Royals Come Up & Take Down Loughlin
BROOKLYN, NY - There always seems to be a game each year that you can point to that reminds everyone just how tough the Christ the King Royals are. They always have one game where they reach deep down to find that extra little to win a game that most other teams wouldn't win, and that game was on Saturday in Fort Greene, Brooklyn against their arch-rivals in Bishop Loughlin.
Royals head coach Joe Arbitello was waiting for that game, that game that he could say his team was ready to make that run. They hadn't done it yet, but in a way he felt his team had turned a corner when they beat Long Island Lutheran on Friday night, and this matchup with the Lions on Sunday would just solidify that notion that they are now where he wants them to be as Christ the King fought back from 17 down for an impressive 72-69 road victory.
Apart of what Arbitello wanted to see was his team respond to adversity, and adversity is what they found early and often in this one as both Loughlin guards Markquis Nowell '18 and Keith Williams '17 were connecting on jumper after jumper, and while everything was falling for the Lions, the same could not be said for Christ the King.
Just about everyone for the Royals struggled to find the bottom of the nets, and with 1:40 left in the opening half, Bishop Loughlin had taken a 40-23 lead, but while that kind of deficit would've meant game over for most other teams, Christ the King forward David Cole '16 said that wasn't the case for this group.
"No matter if we were down 30 we were going to stay working and stay positive because nothing good comes out of being negative," Cole said about his team's first half deficit. "Being down 17 no one was down, we all kept encouraging each other and believing."
They believed because a game like this has happened each year for the Royals. Arbitello noted his team was down 17 in the NYS Federation Semifinals last season and came back to win, and with this being mainly the same group, he felt they knew that the game was still far from over.
Christ the King guard Jared Rivers '16 echoed that sentiment saying he knows that basketball is a game of runs, and theirs was still to come.
The Royals run did come, and it started late in the 2nd quarter as Christ the King scored the last 8 points of the half to make it just a 40-31 lead for Bishop Loughlin going into the break.
For a team being up by 9 at the half, Lions head coach Ed Gonzalez did note some trepidation about the lead shrinking before the break, but with Nowell scoring 19 in the opening half and seemingly able to do anything he wanted, he remained confident believing that his group could close the deal.
The Loughlin lead continued to evaporate though as the 3rd quarter began as guard Jose Alvarado '16 drained a 3 to open the half, and when fellow Royals guard Tracy Cleckley '16 knocked down a 3 of his own with 3:10 to go in the quarter, the Lions were only up 47-46.
They had come all the way back, and actually had chances to take the lead, but couldn't get the ball to drop to give the Royals the lead for the first time in the game. Tyson Walker '18 did tie it at 51 for Christ the King in the closing seconds of the 3rd, but Williams came back on the other end and banked in a triple from long range to see Loughlin take a 54-51 lead going to the 4th.
Loughlin was hanging on, and while the Royals couldn't grab that lead when they had their chances in the 3rd, Rivers was confident it would happen in the final stanza if they just maintained their defensive principles.
"We were playing well, I thought we just needed a couple defensive stops and we could do it," Rivers said.
It took a while but Christ the King finally took the lead when Cole finished on the inside around a pair of Loughlin defenders with 3:58 to go, and it was Cole who pretty much dominated all 4th quarter long.
The Roberts Morris bound big man had 10 points in the 4th, and was able to connect on big FT's down the stretch. Rivers hit a big long distance jumper late as well, and the Royals had a 3 point lead with 12 seconds to go, but Bishop Loughlin had one more chance to send the game into OT.
Gonzalez decided to not use a timeout and let the game play out. Nowell took an off balanced three with 5 seconds left that fell short, but Jeremy Betjol '16 got the rebound for the Lions and he found Williams on the right wing for what was a fairly good look, but the ball rimmed out as the final buzzer sounded as Christ the King finished off the major comeback to take down Bishop Loughlin on the road.
