2nd half spree lifts CTK; Coach attains milestone

For Christ The King, however, a blend of augmented bench depth and balanced scoring and unselfishness has kept the winning ways intact.

UCLA-commit Brandon Williams, a high scoring 6-foot-9 point forward and Class of 2025 point guard Markell Alston remain suspended for their role in a melee that spilled into the stands during CTK's 20-point victory over Archbishop Molloy HS two weeks ago.

Other pieces have stepped up in their absence.

On Wednesday, Class of 2023 guard Devin Vanterpool scored a game-best 23 points and Brandon Gardner and Qin Fang added 18 and 17, respectively, as the Royals scored a 77-68 win over Monsignor Scanlan of the Bronx.

Christ The King head coach Joe Arbitello attained a personal milestone with the victory, registering win No. 300 of his career.

He is 300-79 overall at the helm in Middle Village.

The Royals ran away with it during a 10-2 run to start the fourth quarter.

They were able to swell the spread to 20 in the final quarter, though Scanlan had a spirited late rally which ultimately wasn't enough.

Christ The King opened the second half on a 14-6 run, a spurt capped by a transition layup from senior point guard TJ Oliver which gave the Royals a 44-32 lead with 3:02 remaining in the third quarter.

Vanterpool's wild block led to a thunderous transition dunk from Fang that lengthened the lead to 55-39 with 6:54 remaining in the fourth.

Scanlan came out firing. They took an 18-17 lead after a floater by freshman Dior Anderson and then a 3-pointer from Kassius Paulin with 5:37 to play in the second quarter.

CTK quickly regrouped as Vanterpool fired in a 3-pointer, Brandon Gardner got a tip-in, and Iowa State-commit Dwayne Pierce drove in for an end to end layup on a quick 7-0 run.

The Royals took a 30-24 lead into halftime, with Vanterpool (who took an official visit to nationally ranked Florida Atlantic University this past week) piloting the perimeter game with four first half treys and 16 points in 14 minutes.

Gardner sparked CTK in the first half. The 6-foot-7 St. John's signee stepped out and hit a 3-pointer and then barreled his way to the rim for a tough in-traffic finish as the Royals took a 15-13 lead in the final minute of the first quarter.

Scanlan had a fluid attack early, taking a 13-10 lead on a deep 3-pointer by Paulin.