Jalen Snead had the best seat in the house.
And that was crushing him.
Snead is a senior on the Archbishop Ryan High School basketball team, and anyone who watches the Raiders knows he makes his mark by being one of the top defenders in the city.
But in his team’s quarterfinal game against host Archbishop Wood, after hitting a driving layup to put his team ahead by two points with 38 seconds remaining, he fouled out with just over four seconds remaining.
That meant he had to go to the bench to watch the end of the game.
“I knew after I hit the shot, we had a great chance to win,” said Snead, who finished with four points. “We were holding the ball, but I didn’t want to turn it over so I went in and scored. I didn’t know I was going to make it but I thought we would get the rebound if I missed.
“But I fouled out and that was hard, I like to be on the floor, especially on defense. But I had to watch. They did great, though.”
After the four seconds ticked off the clock, Snead rushed the floor to celebrate with his teammates because the Raiders are going to the Palestra.
The six-seeded Raiders beat the Vikings 74-73 in a crazy, back-and-forth game, giving Ryan the right to return to the Catholic League semifinals for the fifth time in the last seven seasons. Three times they went to the Palestra, last year due to COVID, the game was played at the higher seed. Last year, Ryan fell to the Vikings in the playoffs before going on a run in the state tournament that took the Raiders all the way to Hershey for a state championship berth.
“This might have been the best game ever, it was a lot like two years ago when we beat McDevitt in the playoffs,” said Snead, who was a starter as a sophomore when Ryan upset the Lancers to go to the Palestra. “I think both were great because we were the underdogs. I think everyone thought we were the underdogs but we didn’t really think that.”
The Raiders finished sixth this year in the top-heavy Catholic League, and that didn’t sit well with Snead because he thought they were better than that.
Against Wood, all the stars shined.
Sophomore big man Thomas Sorber scored 21, sophomore swingman Darren Williams added 20 and sharpshooter Luke Boyd added 12. Point guard David Wise wasn’t a force on the stat sheet, but he did a nice job getting the Raiders offense in flow.
Snead played his lockdown defense, but also had the biggest bucket in the game.
“I don’t think my guys were surprised I took it, I had it, so I went in and I knew if I missed, Thomas would be there,” said Snead, who lives in Oxford Circle. “I think if I did something like shoot a three, that would surprise everyone, but they know I can do that.
“It’s a shot I work on a lot. I’m not going to say I make it all the time, but I make it a lot. Wood is good at defense so I just attacked the rim and got it.”
The win gives Snead another chance to play at the Palestra. Ryan will battle West Catholic in a semifinal on Wednesday in the second half of a doubleheader. The first game, Roman Catholic against Neumann-Goretti, will tip off at 6:15 p.m.
Every player in the Catholic League loves playing at the University of Pennsylvania court, but this year, that’s not a goal for Snead.
“I played there as a sophomore and it was great, it’s fun to just be there,” Snead said. “But this year, I think we have to win. We can win. I think we have a great team. We can beat anyone.
“I think the biggest reason we can win is because we’re prepared. Playing for (Ryan coach Joe Zeglinski), you’re ready for anything. He always tells us we can do it. He believes in us, so we all believe. We can beat anyone.”
Snead believes the experience of playing at the Palestra will help the Raiders. Their opponent, West, hasn’t been to the semifinals since 1999.
Snead hopes he and his senior teammates can continue to lead the Raiders with a run to the Catholic League championship, and later the district and state playoffs.
“I’m really close with the other seniors, I’m always with Dave, in school and out of school,” Snead said. “I’m close with everyone. This team is really close, we all get along great. We want to win together.
“The whole school gets along. And Ryan loves sports. When the girls teams plays big games, like against St. Hubert, we all go. I went to almost all the football games, I think I missed two. The school all supports each other.”
Snead hopes the school will continue to support him next year when he’s playing in college. He’s not sure where he’ll end up, but he does have a major he think he’ll enjoy.
“I want to play basketball and major in sports management or maybe physical education,” Snead said. “I want to be a basketball coach. I love being around the game. I’ve learned a lot (from Zeglinski) and I’ll use a lot of what he taught me.”
Just as he did in the win over Wood.
“That was definitely my biggest shot I ever hit,” Snead said. “I’m not sure if that was our biggest win or the one against McDevitt two years ago. Catholic League is hard, it’s good to win any playoff game.”
