BROOKLYN, NY – When Christ the King traveled to the gym of the Bishop Loughlin Lions on Sunday, the goal was straight forward. To avenge their overtime loss to the Lions earlier in the season. Unfortunately for the Royals, not only did they not achieve that objective but the Middle Village, NY school suffered additional losses.
Christ the King was being overwhelmed by Loughlin in the fourth quarter, down by 16 points. After a monster half court alley-opp dunk from Markquis Nowell ‘18 to Keith Williams ‘17, with 5:44 left to play, Royals head coach Joe Arbitello was inexplicably ejected from the game. The Lions would go on to comfortably win, 88 – 72 but the question remained. Why was Arbitello ejected and what effect would that have on the team?
Coach Arbitello gave his version of events, Click Here
The ejection of Arbitello was but a crescendo of casualties for the Royals which started with the loss of point guard Tyson Walker ‘18 who did not play due to “getting in trouble at school,” according to Arbitello. The Royals coach, however, was adamant that the absence of the junior was not the reason for the win by the Lions. “They just did what they had to do,” he admitted.
Bishop Loughlin had their own set of demons to deal with after a crushing loss to #1 Long Island ranked L.I. Lutheran last week. “We had to regroup,” said Lions Head Coach Ed Gonzalez. “We’ve passed the midpoint and you gotta start playing the way you know how to play.”
Nowell agreed that the loss to LuHi hurt the team’s psyche but added that the Loughlin coaching staff helped get them ready for the rematch with Christ the King. “The coaches were on us. We [were] working on defense. We were working on passing. We were working on a lot after that Long Island game.”
Christ the King moved out front early in the first quarter with Jose Alvarado '17 and 6’7” SG Phillips Joseph ‘19 leading the charge. Down by 7 with 3:57 left in the quarter, 6’9” Chad Venning ‘19 scored inside back-to-back which sparked a 9 – 2 Loughlin run. Tied at 13, Kofi Cockburn ‘19 began to dominate inside culminating with a 5 -0 Royals run to end the quarter ahead by 4 points.
Williams awoke in the second quarter with a dunk and a bucket. A pass from Nowell to 6’3” Tyrese Gaffney ‘17 knotted the game at 21 apiece with five minutes remaining in the first half. Christ the King regained their lead as Cockburn and Alvarado were in attack mode.
A three-pointer by Gaffney and a basket by 5'8" Nowell over the outstretched arms of 6'10" Cockburn sent the Lions into their locker room at the halftime intermission with a miniscule 33 – 32 advantage.
The Royals stayed neck and neck with Bishop Loughlin but in the second half of the game, Nowell went ballistic. After only scoring two-points in the first half, the junior point guard went on a tear by land and by air with lay-ups and perimeter shots.
Coach [Gonzalez] told me to be aggressive,” said Nowell. “I wasn’t aggressive in the first half. I was looking for other people. I was looking for my teammates. In the second half I was [looking to score].”
At the end of the third quarter, the Lion’s lead improved to 10 points and with the efforts of 6'6" Justin Champangie ‘19 that lead increased to 16 points with a under 6 minutes left in the game.
Then came ‘the alley-opp and slam dunk’ that shifted the balance of power for good. “I saw one of the CK players not running back hard [on defense] and I know Keith. We always practice that and I saw him and I just threw it up and he went to go get it.”
Williams confessed that he saw Nowell and pointed up but didn’t see when the ball was released. “I just saw the ball in the air, because you know Markquis is kinda small," the Cincinnati-bound senior said with a giggle. "I just saw the ball in the air and jumped as high as possible and tried to tear off the rim.”
Immediately after the dunk, Arbitello was ushered off the court and assistant coach Artie Cox takes over. Although there was almost 6 minutes left to play, all the air was out of the Royals' balloon and Loughlin continued to sweep Christ the King. “We beat them twice,” said Nowell. “We feel they can’t compete with us when we play our basketball.”
The loss of Walker, the game loss, the ejection of Coach Arbitello will also result in a third loss for the Royals in one day as he will not be allowed to coach for the next two games per CHSAA rules. Alvarado had a one thought regarding his coach’s ejection and to the loss. “We’ll see them in the playoffs.”
Williams finished with 29 points (shooting 11-23), 9 rebounds and 6 assists with Nowell adding 22 points (shooting 5 – 11) with 8 assists. Cockburn was high man for Christ the King with a double-double (21 points & 10 rebounds). Alvarado contributed 20 points (shooting 5- 16) with 7 assists.
