CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Diocese Semifinals

FRESH MEADOWS, NY - A pair of exciting CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Diocese Semifinals were on tap on Wednesday evening from St. Francis Prep in Queens as each of the 4 teams playing felt confident about their chances of advancing to Friday's Championship Game. Both games proved to be solid throughout in front of a strong crowd in Fresh Meadows to watch the high level action.

Having lost in heartbreaking fashion to Christ the King just 10 days ago on their senior night gave the Bishop Loughlin Lions even more motivation to perform at their highest level on Wednesday in the diocese semifinals where they once again were taking on the Royals.

Losing on senior night last Sunday to Christ the King on Valentine's Day made Bishop Loughlin hungry. They had blown a 17 point first half lead in that loss and it stuck with the Lions. It was a pain they didn't want to feel again, and with guards Markquis Nowell '18 and Keith Williams '17 leading the way, the Lions were able to pull out an overtime 77-71 victory.

It stuck with Loughlin how they lost 10 days ago because according to Nowell they didn't finish the game out the way they wanted, and they knew if they wanted to get a win in this one and advance to the Diocese Championship that they would need to play from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

"This time we didn't want to let up," Nowell said. "We didn't want all our hard work to go down the drain."

Almost right from the start though Loughlin was in a hole as Williams was called for his 2nd foul just 2:36 into the opening quarter. He was going to have to sit out the rest of the half according to Lions head coach Ed Gonzalez and it would be time for Nowell, and the rest of Bishop Loughlin to keep them close.

Gonzalez just wanted to maintain and stay in the game, not wanting to head down by double digits going into the half. He needed performances from not just Nowell who was having a brilliant opening half, but also players like Jordan Thomas '17 and Ricardo Dominguez '17, he needed a complete team effort, and he got it.

Tyrone Cohen '16 was able to connect late in the half on a 3 ball from the left win, and Jose Alvarado '16 was also having a strong performance from his backcourt spot, especially slashing into driving lanes, but Loughlin were not going away as even with the Royals scoring the last 4 points of the half, Bishop Loughlin was still only down 31-23.

It wasn't the half that Loughlin wanted, but it was better than it could've been. Williams was stuck on the bench most of the opening half, and he admitted that he tried to convince Gonzalez to put him back in at times in the 2nd quarter, but he said that when he starting the 3rd quarter, he felt like it was time for the Lions to turn it up.

"It was tough I am not gonna lie, but I had to stay composed," Williams said about having to sit for the majority of the first half. "I just felt like we would still win the game, that we weren't going to lose this game."

With Williams back Bishop Loughlin did start to turn things up in the 3rd quarter, and with the lights on him it was also time for Nowell to come alive as well.

It wasn't that Nowell had a bad opening half, he was solid in helping carry the Lions to the point of staying in the game, but Gonzalez told him it was time to really do his thing late in the 3rd.

"Coach always says to me that when the lights are on I have to perform and the lights were on in this one," Nowell said confidently.

It was raining 3's late in the quarter as Nowell hit 4 threes in a just under 3 minute stretch, and when Williams drained a corner three of his own with 56 seconds to play in the third, Loughlin had their first lead at 47-44.

Loughlin would push forward from there and take a lead as big as 57-50 with 5:32 to go in the 4th quarter, but even though they seemed to be in control at that point, Gonzalez was concerned knowing that his team tends to fade late in games, something that bothers him more than he says he cares to say.

"4th quarters have been our Achilles heel all season. We celebrate too early and it drives me crazy," Gonzalez admitted.

He was proven to be rightly concerned as Christ the King made a run due to what Gonzalez said was rushed shots and terrible time management from his young team. They rarely used the shot clock to their advantage and with Alvarado creating havoc defensively, and scoring at will when he attacking the rim, the Royals would go on an 11-2 run to take a 61-59 lead with 55.7 seconds to play.

Nowell would tie the game back up at 61 connecting on a pair from the FT line and from there it seemed like each team had their chances, but neither team was able to capitalize.

