Roman Catholic’s Xzayvier Brown turned nightmare into a dream finish

Sometimes there’s a thin line between dreams and nightmares.

Monday night during the Catholic League championship game at the Palestra, that was the free-throw line.

Before Roman Catholic senior Xzayvier Brown authored one of the most thrilling finishes in recent memory, the 6-foot-1 point guard felt hope slipping away as his team trailed late.

“I thought we were in a bad dream when we were down five in the last minute,” Brown said postgame. “I was like, ‘Damn, it’s over.’ But I don’t know, I just believe in my teammates so much …”

Belief didn’t hurt. It also helped that the defending champion Neumann Goretti shot just 4-for-9 from the line in the final minute, including 0-for-3 in the final 12.8 seconds.

With the door slightly ajar, Brown kicked it open, banking in a leaning, desperation three-pointer about two, maybe three steps behind the three-point line just slightly left of the top of the key before the end of regulation. Roman went on to win in overtime, 57-52.

Most basketball players — counting down from three — daydream about hitting a critical shot before the buzzer sounds. Brown’s heroics, however, were a little more difficult than he ever dreamed.

“I ain’t dream of being down five with a minute left,” he said with a laugh in the postgame press conference. “I just dream of winning.”

For his coach, Chris McNesby, who won his third PCL title, the shot was in keeping with a theme of Brown’s career at Roman.

“For him: deserving,” McNesby said. “There’s not another [more] deserving player that deserved to be in that moment to make that shot. Four-year guy at Roman, has been through it all. Around school, everyone loves him. Great student. Great ambassador for the program. He embodies what a Roman Catholic basketball player should be, and to have him make that shot, to me, he deserved it. That moment was his.”

Overtime belonged to him, also.

His assist to fellow senior Jermai Stewart-Herring for a corner three-pointer kept the momentum with the Cahillites (22-3) on the first possession of extra time.

Brown did turn the ball over twice in the final frame, but with his team ahead late, his savvy helped saved the day.

Ahead, 53-52, in the last minute, Brown did his best Curly Neal impression, whittling about 30 seconds off the clock by dribbling away from and around his defender until the Saints were forced to foul.

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Gassed by the effort, Brown, unbeknownst to officials, untied his own shoelace, which gave him time to catch his breath as officials usually hold play in such situations.

Fellow senior Anthony Finkley, who will play with Brown at St. Joe’s next season, noticed and pointed his finger to his temple while staring into the crowd.

“He’s smart,” said Finkley, who finished with 13 points.

“We ain’t have timeouts left,” Finkley said postgame. “So he untied his shoe.”

“I was tired,” Brown laughed.

The Saints (21-3) got another chance to add No. 13 to coach Carl Arrigale’s record number of titles.

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Trailing by one after a Brown turnover, Neumann Goretti ran a backdoor lob from junior guard Rob Wright, the PCL’s regular-season leading scorer, to 6-6 junior wing Amir Williams.

Williams was open and had what looked like an uncontested dunk, but lost control of the ball on the way up. He then hung onto the rim and tipped the ball again, which resulted in a turnover.

Wright helped the Saints come back from a 22-11 deficit in the second quarter. He finished with 13 points, six rebounds, and six assists. He finished 4 of 11 from the foul line and 4 of 12 from the field. As a team, N-G shot just 7-for-16 from the foul line.

The game was the sixth meeting in the PCL finale between Arrigale and McNesby, who now have split three wins.

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Asked what makes the rivalry between the schools so special, McNesby said: “It’s the players.”

“They love it. They feed on it; they grew up around it,” he added. “[Brown] told me he was here when Tony Carr was playing. He came down here to watch, and he wanted to be a part of that. I’m sure guys at Neumann came to their games and wanted to be a part of it. Hopefully, there’s a young guy out there [now] who wants to come to Roman.”