Second seeded Holy Cross used a terrific fourth quarter and near perfect free throw shooting to earn a 62-55 win over Xaverian while Bishop Loughlin's young lions used their slashing and shooting ability to streak past defending champion and top seeded Christ the King 74-67 at St. Francis Prep last night. The two teams will meet tomorrow for the Diocesan title in a matchup that features a Holy Cross filled with talented seniors and a young Loughlin squad which struggled at times during the regular season but showed last night they're capable of putting a winning effort together at any time against any team. With their wins both the Knights and Lions earned byes into next week's intersectional quarter finals. Here are recaps of last night's games:
Holy Cross 63 Xaverian 55 The Clippers started well in this one, leading 28-23 at the half. While the Knights' Will Davis did a terrific job against the Clippers shooting star Brian Bernardi, n teammates, George Lambert and soph Raven Owen combined with the Clippers' other star Dillon Burns to pick up the slack. Owen especially was exceptional in helping his team to their half time advantage; providing scoring with great drives and terrific passing. He even found Bernardi with a quick hit ahead pass. for what would be his only open look at a three pointer which he drained.
Owen experienced some hard growing pains in the second half when two quick shots by him that missed opened the door for the Knights to tie the game at 28 with a quick 5-0 burst out of the locker room. Behind Marquise Moore, Davis and Mareiga Clarke the Knights opened up a six point advantage before the Clippers regrouped and tied the game at 41 heading into the final 8 minutes.
From there the Moore's clutch shooting and Davis' defense were the difference Moore's 22 points included a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe and a contested trey from the corner which gave the Knights a 57-50 lead with just under a minute left. Davis' defense limited Bernardi to just 12 points and while Dylan Burns would put in 20 for the Clippers they forced him into many tough ones that led to transition opportunities for the Knights. As they have all season the Knights demonstrated the kind of poise that comes with having seniors and an ability to score at all 5 positions that should continue to serve them well in the playoffs.
Loughlin 74 Christ the King 67 Super sophomore Khadeen Carrington and his Lion teammates showed once and for all that they will respond to a challenge. Carrington was fouled hard with just under 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter and the Lions trailing the Royals. Play was stopped, a flagrant foul was called, and Carrington's mom rushed to the court to check on her son. Once play resumed the Lions, led by Carrington blitzed the Royals, outscoring them 16-11 to close out the period and when Mike Williams put the Lions ahead 56-52 with one of his signature three point shots, the Lions hurt the Royals as they did in two close regular season loses, by spreading the floor and driving to the basket. While Carrington was the main scorer, picking up 17 of his 26 points in the last two quarters, Williams Jordan Nanton Elisia Boone and the rest of the Lions each contributed key drives for either baskets or assists as they utilized their quickness advantage perfectly against the bigger Royals. And when CK finally gained their footing and lowered the margin to 7 points with 2:15 left it was time for Carrington to provide the knockout blow with a tough off balance banker from the left side. For the Lions Williams added 12 points while Boone, Lavar Harewood and Kevin Ravenell each added 10. For the Royals Omar Calhoun had 18 points and Jon Severe added 16 in the loss
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