Spalding Basketball Looks To Finish Great But Difficult Season On A High Note

The Archbishop Spalding Cavaliers are riding high this year, with a 21-5 record and 13-3 record in their conference going into the final six games of the regular season. Head coach Josh Pratt said that the season has gone great thus far, with the team playing and beating some strong competition from outside their league. But Pratt also said that this season has seen more difficulties than usual.

“The biggest challenge for us has been injuries,” he said. “We lost sophomore wing RJ Newton to a bruised knee and senior power forward Cam Whitmore to an ankle sprain.”

Temporarily losing Whitmore didn’t make things easier. Whitmore, a Villanova commit, is the No. 1 ranked player in Maryland and the No. 20 ranked player in the country according to 247 Sports.

And the difficulties didn’t stop there as Spalding dealt with canceled games and practices due to COVID, with rescheduled games being played close together. At one point, the Cavaliers played five games in seven days with three of those games played on consecutive days. But through all of it, Pratt said his team has been a great group of players, many of whom have been with him for the three years that he has coached at Spalding.

“They represent their families, school and teammates extremely well,” Pratt stated. “Moving forward, we have to be tougher and rebound. We are at our best when we are sharing the ball and guys are involved. I always say, ‘Be happy for your teammates; be coachable because we have one goal and that’s to win a championship.’ We are using these last remaining games to keep improving and getting better.”