Knights Go Platt; Stepinac Goes Splat

BRONX, NY - 5’10” senior guard Chaz Platt ‘16 was on a mission and that mission was for his high school basketball career not to end on Thursday night at St. Raymond HS. “That was my state of mind, said Platt. “I already told my team, we weren’t going out without win.”

Platt put together his best performance of the year leading his Holy Cross Knights to an impressive, 77-60 win over Archbishop Stepinac. What was at stake was moving past the second round of the CHSAA Intersectionals and into the Quarterfinals or going fishing and Holy Cross clearly had an aversion to fish.

In the first half, Stepinac came out with guns blazing as Aundre Hyatt ‘18 drained a jaw dropping 5 three-pointers. That didn’t deter the Knights as Platt almost matched the sophomore Phenom bucket for bucket netting four 3-balls of his own. “My team got me into it,” said Platt. “All the confidence they gave me kept me going.”

The game was tied at 17 at the start of the second quarter as the shoot-out escalated but it would be the Knights who began to pull away as Platt not only continued to drop buckets but also racked up assists. With 6’5” center Keith Nunez ’16 clogging up the paint and 6’4” Jamel Horton ‘16 adding firepower driving to the hole, Holy Cross earned themselves a 43-31 advantage at the midway point.

Platt remained hot in the third quarter as Hyatt began to taper off from the perimeter. This was partly due to the Knights adjusted defensive strategy according to the senior. “We looked to close out more on [Hyatt], he’s a great player.” The Knights also did a superior job containing rivals.com 4-star Jordan Tucker ‘17 who was held to just two field goals and seven points.

Each time the Crusaders looked to make a run, Platt stymied their efforts. Whether he was draining threes, setting the table for his teammates or directing traffic, Platt was determined not to go out like that.

An opposing high school coach who was there scouting said Hyatt, who recently made it into the Rivals Top 75 in his class, was the greatest catch n' shoot player he’s seen but not today. It was a shootout admitted Platt “But I kept pushin’ and I won that one.”

The Knights lead grew from 12 points to start the fourth quarter and soon increased to 15 as Platt drained his seventh three-pointer for good measure. With about two minutes remaining, both teams subbed out and Holy Cross coasted to victory. Stepinac’s 5-12 season ended with a resounding thud.

Although Holy Cross’s season record was only 5-11, the Knights had given Stepinac problems earlier in the season beating the Crusaders by two on their own turf. “The first time we played them, I played alright,“ said Platt. “They kinda slept on me this time.”

Platt finished with a game high 27 points with Horton adding 21 points. Hyatt led Stepinac with 23 points but was limited to 5 points in the second half and zero points in the fourth quarter. 6’2” Jordan Means ‘17 contributed 9 points in a losing effort.

Hyatt may have won the battle in the first half but Platt won the war for Holy Cross who advances as the dark horse to the Quarterfinal round on Sunday at Fordham University.

In the first game of the evening, paced by 6'4" senior guard Pat Flemming's 18 points, the Gaels sweep past the Eagles from Staten Island to advance to the quarterfinal round. Ahead 19-12 at the half, Iona Prep executed well and maintained a lead throughout the contest. 5'10 Liam Sanborn '17 was high man for St. Peter's with 14 points.