FRESH MEADOWS, NY – The Christ the King Royal starters are a five headed snake of division one talent. A tall task for any opponent. On Tuesday, the Terriers attempted to pull off a David versus Goliath scenario but eventually fell down after an uphill battle, 78 – 72.

St. Francis Prep gave CTK a run for its money in the opening quarter with a balanced scoring attack led by 6’0” Vere Anthony ‘25 and 6’7” Oesoemana Sacko ‘25. Terriers go-to-guy Josh Pascarelli ‘23 also broke through offensively slowly but sure even with 6’3” Devin Vanterpool ‘23 assigned to ride him on defense. The game was tied after the warmup quarter due to the efforts of Royals 6’1” point guard Markell Alston ‘25 along with perimeter shots by Vanterpool and inside work by 6’9” Brandon Gardner ‘23.

The Terriers kept the pressure on during the second quarter unleashing five three-point shots and surprisingly led 38 – 36 at the half. Outsized in the paint by Christ the King, could St. Francis Prep keep up this torrid pace from the perimeter? The answer is, No.

Altston pumped up the volume for the Royals in the third quarter and additional scoring from Gardner, 6’6” Dwayne Pierce ‘24 and 6’9” Brandon Williams ‘23 resulted in a 20 – 7 run by Christ the King. Down by 11 points with a minute and a half remaining in the quarter with Anthony as the Terriers’ only real source of offensive currency, they were unable to regain any ground as the fourth quarter got underway.

With one quarter left, the Terriers still had hopes of pulling off the upset. Pascarelli and 6’3” Tyler Michel ‘24 went into overdrive slicing St. Francis Prep’s deficit to 4 points with 1:27 left in regulation. Daggers by Pierce and Williams and solid freethrow shooting down the stretch for Christ the King ultimately put the win out of reach for the Terriers.

Vanterpool and Williams paced Christ the King with 18 points and 17 points with Alston adding 14 points. Pascarelli netted a game high 22 points with Michel and Anthony contributing 14 points apiece.

Christ the King improves to 12 – 1/ 16 – 4 while St. Francis Prep falls to 9 – 3/ 14 – 5.