Boys State Tourney: Bishop Garrigan Living By The Motto “Survive And Advance”

The late great former national championship coach at NC State Jim Valvano coined the phrase ” survive and advance” when talking about postseason basketball in March. The Bishop Garrigan boys adopted that motto in their Quarterfinal win over Springville. The Golden Bears admittedly did not have their best game Monday to open the tournament but they did what they had to and got by a solid opponent 55-52. Bishop Garrigan trailed by 3 after the 1st and would trail at multiple times in the game including being down 6 to start the 4th. They would play the entire fourth quarter with guard John Joyce and big man Angelo Winkel both with 4 fouls and neither fouled out. Bishop Garrigan outscored Springville 17-8 in the final frame to get the win in a scrappy performance. Garrigan turned the ball over 21 times in the game and 7 of those game came in uncharacteristic fashion from John Joyce but they overcame the foul and turnover issues. Bishop Garrigan is a team at the 1A level with tremendous size and they used that to their advantage. The Golden Bears were +12 in the paint and had an 18-6 2nd chance points advantage. Both Angelo and Cade Winkel both had “double-doubles” the brothers combined for 33 points and 26 boards. Guard John Joyce added 13 in a game where he felt he didn’t play well. All in all Bishop Garrigan survived and they advanced they will take on West Fork in the Semi’s on Wednesday at 3:45. West Fork edged Remsen-St. Mary’s 55-53 in the Quarterfinals. Bishop Garrigan is in the semifinals for the 1st time since Richard Nixon was President (1973). The reality is any win in March at any level of basketball is a good win even if it’s one where you have to survive to advance.