MIDDLE VILLAGE, NY – Losing two of their last four games, the Royals of Christ the King have been hurting. Their go-to-guy, 6’6” Dwayne Pierce ‘24 has been out for three games with an elbow injury. Head coach Joe Arbitello was serving the second day of a two-game mandatory league suspension due to an ejection that occurred during a loss versus Nazareth. On top of that, they were about to face off against a hungry team from Brooklyn that wanted some revenge in this rematch.

But often times a wounded animal is at its most dangerous. On Sunday, CTK hosted the Xaverian Clippers and beat them wire to wire, 60 – 39.

The Royals jumped off with a with a 16 – 6 run and ended the half up by 13 points. The tandem of 6’10 Qin Pang ‘24 and 6’3” Jayden Ramirez ‘25 proved to be lethal versus the Clippers. Xaverian’s most productive quarter was the second sparked by 6’6” Jordan King ‘24 and 6’5” Brandon Margolin ‘25.

Christ the King had moments of disarray which crescendoed with an ill-advised tech by 6’2” PG Markell Alston ’25 but the Clippers were unable to capitalize. Ahead by 15 to start the final stanza, balanced firepower, Alston, Pang, Ramirez and 6’1” Cam Zieglar ‘25 catapulted the Royals to a 21-point victory.

Ramirez was the leading scorer for Christ the King with 15 points with Pang contributing 13 points. King led Xaverian with 9 points.

Christ the King’s records improves to 18 – 4 (11 – 3). Xaverian drops to 9 – 10 (4 – 8).