Cardozo Re-Beats Christ the King

NEW YORK, NY - Cardozo and Christ the King played each other just last week and Cardozo was able to come away with the win. So the rematch was set as both teams were able to win their SNY Invitational semi-final games on Friday. Naturally, Christ the King wanted revenge for the loss, while Cardozo just wanted to keep bragging rights for the borough of Queens.

Aaron Walker and Tareq Coburn made sure that Cardozo was able to keep bragging rights. Walker scored 12 of the 15 points that Cardozo scored in the fourth quarter to help them knock off Christ the King 66-63 to repeat as champions of the SNY Invitational.

Walker was a beast when it came down to crunch time. His team was struggling to score after being up by as many as 10 points early in the second half. Walker could sense that his team needed a boost, and he decided that he was the one that would have to give it to them.

“We weren’t really scoring so I decided I had to do something about it” Walker said. “I was being aggressive and it was working. They just kept coming to me”

So every time Walker got the ball, he tried to make a play. Whether it was driving into the teeth of the defense and trying to score or set up his teammates, Walker found a way to get it done.

The score was 55-54 halfway through the final period when Walker knocked down a three to give his team some breathing room. On the next possession, Walker was able to penetrate into the paint and found Coburn on the baseline for an impressive two-handed dunk in traffic that made the crowd wild with excitement. It also made Christ the King call a timeout with 3:06 left in the game.

Still, CTK was able to cut the lead to one after Jared Rivers split a pair of free throws with 1:35 remaining. Walker split his own pair after getting fouled on the next possession.

Probably the most important play of the game came after that. The score was 62-60 when a shot by CTK missed and bounced out to the perimeter. Walker and �[h9�B

Christ the King guard Jose Alvarado both raced after the ball in the middle of the floor. Both players are fast, but Walker was able to get the advantage and got the ball first. His momentum naturally carried him towards the rim so he did the easiest thing, which was to jump and dunk the ball. The play made it 64-60 and it was just enough to get Cardozo over the hump and the SNY Invitational title.

Coburn was the main man in the third quarter. He opened the third period knocking down two three pointers and forcing CTK to call a timeout to stop the momentum. He also had a floater and another three later in the period to finish with 11 of his team’s 16 third quarter points.

“I was feeling my shots, [the] team was finding me. I just let it fly” Coburn said.

Coburn was the Judges high scorer with 21 points, including 5 triples. Walker was as stat filler, finishing with 20 points on 6 for 8 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists without a recorded turnover.

The senior guard is embarrassingly under-recruited, but maybe schools will finally realize they might be missing something after this weekend’s performance. Walker was an absolute beast on the court. Yes, it’s the second time in this article that I mentioned beast and Walker in the same sentence.

Alvarado was really going hard for the Royals. The talented junior finished with a game high 22 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Tyrone Cohen finished with 18 points.