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Christ the King Become SNY Royalty

Christ the King Royals win SNY Invitational
Christ the King Royals win SNY Invitational

NEW YORK, NY – To be the man you have to beat the man. The St. Raymond Ravens became the man when they upset the heavily favored NJ powerhouse St. Anthony during Friday semis. Christ the King then beat the man to became the SNY Invitational champions when they edged the Ravens, 67 – 66, on Saturday.

The road to the championship began with an impressive semifinal win by the Royals who took down a tough Mt. Vernon team.. That momentum carried over as the Royals faced St. Ray’s in a championship that pit New York's top point guards against each other. For CK it was Georgia Tech-bound senior Jose Alvarado ‘17 facing off in this much-anticipated match against Minnesota-commit Isaiah Washington ‘17.

Alvarado came off a subpar game against Mt. Vernon but his teammates carried the Royals to the win. “They won it yesterday and they just said ‘this is your game now'.” Scoring a team high 21 points, Alvarado rose to the occasion.

While senior stepped up to the plate for Christ the King, 6’10” center Kofi Cockburn ‘19 put forth and MVP performance with arguably his best game of the season with a double-double (20 points & 15 rebounds). “You’re gonna see a couple more games like that from Kofi,” said Alvarado. “He’s a great player.”

MVP Kofi Cockburn
MVP Kofi Cockburn
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The game started out with both teams bringing their A-games. With Omar Silverio ‘18 firing on all cylinders from the perimeter for the Ravens and the trio of Alvarado and Cockburn offense with assists from Tyson Walker ‘18 propping up the Royals both teams were virtually neck and neck after one quarter of play.

Washington began to turn up in the second quarter as did Alvarado but at the half, the Raven held onto a 33 -31 lead.

6’3” Jaylen Davis ‘19 dispensed an injection of offense to Christ the King cause at the end of the second quarter and continued in the third quarter as the sophomore is beginning to come into his own. The Ravens player also made a name for himself as Maykel Valera ‘17 added much needed buckets to St. Ray’s arsenal. Washington and Silverio also weighed in to complete an 11 – 3 run that put the Ravens up by 10 points with 4:17 left in the third quarter.

Davis and Alvarado countered for Christ the King with a 13 -2 run capped off by a Cockburn slam dunk. When the dust settled, the Raven found themselves down by a point to start the fourth and final quarter.

Silverio and Washington quickly put St. Ray’s back up by five point before CK would respond but respond they did. 6’5” Jared Harrison-Hunte ‘19 and Davis inched the Royals closer and closer, even as 6’5” Nick Rivera ‘18, Silverio and Washington kept firing for the Ravens. With 1:11 left to play, Walker tied the game at 63 and soon after Davis put the Royals on top by a deuce. Silverio then drew a foul but missed one of his two free throws

Jose Alvarado, Jaylen Davis & Tyson Walker
Jose Alvarado, Jaylen Davis & Tyson Walker (M. Wingate)

Feeling confident, Alvarado did the Muhammed Ali shuffle as he put the ball between his legs and got fouled with 36.9 seconds left to play. He would also missed one of his two attempts from the charity stripe.

Down by a bucket, 6’5” Darius Lee ‘18 knotted the game for the Ravens with a putback off a Washington miss. The junior, who was fouled on the make, had a chance to take the lead but missed the and-1 opportunity.

Tied at 66, Valera made a potential costly mistake when he fouled Cockburn with only a few second left in regulation., The only saving grace is the center is a notoriously poor free-throw shooter but after missing the first, Cockburn cemented his MVP status by hitting the second free-throw. The Royals went on to win by a point.

Royals head coach Joe Arbitello said he expected Alvarado to rebound a less than stellar performance the day before. “I didn’t expect anything less. He’s been a warrior for three years.”

Silverio paced the Ravens with 18 points with Valera adding 17 points.

St. Anthony (NJ) takes 3rd place crushing Mt. Vernon

Ithiel Horton & R.J. Cole
Ithiel Horton & R.J. Cole (M. Wingate)

In the consolation game, the Friars avenged their unexpected loss to St. Ray’s in the semifinals by dominating Mt. Vernon, 76- 54.

Like an anaconda, St. Anthony applied pressure and slowly but surely crushed the Knights into submission quarter by quarter. Utilizing superior ball movement, 6’2” Ithiel Horton ‘18 and 6’0” RJ Cole ‘17 tag teamed Mt. Vernon turning a 6 point first quarter lead into a 43 – 29 advantage at the half.

Jason Douglas-Stanley ‘18 who was invisible on Friday against Christ the King came knocked down back to back treys for the Knights but again went silent after that. Mount Vernon tried to press the Friars but Coach Bob Hurley’s team cut through it like a hot knife through butter.

At the end of the third quarter, St. Anthony’s lead grew to 21 points. The Knights flailed around in the fourth quarter but with 1:45 and still down by 22 points Coach Bob Cimmino realized his team was dead in water and threw in the towel, inserting his subs.

Coaching his youngest team in years, Hurley admitted that this team is a work in progress and that they overscheduled this year. “You know what’s a big thing for these guys? Not letting a tough schedule cause them to lose their confidence.”

Horton was the high man for St. Anthony with 23 points with Cole adding 20 points & 6 assists. Greg Calixte '17 led Mt. Vernon with 15 points and 5 rebounds with Noah Morgan '18 contributing 11 points.


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