

“Coach told us during the timeout that we should try to take a charge and that’s what I did. It swung the momentum and allowed us to hold on,” Monaghan said. “We’re a really tough team, both mentally and physically, and we showed that today.”

While Monaghan facilitated the rest of Xavier’s offense on the court, it was Crockett who played the role of emotional leader. Guarding LaSalle’s taller and very aggressive wing Chris Polanco, Crockett was able to score from both beyond the 3-point line and along the baseline seemingly at will, including 10 points alone in the fourth quarter.

This seemingly agitated Polanco and the Cardinals, who were visibly frustrated with their inability to stop Xavier’s persistent attack of the basket.

“It was a great matchup for Matt despite the height difference,” said McGrane. “We got him in the right spots, his 3-pointers opened things up and he just did it all out there.”

While Xavier (3-0, 2-0 ‘A’) was able to overcome its size disadvantage and come away with a victory, it seemed as if LaSalle (1-2, 0-1) couldn’t get out of its own way. Seventeen offensive fouls, with seven coming on charges, led to four Cardinals fouling out in the fourth quarter, forcing LaSalle coach Al Barbosa to go to his bench many more times than he wished.

“In my 19 years of coaching high school basketball, I’ve never seen 17 offensive fouls called on one team in one game,” Barbosa said. “The referees were calling chippy little calls and we feel like it wasn’t being called both ways. With guys in foul trouble by the second quarter, we could never put our best team on the court and that killed us.”

“It felt like we ended with 35 fouls and Xavier only had 15 or so,” added Wells, who finished with 11 points. “They were passing the ball very well, but we played really well too even though we were very frustrated. Officials aside, we should have won this game.”