Molloy depletes Christ the King
BRIARWOOD, NY- It was the game of the season to date on Friday as in front of a sold out crowd Archbishop Molloy played host to Christ the King, and while many already know how good they are, the Stanners were able to prove themselves on the big stage as being led by the trio of Cole Anthony '19, Moses Brown '18, and Khalid Moore '19, Molloy were able to run away in the 4th and take the 78-67 victory.
While the Stanners have a load of talent up and down their roster, they were coming into this one off a surprising 80-73 loss to Mount St. Michael on Tuesday, and while it was a loss that the entire Archbishop Molloy team to a man was disappointed by, it made them work even harder coming into Friday's date with the Royals according to Brown.
"We had a lot of energy coming off a loss and knew we had to work hard in practice so it started for us there," Brown said.
The atmosphere in the Stanners gym was as impressive as Molloy head coach Mike McCleary said he has seen in years, and with early season CHSAA bragging rights on the line, everyone in attendance knew they were set to see a special one.
From the start, it was clear that Christ the King weren't intimidated by their surroundings as even in front of a hostile Archbishop Molloy crowd, Tyson Walker '18 was able to get going early and often for the Royals.
Christ the King may be led by Jose Alvarado '17, but Walker was the one who was doing all the damage early on as he was 7-9 in the opening half, scoring 16 points in the first 16 minutes and really showing that the Royals are far more than just the Georgia Tech bound Alvarado.
That isn't to say Molloy didn't have their chances in the opening half, but after shooting just 8-19 from the FT line, and even after an Anthony jumper at the buzzer, it was Christ the King that had a 32-29 lead going into the locker room.
When the Stanners got to their locker room they were met by an unhappy McCleary, who admitted that he had some choice words for his group, and while they were only down by 3, Brown knew that they needed to do a better job defensively if they wanted to come back and take the win.
"We weren't closing out on shooters good enough or switching on screens," Brown said about the first half defense. "Coach McCleary definitely screamed at us a little bit and we knew we had to come out and played better defensively."
The defense did start to get shored up as the Stanners started to trap and press more on the Christ the King guards, something that Anthony said made other players make moves who aren't accustomed to making moves with the ball, and while many of the Molloy players weren't having their best offensive outings, Moore was someone who was rising to the occasion.
In what may have been the biggest game of the season, Moore was having his best game of the year in McCleary's eyes, and with 19 points through 3 quarters, he was keeping Archbishop Molloy in the game as the Stanners were down by just 2 going into the 4th.
They needed more from Brown and Anthony though as neither were giving the efforts that they both wanted and Anthony said after a talk with Brown before the start of the final quarter that he knew both were going to turn their games up a notch when Molloy needed it most.
"Khalid had been playing great and I spoke to Moses and was like Khalid turned up this game, his best game of the season, we got to match his intensity and play harder," Anthony admitted his message to be.
It most certainly worked as well as Anthony was attacking and connecting going to the rim more, and while Alvarado was doing a solid job matching him early in the 4th, Molloy took a lead with 7:05 to go and never really looked back.
Brown was doing a much better job finishing against Christ the King's big man Kofi Cockburn '19 as the 4th quarter wore on, but there was a surprising throw down on Brown by Cockburn with 3:22 to go in the game that cut the deficit for the Royals to 6 and got Brown's attention.
He said that he didn't realize that Cockburn was going to dunk it on him the way he did, and it motivated Brown to come back and do something big of his own, and he did just that as when Anthony fed him a beautiful entry feed around the rim he stuffed it back on Cockburn while getting fouled. It sent the Archbishop Molloy crowd into a frenzy, fouled out Cockburn, and seemed to punctuate the game for Stanners all in one sequence.
After the crowd settled down Brown knocked down his FT, a common occurrence for the Stanners in the 4th as while they struggled from the charity stripe as a team for the first 3 quarters, they put it all together in a big way in the 4th. Alvarado would foul out soon after Cockburn and the Royals found themselves down double digits with under 2 minutes to play.
It was an outstanding effort from both teams, but in the end Archbishop Molloy wanted it more in Anthony's eyes, and they took it closing out Christ the King late and taking the 78-67 victory.
Moore and Anthony both paced the Stanners were 23 points, while Brown added 17 points and 15 rebounds in a game that showed just how dangerous Archbishop Molloy can be when they put it all together.
On the other side, Christ the King was led by Walker and his game high, and season high, 27 points, while Alvarado had 16 points of his own before fouling out late in the 4th quarter.
It wasn't a perfect game in McCleary's eyes as he wants his Stanners team to get into the gym tomorrow and work on being better from the FT line, noting that if they want to continue to beat the better teams in the CHSAA and do what they want to do this season, then knocking down FT's at better than 58% is a must.
For the most part though this game showed just how capable Archbishop Molloy is when they play together, like they did in the 4th quarter, dominating a very good Christ the King team when the game was on the line, and if they continue to play like that the rest of the year, Anthony thinks good things will happen for what he thinks is a very special group this season.
"If we can play like that year all I don't see anyone stopping us at all."
