Cathedral Prep completes sweep of rival McDowell in boys basketball

Derek Galla didn't get a chance to play in the Cathedral Prep-McDowell basketball showdown last month at Paul Goll Gymnasium.

The Prep senior wasn't going to waste his opportunity on Friday when he was put into the starting lineup for his final game against McDowell.

Galla, a 6-foot-6 senior, scored 18 points, including nine in the first half, and the Ramblers knocked down 15 of 22 free throws in the fourth quarter they held off McDowell 62-54 at HFEC to complete a season sweep in boys basketball.

“We wanted to play as a team and play as one. This team shares the ball really well and we love each other,” Galla said. “It was all confidence for me to get off to that start. Our defense is one of the more underrated parts of our team as well.”

The win improved Prep's record to 12-10 overall, while McDowell dropped to 18-4. Both teams finished 9-3 in the region to tie for second place. Erie High routed Meadville 77-51 on Friday to win the Region 7 title.

Prep raced out to an 11-4 lead right away as Galla scored seven quick points including a 3-pointer, and Pickens blocked a 3-pointer before scoring on the other end to send the sold-out crowd into a frenzy.

“What a beautiful story about Derek Galla. He didn't get to play in the first Prep-McDowell game and he's been playing so well lately that we knew we had to go to him,” Prep coach Jeremy Lynch said. “As a coaching staff and as a team, we're definitely glad that we did.”

McDowell hung in there and kept the Prep lead between eight and 12 points for most of the game as Stephon Porter, who was celebrating his birthday, worked hard in the paint to get rebounds and putbacks. He finished with 23 points while going up against bigger players throughout the night.

The Prep defense, however, made it tough on McDowell's leading scorers Tyler Grove and Kamden Kramer. Andrew Mitchell stuck like glue on Grove the entire game and Kramer constantly had a hand in his face when trying to shoot a 3. Grove finished with 15 points and Kramer hit a key jumper in the third quarter to stop a Prep run.

“Some of this doesn't end up in the boxscore but Mike Thompson, RJ Roberts, Joe Himes in the first half did a great job collectively focusing in on those guys,” Lynch said. “The other three out there had to keep communicating in front of 2,000 fans and we did what we could.”

McDowell made one last run in the fourth quarter down 53-45. Porter scored on a spin move before he scored on a 3-point play to cut the lead to 53-50 with less than two minutes to go. Pickens, however, responded right away with a 3-point play and Prep put the game away with an 11-4 run.

What's next

The regular season is over for both teams and the two rivals will compete for District 10 championships next week. If D-10 sticks to what it has done in the past, it will be a D-10 championship doubleheader on Thursday with Prep taking on Meadville for the 5A title and McDowell playing Erie for the 6A title. The doubleheader the past few years has been at Mercyhurst University, but sites, times and the date won't be official until the D-10 basketball playoff committee meets Sunday morning.

Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNreisenweber.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Derek Galla had a big game as Cathedral Prep swept McDowell