MIDDLE VILLAGE, NY – No one could have imagined that Saturday’s high school game between St. Francis Prep Terriers and the Christ the King Royals would end up rivaling the 6 overtime NCAA quarterfinal between Syracuse and UConn in 2009. In New York City basketball on any level, the 104 – 101 five-overtime victory by the Terriers could possibly hang on the wall alongside a select few overtime classics.
In a surprisingly less than packed Royals gym, most thought a Christ the King win would be a foregone conclusion as they came out swinging versus a young St. Francis Prep squad to avenge suffering a 2-point loss to Holy Cross earlier in the week. “That was one of our major concerns,” confessed Terriers head coach Jimmy Lynch. “We were almost hoping that they would’ve squeaked one out the other night [against Holy Cross] so that maybe they’d be a bit disinterested with us.”
But Christ the King did lose and was now hungry for a win. St. Francis Prep also had something to prove said Lynch. “We were 0 – 2 in the [CHSAA] league and we wanted to introduce ourselves to this league too.”
The fault lines were drawn in what ended up being a game of attrition as both the Royals and the Terriers went at it head to head for over two and a half hours and through five OT’s. Already a young squad, Prep led by junior Todd Rochelle ‘21 was buoyed by the stellar play of sophomore Chance Morrish ‘22 who's coming out party provided sustained offense from the second quarter on as well as in clutch situations.
Christ the King came out in the opening quarter with a full on aerial assault led by 6’3” Lovell Smith ‘20 that resulted in a seven-point deficit that the Terriers had to overcome to start the second quarter. St. Francis Prep did bounce back, narrowing the gap to 36 – 34 at the half and with 7 minutes left in the third, a trey by Morrish gave the Terriers its first lead albeit brief.
Ryan Myers ’20 who was the Royals elder statesman began to take charge, He and Smith countered for Christ the King and as the fourth quarter began the Terriers were back down by 6. For majority of the quarter, St. Francis Prep played catch-up. Jon Medley ‘22 and Morrish rallied to take a one-point lead with 36 seconds left in regulation. Nicholas Molina ‘20 drew a foul on next possession and now the Royals were up one and in play for the win. Rochelle was fouled with 6.2 ticks remaining but the junior went one of two from the charity stripe sending the game into its first overtime knotted at 64.
Myers came up big from the Royals in the first OT but so did Morrish and Rochelle for Prep. Both teams were tied at 72 to start the second overtime and again at 78 for the third OT as fatigue began creep in for both teams.
With each passing overtime different heroes emerged to step up and hold the fort. For Christ the King, Smith and Sterling Jones ‘21 supplemented the steady offense provided by Myers. The Terriers, Besier Hot ‘20 provided timely buckets as well as a pressure release as Christ the King tried to contain Preps offense.
It seemed as if neither squad was willing to give an inch and tied at 84, the fourth overtime began and featured big perimeter shots from Smith and counters by Rochelle.
As the fifth overtime began at 94 apiece, there appeared to be cracks in the Royals armor. Had they finally blinked? A defensive stop by the Terriers plus a turnover and baskets in transition gave the St. Francis Prep a 6-point lead with 10.8 secs on the clock. Myers drained a trey at the buzzer but it was not enough. The unexpected but amazing five-overtime thriller had finally come to an end as time ran out.
“I’m so proud of our guys,” said Coach Lynch whose players were exhausted yet resilient. “Whether things were going our way or going Christ the King’s way we just stuck with it.”
Morrish was the high man for St. Francis Prep, playing wire-to-wire, netting 29 points. Rochelle contributed 28 points. Myers and Smith paced Christ the King with 30 points and 28 points.
