By CHRIST VITO, sports@delcotimes.com

RADNOR — Juan’Ya Green cannot identify when first he took an interest in basketball.

However, he vividly remembers when he was reprimanded for his avid interest in the game.

“I used to sneak out of my mom’s house to go shoot around at night,” Green said. “I’m from North Philly, so we went to Panati Playground. She’d be asleep and I’d bring a ball with me and go out. I started doing that when I was still real young.

“My mom caught me once, though. I got in trouble for that.”

Green was six when his mother, Jennelle, spotted him creeping out of the house to play basketball late at night.

These days the Archbishop Carroll sophomore doesn’t have to break curfew to help the Patriots seek their first Catholic League championship since 1995.

Green’s passion remains strong, and increased recruiting attention only fuels the fire.

The 6-3 point guard has participated in nearly a dozen showcase tournaments over the last two summers. When he was in eighth grade, he started pointing out to his teammates, his mother and his stepfather, Paul Gripper, the college coaches who were in the grandstands watching his games.

Green, 16, might recognize the coaches, but he insists the famous faces don’t alter his goal on the court.

“I don’t pay any attention to that stuff, for real,” Green said. “I just go out there and play. It’s hard to stay focused when you see them up there, but all you can really do is go out and play the games.”

According to Green, there are five colleges that have contacted him and Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk: Maryland, Pittsburgh, St. Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova.

“In an ideal world, the recruiting wouldn’t begin until you’re a junior or senior, but that’s the way it is these days,” Romanczuk said. “Juan’Ya has been through it all with a smile. The smile never leaves his face.”

It shouldn’t have to, since the Patriots have opened their season 9-0, including four straight wins to begin the Catholic League Blue Division schedule.

Green sat out five of those wins. He suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in the season’s second week after dealing with tendinitis during the summer.

Injuries don’t worry Romanczuk. Green knowing when to give himself a breather does.

“You try to tell him not to go and play on the courts outside with his uncles,” Romanczuk said, “but he just loves the game too much. He’ll go from open gym with us to his AAU team. It’s almost nonstop with him. You hope he gets a break at some time, but you know that’s not the case.”

Green was in the starting lineup five times last year as a freshman. Romanczuk said he had good vibes about Green after his first game, when he scored 14 points and handed out five assists while committing zero turnovers.

Green has scored 57 points in four games. According to his coach, it wouldn’t hurt if Green scored a little more.

“He’s someone who we almost have to force to take shots,” Romanczuk said. “He takes so much delight in passing the ball and you have to tell him, ‘It’s the right play to shoot the ball there, Juan’Ya, and not make the extra pass.’”

Whether he’s passing or shooting, Green wants to win a Catholic League and a District 12 title for the Patriots.

“That’s the goal,” he said. “We want to bring one home for Carroll. It’d be pretty good to be a part of something like that.”

Romanczuk, who played for Carroll’s only Catholic League championship team 14 years ago, seconds that statement.

“It’s nice to have won one of them,” he said. “Maybe I can be a part of another.”