Molloy Out-Muscles Cardinal Hayes
BRIARWOOD, NY – Tuesday afternoon’s game between Archbishop Molloy and Cardinal Hayes was a test and even though the Cardinals ultimately lost, 48-45, head coach Joe Lods gave his team a passing grade. “I’m proud of the guys for how much heart they showed.”
Hayes was without the services of its starting senior point guard Clive Allen ‘16 who’s serving the first of a two game suspension for getting into a brawl with Isaiah Washington '17 in a recent game against St. Ray’s. Both players were ejected. As a result, Cardinal Hayes tried to get the job done with a six man rotation.
The Cardinals led at the half, 26-19 and it appeared as if they’d do the unthinkable by coming into the Jack Curran Gym shorthanded and steal a win against the #6 ranked Molloy Stanners.
Even though Cole Anthony ’19 (16 points) and 6’11” Moses Brown ’18 (8 points) held down the Stanners offense, strong senior play from 5’11” PG Baron Goodridge ’16 (16 points) and perimeter shots from sharpshooter 6’1” Pedro Marquez ‘16 (12 points) still gave Hayes had the upper hand as the third quarter commenced. To top it off, Molloy’s 6’5” blue collar guy, Issac Grant ’16 (14 points) was saddled with foul trouble early in the quarter.
Cardinal Hayes capitalized and took a five point lead into the fourth quarter which was extended due to good inside play by 6’7” Adam Cisse ‘19 (2 points). Grant, however, reentered the game late in the quarter and the Stanners suddenly began to surge.
A bucket by 6’0” Dom Priolo ‘16 (2 points) sliced the Hayes lead to three points and 6’4” John Herring ‘17 (2 points) would give the Stanners a 42-41 advantage with three minutes left in regulation. Grant, now with four fouls, still manage to power in to increase his team’s advantage.
Hayes closed the gap as Marquez netted a trey with 51.2 second left but they were still down by a point. Molloy defaulted on an opportunity to score but the Cardinals fumbled the rebound. The Stanners had the ball with 15.5 seconds and Hayes was forced to foul.
Grant, who scored 12 points in the second half, was pure at the charity strip which put Molloy up by three. Goodridge fell short with his jumper but Grant foul out with 1.7 seconds as he clipped Cisse as they battled for the rebound. Hayes was given a prayer of a chance for some type of three point play but all hopes were dashed when the freshman missed both free-throws as time ran out.
“We should’ve won that game,” admitted Lods. “Our youth showed at the end of the game where they went down to their senior work horse Issac Grant [and] I’m looking at my freshmen and sophomores who haven’t really been exposed to that.”
Lods admitted that the loss of Allen really hurt his team. “You can’t just lose one of the leading scorers in the league and then tell another kid, oh by the way, I need you to get 25 [points] tonight.”
