On Tuesday, the Archbishop Ryan Raiders and Ragdolls faced the St. Joseph's Prep Hawks in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Archbishop Ryan took a 57-52 hit to the loss column at the hands of St. Joseph's Prep. Archbishop Ryan lost against St. Joseph's Prep in their previous head to head back in January of 2023, too, but the margin this time around was much wider than the 56-53 score last time.
When it comes to explaining why Archbishop Ryan lost, one person who can't be blamed is Thomas Sorber. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 22 points and 17 rebounds. The match was Sorber's tenth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Jaden Murray, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds.
Even though they lost, Archbishop Ryan were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Archbishop Ryan's defeat dropped their record down to 5-5. As for St. Joseph's Prep, the victory was the fifth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 5-2.
Archbishop Ryan will be playing in front of their home fans against Archbishop Carroll at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Archbishop Carroll's favor is that they have posted big point totals every time they've taken the court this season. As for St. Joseph's Prep, they will head out on the road to face off against La Salle College at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. La Salle College will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Pennsylvania Rankings (they are ranked 210th, while St. Joseph's Prep is ranked 11th).
