Perhaps there's a simple reason why great chemistry is exhibited on basketball courts by Tyreek Duren and Daniel Stewart.

After all, they're cousins!

Who knew? They surely didn't. At least not until several summers ago, by which time they were already long-time AAU teammates.

There was this party for members of a certain large family. Duren didn't know Stewart was going. The opposite was also true.

"We saw each other there and then our moms got to talking," Duren said. "They found out there's a relation."

Second cousins? Eighth cousins? Thirteenth cousins six times removed?

"I don't even know if they know," Duren said, laughing. "Just say somewhere along the line."

The bloodlines subject surfaced last night after Duren and Stewart, juniors and a point guard and forward, respectively, powered Ss. Neumann-Goretti past visiting Archbishop Carroll, 63-49, in a Catholic Blue game that had good moments, but overall left something to be desired.

Duren was primarily responsible. Aside from scoring 11 points and dealing four assists, the 6-foot, 175-pounder scrambled for seven steals.

It's hard for an offense to get a flow when, zip, the ball is going in the other direction.

In the locker room, coach Carl Arrigale kidded Duren about being the king of turnovers.

"It comes down to anticipation," Duren said. You read the eyes of whoever has the ball and figure out what he's going to do. You also stay low, so he can't really see you and if he does, make it look like you're defending someone else.

"Coach Carl knows I'm going to do that. So if the big guy is accustomed to putting the ball on the floor, and I can figure out how he likes to do it, I'm going to attack. I just pick things up as the game goes along."

One of Duren's assists and three of his steals, along with four of his points, were posted in the first quarter as N-G rolled to a 21-8 advantage. Stewart tallied half of his 16 markers in that frame, thanks to a pair of three-point plays and a vicious dunk.

Duren and Stewart are on their second school as a unit. They started off at Haverford School. Duren, who lives in Yeadon, was the first to transfer to N-G. Stewart, an Upper Darby resident, came later.

"Actually, I was telling him he should stay at Haverford, knowing what a great academic school it is," Duren said. "But though he liked the school, he wasn't enjoying the basketball too much because they had point guard problems. So then he decided to come down here with me.

"We've always worked well. Since our early days of playing together. Not sure why. Just the way it is. I like his game. He likes mine. It's beautiful. We're hoping we can go to the same college, too. And that's probably going to work because a lot of the same schools are looking at us."

Recently, local hoops fanatics were looking down on the Saints after they suffered a non-league loss to Friends Central. This one shaped up as a test because Carroll came in 11-0 overall.

"Everybody thought it would be tight," Duren said. "People were thinking we're overrated. This showed how good we are. We all showed our toughness."

Lamin Fulton (two treys) added 13 points for N-G while junior wing guard Tony Chennault, a Wake Forest commit, was held scoreless for the first 23 minutes, 53 seconds, before finishing with 11. He added five assists. Stewart grabbed 10 rebounds while Andre "Scooter" Gillette (Niagara) recorded four blocks.

Juan'ya Green (15) and DJ Irving (12) scored in double figures for Carroll, which shot a putrid 4-for-14 at the line. Kasheef Festus had eight boards.

"We all can score," Duren said. "But that's not how you win. I let the game come to me."

And sometimes, even often, he comes rushing downcourt after making a steal. *