Iona Prep Topple Royals as Twin Towers Fall
NEW ROCHELLE, NY - With every advantage comes a disadvantage. A lesson learned by the Christ the King Royals who travelled to Westchester on Friday evening to face-off against Iona Prep. Although the Royals had 6’10” Moussa Cisse ‘21 and 6’11” Kofi Cockburn ’19, the twin towers could not keep pace with the quickness and stealth of Gaels who took down Christ the King, 53 – 48.
“We wanted to take away any of their interior easy passes, so we were kinda playing a match-up zone,” said Iona Prep Head Coach Steve Alvarado. When the Royals didn’t have both bigs in the game, the Gaels played man-to-man.”
Iona Prep set the stage early attacking the Royals inside. Cockburn would pick his first foul only seconds after the tip-off. Senior guard Bryce Wills ‘18 established the tone for the Gaels with a strong drive to the rim followed by an impressive coast-to-coast basket. Wills was a one-man wrecking crew in the opening quarter
“We wanted to lock down their bigs and get them out of the game early,” said Wills. “That early foul on Kofi, I think, took him out the game for good.”
Christ the King did manage to build a slight two-point lead to start the second quarter due to aggressive play from Ryan Myers ‘20 but early in the quarter Souleymane Koureissi ’18 got lit and begin attacking the paint or scoring from the arc.
“We didn’t think any of [Christ the King’s] bigs could match-up with him on the perimeter if he put the ball on the floor,” said Alvarado. We didn’t think they had the foot speed, so we felt if he aggressively attacked them he could draw fouls.”
The strategy was effective on multiple fronts. A trey by Kouressi early in the quarter gave Iona Prep a 12 – 11 lead. Cockburn and Tyson Walker ‘18 did evoke a late Royals run that tied the game at 25 at the half.
While the Royals remained in striking distance throughout the contest, head Coach Joe Arbitello was up against a mounting dilemma with his twin towers. Play Cockburn, who slowed the team down or play Cisse, who was making freshman mistake and picking up multiple fouls.
The Royals initiated a 1-2-2 zone to make some headway. Walker drained clutch buckets in the 3rd quarter that gave Christ the King a two-point lead. That advantage soon evaporated for good as Josh Alexander ‘18 knotted the game at 30 with Jacob Hargraves and Romar Reid scoring back-to-back to regain the lead.
Iona Prep led by two as the final quarter got underway and pushed its lead to eight with 3:12 left to play. In a final push, baskets by Walker along with massive dunks by Cisse cut the Gaels lead in half and an intentional foul by Reid put Christ the King in the position to tie the game.
Fortunately, less than stellar free-throw shooting by the Royals down the stretch along with a charge that fouled out Cisse allowed Iona Prep to hold on and increase its point spread en route to a 5-point victory.
Asked if seeing both of Christ the King’s bigs riding the bench in the final moments was a game plan coming together, Coach Alvarado replied, “It’s early in the season. We’re trying to find our identity. They’re trying to find their identity. Whatever happened with their bigs is not our concern. Our concern is to close out these tougher games.”
Wills led Iona Prep with 14 points with Koureissi adding 10 points. Myers was high man for Christ the King with a game high 17 points. Cockburn and Cisse were held to 10 points combined.
