Dingle and Okoro Write Championship Chapter For St. Ray's

Much of the postscript following St. Ray's 66-58 win over Holy Cross for the CHSAA's AA city championship has focused on what senior stars Daniel Dingle and Kerwin Okoro endured during their careers at the Bronx basketball power.  There's  no doubt that the loss of six teammates over two seasons gave the two players, who were still growing in their games and as young men, pause to think long and hard about their futures.
While the off the court situation at St. Ray's eventually calmed down, senior year brought with it new challenges. St. Ray's struggled early, in part because of injuries, especially an ankle that severely limited talented junior Shane Rector, and perhaps due to the absence of arch rival Rice High School seemingly made the bull's eye on the Ravens both larger and brighter. The Ravens suffered losses to  Cardinal Hayes and Mount St.Michael, and Archbishop Stepinac who rejoined the "AA" division after Rice closed. A blowout loss to the Cardinals at the end of the regular season was likely the team's low point, and seemingly made them an afterthought going into the post season.  After all, Hayes had their powerful front line and speedy backcourt transfers from Rice. Christ the King, the league's two time defending champs had the league's best player in Omar Calhoun, and Holy Cross could spread the floor and shoot the three as well as any team in the league..
The Ravens did a remarkable job proving the so-called experts wrong. They won the top seed in the New York Archdiocese with a win against Hayes. won convincingly against All Hallows in the intersectional quarter finals and grinded out a tough win in their fourth meeting against Hayes. Suddenly a new group of Ravens was in familiar territory for Coach Oliver Antigua and the program; at Fordham playing for a city title.
Of course the team responded with a championship level effort. In doing so they not only took home a title but withstood a tremendous challenge from Holy Cross, who played great despite facing some early adversity when star guard Marquise Moore left the game with a minute to go in the opening quarter due to foul trouble.
The Knights trailed 15-12 at that moment but played a terrific 9 minutes to hold their ground against St. Ray's. While Rector and Okoro propelled them to a quick offensive start, Will Davis kept the Knights on their heels with 13 first half points that included 4 triples. Even though St. Ray's had played well, the Knights trailed by just 31-29 at the half without Moore and they appeared to be in good position as the second half opened and Moore was back on the floor.
The third quarter settled into a terrific back and forth battle. Okoro switched on to the hot shooting Davis and limited him to just 8 second half points. And his production both ends of the floor, 21 points and 10 boards gave him a well deserved MVP honor. The Ravens extended their margin as Holy Cross hurt themselves a little bit with quick jump shots against an aggressive defense that seemed to frustrate them.  While the Knights would rally to keep the game close St. Ray's always seemed to have a winning response. And while most of those came from Okoro, one crucial one came with Dingle's help. Daniel did not have a big scoring game but as he has throughout his great career he did whatever it took to help his team.  In addition to his 11 points he hauled in 10 boards and added six assists, including one crucial one on a beautiful feed from the post to a cutting Myron Hickman for a critical two points. Rector, whose scoring was crucial in the first half finished with 16 points. For the Knights Davis had 21 points and Moore added 13 points.
Through a season's worth of struggle, the 2012 Ravens demonstrated a champion's heart, and enriched the great history of St. Raymond's basketball while carving out their own place in it.  Congratulations to both teams on a great game and season, and to St. Ray's on a well earned championship.

Molloy and Hayes Advance to Face Brooklyn-Queens Top Seeds

Archbishop Molloy and Cardinal Hayes posted convincing wins in last night's preliminary round action in the CHSAA's "AA" intersectional playoffs. Hayes will face Bishop Loughlin the 2 seed from Brooklyn Queens while Molloy will face top seeded Holy Cross in what should be a great day of quarter final action Sunday, March 4th at Fordham University. Here are recaps of last night's action.

Cardinal Hayes 67 St. Francis Prep 42 For a little over a quarter Tim Leary's Terrier's controlled the pace of the game and made enough outside shots to stay close.  While opponents tend to focus on the Cardinals' talented inside duo of Amadou Sidibe and Jalen Jenkins, it was coach Joe Lods perimeter guys who took advantage of the attention the post guys drew and kick started Hayes' offense. Nasir Williams who finished with 13 points started the barrage with a three pointer and Shavar Newkirk who finished with 17 followed displaying both his superior outside shooting and driving skill. Sidibe added 13 and Hayes had a convincing win. Brett Buser led St. Francis with 10 points and Gabe Gonzales added 8 points.

Molloy 65 St. Peter's 59 Senior guard George Davis had 19 points and led a balanced effort for the Stanners. He and C.J. Davis drove effectively to the basket and when they weren't scoring they were setting up Morrell Gaskins and Marco Kozul for scores. Coach Jack Curran's squad led by 12 at the half and by 7 as the fourth quarter began. But that's when coach Charlie Driscoll's got hot and rallied behind the play of perimeter players Jack Shanahan, Andrew Cannon and sophomore Lattrell Curtis.  They combined with sturdy Patrick Fennell's good work around the basket and nearly helped St. Peter's steal this one. The Eagles' Andrew Cannon, one of the CHSAA"s best shooters hit a triple with 2:16 left to bring his team to within 55-52. George Davis responded for Molloy with a pretty baseline reverse layup and two free throws. Moments later when Cannon hit another trey to bring the deficit back to four points Molly passed ahead against pressure defense and found Kozul for dunks which effectively sealed the win.

            In addition to George Davis' 19 points C.J. Davis added 15, Morell Gaskins had 14 while Kozul had 14 and 13 rebounds for Molloy.

            Shanahan led St. Peter's with 14 points, Cannon added 13, Fennell had 12 and Curtis added 11 points