St. Raymond knocks off Iona Prep

NEW ROCHELLE, NY - Friday night's game between Iona Prep and St. Raymond would pit the #1 team in the NYCHoops.net Westchester/Upstate rankings versus the #7 ranked NYC team.

It would also be an important test of conviction. The Gaels, a seasoned squad with two Division I players in Matt Ryan and Ty Jerome would face a young Ravens team that featured 6'6" sophomore phenom Sid Wilson. St. Raymond head coach Jorge Lopez decided that seasoning would be used only for food.

"We pledged this year that we were not going to use our youth as an excuse," said Coach Lopez. "We tried to work extremely hard in practice to get game ready. To try to simulate what the game was going to be like."

Paced by Wilson and the point guard play of Isaiah Washington along with tenacious defense, the Ravens would eventually rise up to take down the previously undefeated Gaels in their own house, 65-56.

"One of the first things I told Sid was, you're not going to have a 27 point performance tonight," said Lopez, knowing that the Gaels would key in on him with double-teams. Coach Lopez told the forward that one of the things he'd have to do is be unselfish and trust his teammates. Wilson would end up with 19 points & 8 rebounds but the addition of 14 points by Cahiem Brown and 12 points from Washington was an integral part of a second half surge that put St. Raymond over top.

The Ravens failed to make the conversion from simulation to real-time quick enough in the opening quarter and Iona Prep took an early 5-0 lead as they implemented precision ball movement. St. Ray's was one-and-done offensively as the Gael's zone loomed over the Ravens like a dark cloud. Wilson finally put the Ravens on the board with a mid-range shot at 4:40 mark.

Although Iona Prep moved the ball well and led by five points, their overall shooting percentage was mediocre. This allowed the Ravens to stay within striking range. Buckets from offensive rebounds by Brown tied the game at 11 with 1:09.

Senior guard Tom Capuano regained the lead for Iona Prep and the Westchester team took a 16-11 advantage into the second quarter.

Washington cut the Gaels lead to a point as the Ravens transition game emerged and Omar Silverio (8 points) put St. Rays in front for the first time, 19-16 with 6:09. The lead changed hands as Jerome and Ryan briefly became activated offensively. Post-ups by Ryan improved Iona Prep lead to 24-19 with 4 minutes left in the half.

The unexpected defensive shift worked momentarily An acrobatic moves by Pat Flemming (7 points) and Jerome helped push Preps lead to 8 points with under a minute left but they only took a 31-25 lead into the locker room.

The Gaels zone defense troubled St. Rays early on but the Bronx, NY team started to make headway as their patience on offense began to pay off. "We decided that we weren't going to settle for threes and were going to continue to attack the gaps," Coach Lopez said with regard to their approach to countering the zone.

Iona Prep began to show some man-to-man defense in an attempt to confuse the Ravens but St. Ray's knocked the lead down to 33-32 as Brown hit an and-1 runner with 3:40. St. Ray's began crashing the boards and were clearly more physical than Iona Prep.

The Gaels only led by two-points with 1:30 and continued to shoot poorly from the perimeter. Brown drew a foul and tied the game again at 38 with 1:04 from the charity stripe but Capuano caught the Ravens knapping and countered. The Gaels had the lead but a long range buzzer beater by Wilson over Ryan gave St. Rays a 44-42 lead to begin the fourth.

St. Rays struck first in the fourth quarter as Wilson scored in transition, extending the Ravens lead. Capuano and Jerome finally countered for Iona Prep to tie the game at 46 and again at 48 but the Ravens still maintained the momentum with 5:57.

4:46 remained and Washington and Silverio put Rays up for good, 55-48 with 4:21. Capuano was clutch for Iona Prep but he needed offensive assistance. The Ravens were still ahead by six-points with 2:28 left in regulation.

Urgently in need of points, Jerome drew a foul and finally got to the free-throw line with 2:30 but went one of two. A runner by Washington with 1:46 upped Rays lead to 58-51. Ryan finally hit a clutch trey with 1:20 to slice the Ravens lead to 4 points. Jerome drew a foul with 1:02 but missed the 1 and 1.

Shooting woes framed the entire game for Iona Prep. Virginia-bound Jerome scored 11 points, shooting 4 of 10 and 0 of 4 from three point range. Ryan, who's heading to Notre Dame, was the Gaels co-high scorer with 13 points but shot 5 of 12 and 1 of 5 from three-point range. Capuano also had 13 points but shot 4 of 10 and 1 of 5 from three.

With 23.2 seconds left in regulation, the Gaels trailed by five. Forced into a corner with time running out like an hour-glass, the Gaels would have to resort to go down fouling.