Neumann Goretti coach Carl Arrigale says it was hard to regroup after the Catholic League championship loss
The Saints' loss against Lincoln Park in the PIAA 4A final marks the second time they've fallen short in a title game. "Next time, I know I want to be on the winning side," said Robert Wright III.
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HERSHEY, Pa. — Neumann Goretti coach Carl Arrigale was 9-0 in state championship games. But when the final buzzer went off at the Giant Center in Hershey on Thursday, Arrigale’s streak came to an end.
“You play enough of these, you’re bound to come [out] on the wrong end,” Arrigale said after the 62-58 loss against Lincoln Park in the PIAA 4A boys’ basketball final. “Hopefully the kids learn a lesson from it. Nothing to be ashamed of.”
The loss for the Saints was their fourth in 30 games this year, but it marked the second time in four weeks they had fallen short in a title game that was within reach. Despite the season-ending heartbreak, there is a lot of promise for next year. Most notably, the reigning Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year, Robert Wright III, will be back.
On Thursday, Wright finished with a game-high 27 points — 21 of those coming in the second half. The guard, who has committed to Baylor, is one of the best players in the state and ranked as ESPN’s No. 45 prospect in the class of 2024.
After falling short twice in the same season, the junior said, he knows how he wants to end his high school career.
“We’re going to be ready for next year because we took two tough losses in the championship,” Wright said. “So we’re going to be ready to come back and win.
“I experienced winning it and I experienced losing it, so I’m getting both sides, so I guess I’m learning from it. And next time I know I want to be on the winning side again. This side don’t feel too good.”
In the Philadelphia Catholic League final, Neumann Goretti missed a pair of free throws in the waning seconds that would have sealed its victory. Then Roman Catholic’s Xzayvier Brown made a buzzer beater three that sent the game into overtime. The Saints ended up losing in the extra period.
After that, it was hard to regroup.
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“We had a tough time recovering after blowing our league championship the way we did,” Arrigale said. “They tried to act like they were OK. We didn’t practice well. We didn’t shoot well the whole tournament. We got through.”
In the loss to Lincoln Park, Neumann had multiple chances to either tie or take the lead in the closing minutes but were unable to capitalize. As in the PCL title game, free throws were a problem for the Saints at the end.
The Leopards made two free throws with half a second left on Thursday, and that was the game.
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“We win a lot, and sometimes it gets taken for granted,” Arrigale said. “I just wanted to make sure they knew not to take it for granted and know that winning’s hard. You go to work for it, and you go to stay with it the whole time. You can’t have lapses where you’re not all in.
“We always needed another guy to step up, and this and that. There was just something missing toward the end. We’ve had a lot of championship teams over the years, and we were good enough to have chances in all of those games, but we just weren’t able to pull them out [this year].”