It was Christ the King who still seemed to have momentum, and they did have a chance at the end of regulation to take the lead with under 5 seconds left, but Alvarado missed a jumper around a screen, and it was the chances late when they could've put in the dagger that had Christ the King head coach Joe Arbitello thinking the Royals should've won it in regulation.

"We got the ball there for the final score to try and win but we didn't execute," Arbitello said.

It was all about execution down the stretch in regulation that Arbitello was left to ponder, but the fact that the game was going to OT tied at 61 seemed to give Bishop Loughlin new found hope.

They struggled so mightily down through the final minutes of the 4th quarter that even Williams said it felt like a new life for his team.

"We felt like this gave us a second chance to win and pull through," Williams stated.

The Lions played like that too as they scored the first 6 points of the overtime session with Williams scoring in transition off a feed from Nowell to give Loughlin what seemed to be control.

Christ the King was still fighting to the end as Alvarado did all he could to keep the Royals on track for another Brooklyn/Queens Diocese Championship, but it was just too much of Nowell and Williams as the backcourt duo combined for 60 points in this one as they got the revenge they had been so hoping to get, taking down Christ the King and advancing to Friday nights Diocese title game, 77-71.

Nowell had 35 points and Williams added 25 points in what was one of the best performances out of a pair of guards in recent memory in the CHSAA, and because they have been through a number of battles this season in league play, Gonzalez said he was confident in what his stars would do when he needed them most.

"They know how to win because they have been through battles so I knew they weren't going to panic and lead us when we needed them to," Gonzalez said after the win.

It looked for stretches as if Alvarado was going to lead Christ the King to the victory though as he poured in 32 points in the defeat, and while Arbitello wasn't happy with the play of his team in key spots, he knew that Alvarado did all he could to try and lead his team to the win.

Bishop Loughlin would be the team advancing though as they were able to knock off Christ the King to move on to take on the winner of the game between Archbishop Molloy and Xaverian on Friday night for the championship.

It's a game that Williams has been wanting too. He won the. Diocese title as a freshman, learning from the likes of Khadeen Carrington and Mike Williams, and now that he is playing major minutes and leading the team with Nowell, he is hoping to achieve that feeling of being a champion once again.

"Back freshmen year that was great to win it all and it feels great to be going back and it would be great to win it again."

It was a great start for the Clippers of Xaverian, but with star freshman guard Cole Anthony '19 and bruising forward Isaac Grant '16 leading the way, it was the Stanners who put together a big 4th quarter to overcome a 10 point first half deficit to take the 16 point victory.

Early on it looked like Jordan Guzman '16 and Khalil Rhodes '17 were going to shoot Xaverian into the title game as both hit clutch threes in the opening half to see the Clippers take a lead as big as 22-12 in the 2nd quarter.

Molloy fought back and stayed close even though they were struggling to find any offensively rhythm, and with Anthony being held to just 4 first half points, Xaverian took a 28-21 lead into the half.

Slowly but surely Molloy started to chip away into the Xaverian lead in the 3rd quarter though as Anthony scored 11 straight at one point, and when he connected on a floater with 2:05 to go in the 3rd, the Stanners had retaken the lead at 38-37.

With Molloy having taken the lead it seemed like Xaverian was struggling to maintain the intensity and the offensive aggression that the Stanners had found. Nyontay Wisseh '16 was able to throw down a nice slam down the baseline, but they couldn't muster much else.

Grant scored his 1,000th career point early in the 4th to see Molloy go up by 8, and Anthony converted on a 3 point play with 4:23 to go in the game to put the Stanners up double digits for the first time in the game.

From there on it was all Archbishop Molloy the rest of the way as having outscored Xaverian 23-8 in the final quarter, the Stanners were able to open it up late and pull away for what ended up being a big 63-47 victory.

Anthony had a game high 23 points, 19 of which came in the decisive second half, while Grant added 16 points of his own in the victory.

For Xaverian it was Wisseh and Rhodes who each had 13 points apiece to lead the way for the Clippers who played hard throughout, but struggled offensively late to fall to the Stanners.

The Stanners now move on to take on Bishop Loughlin in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Diocese Championship Game which will be played on Friday night at St. Francis Prep in Queens at 7:30pm in what should prove to be another fantastic title game.