PLANO: The Varsity Boys Basketball team faced off against Bishop Lynch for the final time in the regular season last night as the TAPPS season is quickly coming to a close. The Cardinals previously defeated the Friars back on January 21st with a 69-57 win that was much closer than the final score indicates.
RJ Jones,
Liam McNeeley, and
Gabe Warren combined for 51 of the Cards' points that night, and this past Tuesday was no different.
The Friars were able to hang with JPII during the first quarter, but were unable to keep up with the high-efficiency scoring machine that is the Cardinals' offense. John Paul II led 23-17 after one, but held Bishop Lynch to just 11 second quarter points while going off for 28 themselves to build a 51-28 lead by halftime. The Friars only managed 19 total second half points as JPII went on to win 89-47, behind 18 and 20 point outputs in the third and fourth quarters.
The home team was lights out from the field, including 47% from three on 14/30 shooting, while Bishop Lynch struggled from deep, managing just 4/21 from beyond the arc. The Cardinals rocked the Friars in the transition game, logging 23 transition points to just 3 for the visitors. Similarly, JPII out-rebounded BL (39-25) and held an advantage down low, outscoring the Friars 32-22 in the paint. In perhaps the most complete team game of the season, every player on the roster for John Paul II scored a bucket.
RJ Jones had another career night for the Cards, dropping 32 point on the Friars on 11/17 shooting. The four-star junior was deadly from three, hitting 7 of 13, and flirted with a double-double after grabbing nine rebounds, to go along with three assists and a steal. Sophomore phenom
Liam McNeeley also had a monster game and filled up the stat sheet as usual, scoring 15 points on 50% shooting. Also listed as a four-star prospect according to Rivals.com, McNeeley tallied another double-double after snatching a dozen rebounds and propelled the Cardinal offense with seven assists and a steal. Senior Eli Obaseki (12/9/2/1) and junior
Gabe Warren (12/4/2/1) caused problems for the Friars all night, while
Ofri Kauf and
Myles Archibald combined for 11 points and were 3/3 from deep.
John Paul II has one game remaining on the schedule before the start of the postseason, and will travel to face Prestonwood on Tuesday. The Lions handed the Cardinals their first district loss in the last three years back on January 18th, falling by a single point after a controversial off-ball foul was called against JPII with 1.8 seconds remaining and gave PCA two free-throws at the end of the game. In what will surely be a heated rematch, the Cards and Lions also play for the regular season district title, with tip-off set for 7:30pm.
