Christ the King Re-Beats Molloy
BRIARWOOD, NY – In their first match-up, the NYCHoops.net #1 ranked Christ the King Royals hosted and summarily beat #8 ranked Archbishop Molloy on national television. On Friday, the Stanners had an opportunity to avenge that loss on its home turf with about 40 seconds remaining but a turnover by Molloy and a buzzer beater by Quaran McPherson ‘20 gave the Royals stunning 61 – 58 victory.
“Tyson [Walker] ‘18 did what a point guard’s suppose to do,” said McPherson. “He got the ball to me in the corner and I hit the shot.”
The Jack Curran gymnasium was packed to the rafters with the Stanners faithful. College Coaches and even NBA star Kyle O’Quinn were in attendance for this one.
7’2” Center Moses Brown ‘18 and point guard Cole Anthony ‘19 got Molloy off to a 7 - 2 start but Ryan Meyers ‘19 and Walker began connecting from the perimeter, tying the game at 10. 6’11” Kofi Cockburn ‘19 gave Christ the King their first lead but it would be short lived as Anthony closed out strong, putting the Stanners up by 5 points as the second quarter got underway.
Khalid Moore ‘18, with help from Brown, kept Molloy out front for most of the second quarter, but Meyers was hot from the arc for the Royals. Exchanging twos for threes mathematically whittled down the Stanners advantage. With 3:40 left in the first half, another trey by Meyers finally put CK out front. Anthony countered, but an offensive spark from Walker gave the Royals a 29 – 24 lead and the momentum at the half.
A massive dunk by Cockburn increased Christ the Kings advantage and muted the crowd as the third quarter got underway. Baskets by Tavin Pierre-Phillip ‘20 off the bench soon gave the Royals a 47 – 36 lead with 1:33 left in the quarter. Anthony and Moore put together a 5 – 0 run to end the third but the Stanners were still down by 6 as the final quarter got underway.
Receiving no real offense from anyone other than Anthony and Moore plus shooting poorly from the free-throw line, a comeback for Molloy would take some heavy lifting. Appearing to initially buckle under the pressure, the Stanners deficit grew to 13 points with 4:20 remaining in regulation.
All seemed lost for Molloy until Anthony and Moore tag teamed for an improbable 13 – 0 run capped off by a steal from Moore to tie the game at 58 with 39.1 seconds remaining. A turnover by the Royals with 28.7 second left on the clock gave the Stanners a chance to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat but 11 seconds later, Anthony coughed up the ball in isolation while trying to go one-on-one against Walker.
“[I told my team] we’ll get the stop and then we’ll run something to win the game,” said Christ the King head coach Joe Arbitello. “So, we get the stop and I’m about to call a time out and Kofi’s like no, no, no, we got it. Tyson and Kofi knew what they wanted to do so I didn't call the timeout. I trust in my guys.”
The Royals had possession of the rock as time ran down with Coach Arbitello trusting that his squad will do the right thing. Walker brought ball up court zgging and zagging. The senior guard then penetrated quickly and kicked it to McPherson in the left corner and the sophomore calmly knocked down the three-ball at the buzzer. Game over. The Royals sweep Molloy. “Quaran. He could be terrible and nothing effects him," said Arbitello who says McPherson has nerves of steal and no fear of taking the big shot.
Limiting Brown to 8 points and 6 rebounds was big for Christ the King but holding Molloy’s bench to zero points and SG Danny Braster ‘19 and combo guard Jade Tse ‘18 to 3 points apiece was actually even bigger. “I thought if we had any advantage at all, it’s probably in the fact that we have some guys that we can play off the bench,” said Arbitello. “I thought our bench was better, so I thought we could wear them down.” The Royals bench outscored the Stanners bench 13 - 0.
Meyers was the high scorer for Christ the King with 14 points, shooting 4 of 5 from three-point range. Pierre-Phillip had 13 points shooting 3 of 4 from three. Walker and Cockburn's stats were impressive as well with each netting double-doubles (10 points and 10 assists for Walker and 10 points and 10 rebounds for Cockburn). Anthony scored a game high 31 points to go with 5 assists for Molloy with Moore adding 13 points and 8 rebounds. No other Stanners player achieved double digits.
Christ King record improves to 17 - 4
Archbishop Molloy falls to 11 - 11
