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.
No comments:
Post a Comment