Ryan Meyers’ s
clutch trey gave Christ the King a 56-53 lead over Molloy with 2.9 seconds left
to play. The basket was the result of a perfectly executed “pick and pop” play
between Meyers and senior point guard Tyson Walker. Working off of a screen set
by Meyers, Walker kept his dribble alive and dragged Molloy’s defense slightly to
the left before pitching a perfect pass back to Meyers who was shot-ready and
waiting. With a lefty follow through that has become familiar to the Royals’
foes and followers of the CHSAA the shot swished perfectly and set the stage
for an ending that had an unusual twist and had drama befitting the Diocesan “AA”
title that was on the line.
On the next
possession, Molloy inbounded the ball quickly to the nation’s best junior point
guard Cole Anthony. Perhaps because Anthony had had a spectacular 4th
quarter that included to 3-pointers as well as several tough drives, the Royals
fouled quickly, putting him on the line where even if he made both free throws
he could not tie the game. The problem
with that strategy was that the foul came almost too quickly as only .9 seconds
came off the clock when Anthony stepped to the line. He calmly drained the
first cutting CK’s margin to just two points, and then purposely missed the
second hoping for an offensive rebound. When Christ the King took the miss down
the Royals’ player took a few steps without dribbling. When the referee, correctly,
in my judgement called a travel and put .4 seconds back on the clock it set the
stage for the Stanners’ one final chance inbounding the ball from under their
own basket.
The Stanners nearly completed a
perfect game-tying play of their own, using a cross screen for Anthony to set
up a lob pass to him at the rim. With so little time left he put it up on the
rim quickly and softly but it bounced off giving CK a well-earned win and the
2018 Brooklyn-Queens Diocesan title.
The two
teams played a tight game from the opening moments which set the stage for the
dramatic conclusion. The Royals held a 15-9 advantage after one quarter but the
Stanners staged a rally that culminated with a Moses Brown dunk to tie the game
at 22 at half time.
Behind 16 third
quarter points from Tyson Walker, who played brilliantly through an apparent
thigh injury, the Royals took a 40-35 advantage into the final stanza and
quickly bumped that margin to 7 on a short, contested jumper by Tavin Pierre Philippe
on the final quarter’s first possession.
Molloy then responded quickly behind Anthony, who scored 14
of his game-high 32 points in the final quarter. His effort included N.B.A.
range triples as well as well contested drives. The most spectacular of all
those great plays came after a triple from Meyers gave the Royals a 51-50 lead
and a twisting jumper by Kofi Cockburn gave the Royals a 53-50 lead with just over
21 seconds left. From there Anthony eschewed the 3-point shot and instead drove
the right baseline, drew contact from the Royals’ 6’11” freshman Moussa Cisse
and flipped in a perfect reverse layup. The free throw that completed the
three-point play tied the game at 53 and ultimately set the stage for what
would be Meyers’ second clutch shot and the ending that followed. The Royals
earned their third win this season against the Stanners but make no mistake,
each game has been decided by a razor thin margin and if the two teams meet
again in next week’s intersectional playoffs anything can happen. And since
each game between them this season has been better than the last, round 4 will
be a game for the ages.
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