Christ the King Stops Molloy
BRIARWOOD, NY - The rivalry between the Christ the King Royals and Archbishop Molloy goes back decades. Friday’s game hosted by the Stanners on Friday was no different. In the Jack Curran gym packed to the rafters, CTK would edge Molloy, 68-61.
After taking a loss against Bishop Loughlin earlier in the week, Christ the King Head coach Joe Arbitello credited his team maturity for the resiliency to bounce back for the win in a hostile environment. “Against Loughlin, that was a complete meltdown. It was a meltdown on my part. It was a meltdown on their part. We were playing like a bunch of freshmen and sophomores out there.”
Arbitello said that the plan was to contain the Stanners’ enforcer 6’5” Issac Grant ’16 (12 points & 7 rebounds). “We stepped up defensively and got it done.”
Versus Molloy, the Royals seemed to snap back into form especially with the addition of David Cole ‘16 (7 points & 4 rebounds) who played his first game after coming off a suspension for the first half of the season.
Cole Anthony ‘19 (17 points & 1 assist) and Grant gave Molloy an early lead but a perimeter shot and a dunk by Tyrone Cohen ‘16 (8 points & 5 rebounds) turn the tables in Christ the King’s favor. The Royals carried that momentum into the second quarter where they led by seven points.
In each subsequent quarter the Stanners slowly sliced into Christ the King’s advantage. In the battle of the point guard Jose Alvarado ’17 (8 points) held his own versus Anthony but the freshmen was a handful and Alvarado found himself in early foul trouble.
Molloy chopped the Royals lead to 35-30 at the half and dominate play by Grant in the paint put the Stanners on the precipice of taking the lead. 6'6" Khalid Moore ‘18 (11 points & 2 rebounds) eventually knotted the game at 40 with 3:32 and Anthony would give Archbishop Molloy its first lead from the foul line.
Post play by Grant and transition points by 6’4” John Herring ‘17 (8 points & 2 rebounds) and Anthony sent Molloy into the final quarter ahead by a point with Alvarado picking up his 4th foul at the buzzer. With the junior now riding the bench, the keys the Royals car was handed to guard Tyson Walker ’18 (11 points) and the sophomore rose to the occasion. “I’ve been telling everybody that our sophomores are as good as anybody’s in the city,” said Arbitello. “You saw it tonight.”
Walker hit clutch buckets along with Jared Rivers '16 (14 points & 7 rebounds) who also did the dirty work. “Jared was tough and was able to grab the loose balls and push the ball up the floor,” said Arbitello. Another key player who scored hustle point was Yashawn Bright ‘16 (13 points & 8 rebounds).
With the momentum in the Royals favor, Molloy found themselves down 62-53 with 2:19 left to play. Molloy tried to claw and scratch their way back into the game but the Royals got turnovers Stanners committing offensive fouls. Even so, buckets inside by 6’11” Moses Brown ’18 (4 points, 4 rebounds & 2 blocks) and Anthony closed the gap to 5 points but there was only 39.5 seconds left to play
The Stanners resorted to fouling to slow down the clock but Rivers and Walker were solid that the line and Molloy’s strategy only served to increase the point spread as time ran out.
“I think we missed a bunch of foul shots in the fourth quarter and that was the difference in the ball game,” said Molloy head coach Mike McCleary who also credited Walker for hitting clutch shots down the stretch that spelled doom for his squad. “We have trouble sustaining our focus for 32 minutes.”
