ROSEMONT, Pa. - The visiting Neumann Knights (13-13) used the long ball to earn a 73-59 victory over the Rosemont Ravens (13-13) in this afternoon's CSAC First Round playoff game between the #4 and #5-seeded teams. It was the first post-season appearance for the Rosemont program in only its third year of existence.
The Ravens took control early in the contest, impressing their sell-out crowd by taking a 15-6 lead with 12:16 left in the first. Rosemont appeared to be cruising after a 6-0 run put them up by 11 points, 25-14 with 6:39 left before the break. But the Knights started to come back as they outscored the Ravens 19-9 to narrow their deficit to only one point, 34-33 at the break. An obvious chink in the Raven's armor in the first half was that they shot 0-7 in the half from beyond the arc.
Rosemont started the second half with a 5-0 spurt to go up 39-33 but the Knights turned their play up a notch, tying the game at 39-39 with 15:40 left. For the next 5:17 Neumann would start to put distance between themselves and Rosemont, outscoring the Ravens 14-5 in that stretch to take a nine-point lead. The run was punctuated by a 3-point bucket from Neumann's Gerald Bryant.
It would be the first of five straight treys from the Knights, who moved out to a 13-point lead, and was further highlighted by a slam dunk by Mark Blount on a pass from Bryant to put the visitors up 67-52 with only 2:05 left. During this crucial stage of the game the Ravens continued to try to convert with big shots from outside, but missed all such attempts, ultimately shooting 0-for-14 from downtown in the game. The Knights feasted downtown, shooting 6-for-11 in the second half and 9-for-21 overall.
The Ravens placed three players in double figures. Senior Harrison Carsillo (Collingswood, NJ) scored 18 points in his final collegiate game, with 13 rebounds to notch his 6th double-double of the year. Junior Derrick Carter (Millville, NJ) scored 12 while junior Tremell Green (BOK/Philadelphia) chipped in with 11 points and nine boards.
Neumann's Bryant scored 21 points in the second half on 6-for-7 shooting from the field (5-for-6 from beyond the arc) and 4-for-6 from the line. He ended up with 27 points on the night to lead all players. Mark Blount scored 16 and Dom Gibson 10 for the Knights.
In the other CSAC First Round contest, the Immaculata Mighty Macs (#6 seed) toppled the Griffins of Gwynedd-Mercy College (#3 seed) by a final score of 94-82. Neumann will travel to play at the #2 seed, Keystone College and Immaculata will play at #1 seed Cabrini on Tuesday night in the CSAC Semi-final games.