B/Q CHSAA Diocesan Tournament Quarterfinals

BRIARWOOD, NY – Christ the King and Bishop Loughlin received BYE’s in Monday’s quarterfinal round of the B/Q Sectionals. The four remaining CHSAA teams battled in Archbishop Molloy’s historic Jack Curran gym to earn entry into the semifinals.

When Holy Cross’s regular season ended tied for last place with a 2 – 14 record, finding a silver lining becomes a tall order but ending the season beating #1 seeded Bishop Loughlin has given the team renewed momentum. The Knights used that new-found motivation to advance to the semifinals with a win over St. Francis Prep.

Beating a team like Loughlin, then all of the sudden we feel like we can beat anyone in the league,” said Holy Cross head coach Ray Cullinan. “We beat them, our mindset shifted.”

The Knights went into the game against the Terriers with confidence said Cullinan. That positive energy was evident from the onset as Holy Cross jumped out front early in the opening quarter spearheaded by the efforts of 6’7” Sean Flynn ‘19 and 6’1” Jovone Carter ‘20.

St. Francis Prep tried to make inroads in their deficit with 6’4” A.J. Lopez ‘20 becoming a one-man show. A three-ball by 6’0” Tyler Chapman ‘20 set the Terriers back and gave Holy Cross a 29 – 18 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, the Terriers managed to pull to within 5 as Lopez flushed a transition dunk. SFP also received perimeter help from 5’9” Evan Sirakis ‘19 and 6’2” Justin Hendrick ‘19 but the Knights were able to clap back with Chapman finding some daylight. With basically a zero-net gain, St. Francis once gain found themselves down by nine-point going into the final stanza.

The Terriers made a hard charge in the fourth quarter, outscoring Holy Cross and closing the gap to within a bucket. Missed opportunities down the stretch would ultimately be St. Francis Preps downfall.

Chapman was the lead scorer for Holy Cross with 19 points. Flynn added 10 points. Lopez scored 19 points for St. Francis Prep.

The Knights will face a rematch with Loughlin on Wednesday in the semifinals at Christ the King.

The Molloy Stanners tried to go toe to toe with the Clippers but it was a four-quarter game of catch-up. Spirited play by 6’4” Elijah Blackman ‘20 with offensive assistance from 6’2” Frank Navarra ‘19 and Michael Browne yielded tie games and even a brief 1-point lead for Molloy but the duo of 5’11” Nicholas Folk ‘21 and 6’2” Michael Graham ‘20 with help from 5’11” Shawn Fulcher ‘21 proved to be insurmountable on this particular evening.

“We needed to play them aggressively,” said Clippers head coach Clyde Chapman. “We played them two days again at Xaverian so we knew they’d be ready to play.” The aggressiveness paid off but Molloy continued to nip at their heel with Blackman and James Mojica having strong second halves.

Xaverian countered with a balanced scoring attack as William Reyes getting hot in the third quarter and Isaiah Amazon holding it down in the fourth. Leading by 5 points at the end of third quarter, the Clippers extended that advantage to 13 points. With a minute left to play, Molloy head coach Mike McCleary subbed out his starters.

Folk led Xaverian with 18 points with Graham contributing 17 points. Blackman was high man for Molloy with 18 points.

Xaverian will face Christ the King in the semifinal round on Wednesday at Christ the King Regional High School. “Christ the King has really good guards; a really well coached team,” said Chapman. “We’re gonna try to keep Ryan Meyers out the lane along with Sterling Jones. They’re missing a lot of talent but they play hard.”