Davis Comes up Big as Molloy Beats CK in OT 71-68

              Archbishop Molloy's senior guard C.J. Davis capped a terrific 21 point performance with clutch  plays  that helped the Stanners to a second straight upset; this time at Christ the King 71-68.

              C.J. was exceptional from start to finish but saved his best work for the game's closing moments; the part of the game coaches often refer to as "winning time". With his team trailing 65-62 Davis buried a left side triple to tie the  game with 2.5 seconds left in regulation. After CK scored the first three points of overtime and Molloy crept to within one,  Davis  found a crease in the Royals' defense and drew a foul. The first one needed a little assist from the rim to drop in and tie the game at 68. After a time out by Coach Joe Arbitello to ice him Davis promptly swished the next one. The Columbia University recruit then sealed the win by stealing CK's inbounding pass. With .1 seconds left he made two window dressing free throws that provided the final margin.

              Davis and the Stanners  a masterful job controlling  tempo in the first half.  Time and again he used his change of pace dribble and ability to play through contact to get to the rim. And when he wasn't scoring himself he was getting teammates involved. With the help of contributions from fellow senior Jason Cethoute  and sophomores Aaron Walker and Isaac Grant, Molloy  took a 36-31 advantage into halftime.

              Christ the King used a terrific transition game to lift themselves back into the game in the third quarter. Travis Alston, who scored 21 of his game high 23 points in the second half and sophomore Tyrone Cohen were terrific.  They helped the Royals fight through adversity created by an uncharacteristically poor shooting night from star Rawile  Alkins  and the absence of Adonis Delarosa, who served the balance of his two game suspension for a flagrant foul during the Royals' loss at Loughlin a week ago.   Alkins finished with just 13 points. And Delarosa's absence meant that the Royals did not have his sure hands and passing ability to be the hub of a normally productive half court offense.  Take nothing away from Molloy however who earned a terrific road win and have now won consecutive games over two teams ahead of them in the Brooklyn Queens  "AA" standings; Loughlin and Christ the King. They seem to be hitting their stride coming down the stretch and could spring another upset or two in the playoffs

              The Royals will have their return match with Bishop Loughlin on Sunday at CK. These are two very good teams and the game deserves better than the extracurricular nonsense that marked last week's game. If the nonsense is absent it should be as good a game as any played in our region this season.