Ravens Rumble Over Mt. St. Michael

PARKCHESTER, NY – Even though St. Raymond's players waved cordially at their opponents from afar, due to COVID-19 precautions, as opposed to shaking hands at their midcourt before the game, the Ravens knew to win they’d have to get down and dirty to beat Mt. Saint Michael.

The Ravens eventually beat down the Mountaineers, 70 – 52 in what could be described as an ugly win, but St. Ray’s head coach Jorge Lopez preferred to describe their winning strategy as “organized chaos.” Asked whether the proverbial mano-y-mano approach was intentional, Lopez responded, “Yes and No. We knew it was going to be a tough game for us. Mount’s been playing great basketball, but we were up for the challenge.”

Paced by 6’4” freshman Brandon Stores ‘25, St. Ray’s took the lead to begin the second quarter and never relinquished. The first half was a rough and tumble low scoring affair with the Mountaineer's star player Noah Best neutralized in the opening quarter. Both squads pursued each other man-to-man and crashing the offensive and defensive boards against each other by committee but the Ravens managed to hold the upper hand at the half, 33 – 29.

Stores provided a steady dose of offense throughout the game with 6’2” Elijah Castillo ‘22 and 6’1” Isaiah Philbert ’22 adding important buckets for the Ravens as well. 6’2” Jalen Lyn ‘23 and 6’6” Kelvin Collado ‘23 tried to keep Mt. Saint Michael in the hunt but like an anaconda with its prey trapped, the Ray’s squad tightened its grip on the lead.

St. Rays advantage grew to 14 points to start the fourth quarter and extended to 18 points by the final buzzer. Stores was St. Raymond’s high scorer with 16 points with Castillo and Philbert adding 14 points apiece. Lyn led Mount St. Michael with 16 points.

Coach Lopez agreed that the victory was indeed an ugly win but admitted that there was a “method to the madness.”