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By PAUL SOKOLOSKI; Times Leader Sports Writer
Friday, March 13, 1998 Page: 2B
For a team that had the plug pulled on its point production last season,
the Catholic University Cardinals sure put a lot of electricity into their
1997-98 season.
And it shocked just about everyone.
After graduating their four top scorers, fighting off crushing injuries and
somehow rolling off a school-record 20 consecutive victories, the 25-3
Cardinals charge into today’s NCAA Division III “Sweet 16” round.
“It was sort of unexpected,” Catholic coach Mike Lonergan said.
The Cardinals went 12-13 last season and, with the graduation of Sammy
Briggs, Pat Buckley, Joe Conefry and Capital Athletic Conference Player of the
Year Jeremy Borys, lost 4,500 career points.
What’s more, Catholic suffered what should have been a devastating blow
this season when junior guard Jim McNiff- the team’s top scorer with an
average of 16.9 points per game, and a 50 percent three-point shooter- went
down seven games ago. McNiff, who damaged his right knee, has played sparingly
but hasn’t started since. And the Cardinals played a stretch without
second-leading scorer Sean Tuohey, who missed three games with an ankle
sprain.
Amazingly, Catholic kept jolting teams without them. Win or lose this
weekend, they’ve already accomplished the biggest single-season turnaround in
school history. And with Saturday’s 67-62 victory over Johns Hopkins
University, the Cardinals won their first tournament game in five NCAA
appearances (at the Division I, II and III levels).
“It’s weird,” said Lonergan, who has led Catholic into the tournament for
the third time in his six seasons. “We have a lot of options as far as
scoring. I think foul shooting has a lot to do with it. We have a confident
group of players. And our defense is very strong.”
All those elements played pivotal roles in Catholic’s surprising season.
In a deep rotation, seven Cardinals average 17 minutes per game, and nobody
averages more than 27. Right now, their top two scorers, McNiff and Tuohey
(15.1 ppg.) comes off the bench. And there is not a player in Catholic’s
balanced starting lineup who averages more than 12.5 points.
McNiff (88.3 percent) and Tuohey (83.9) are the team’s best foul shooters,
but Pat Maloney (79.6 percent), Dan Harrington (79.4) and Shawn Kane (75)
aren’t far behind on a team that converts 71.3 percent of its free throws.
And although the Cardinals allow an average of 71.7 points, they’ve kept 15
opponents under 70 points this season and held five under 60.
The Cardinals won all 15 of their home games this year, and their only
losses came at Division I teams American and Stetson (Fla.) in December, and
at Connecticut College (a 22-3 team playing St. Lawrence today in another
“Sweet 16” game) Jan. 5.
Yet, the ideal leadership came from freshman Pat Maloney, a 6-foot-2-inch
point guard from Brant Beach, N.J.
“He’s just steady,” Lonergan said. “He’s like our quarterback out there. I
think that’s helped us a lot.”
His poise helped Catholic win all three of its overtime games this season,
starting with a 91-88 victory over Scranton Nov. 30.
“Last year, those games