St. Raymond vs South Shore

BRONX, NY – They say that teamwork makes the dream work. On Monday, during the Test the Waters Invitational, that notion got put to the test as players from the PSAL defending champion South Shore Vikings from Brooklyn went up against the St. Raymond Ravens, one of the top Bronx teams in the CHSAA.

The four-game event held at St. Ray’s featured an exciting finale between two powerhouse squads. Two teams that may not meet again until the States. NYC bragging rights and status were at stake. In the early going, South Shore and St. Ray’s played to a stalemate but the Raven’s structured offense slowly gobbling up the Ravens in transition while playing bully ball on the the boards.

Ahead by 9 points at the half and with South Shore trying to gain momentum, real time adjustments and an offensive explosion by Brandon Stores in the second half propelled St. Ray’s past the Vikings, 72 – 58.

Tied at 16 during the warmup quarter, South Shore used controlled chaos in hopes of dismantling the host team. The Vikings tried to come from behind using their physicality, attacking the paint and from the perimeter while attempting to limit touches by Ravens point guard and main table setter Tai Turnage.

Down 8 points to begin the second quarter, South Shore managed to keep pace with the Ravens but needed to do more than trade buckets to get the win. The Vikings chaos became chaotic

The Viking players featured scoring from Ibrahim Ba and Kyrone Alexander and inside play from big man Jalen Obnan, but St. Ray’s still trailed 37 - 29 at the half and by nine as the final quarter began.

After being down by 13 in the third quarter, South Shore did pull to within 4 points of the lead with 6:01 left in regulation. That would be too little too late. The Vikings never led.

High man for St. Raymond was Stores with 28 with Alexander leading the Vikings with 16 points.