St. Rays holds off Iona Prep; Gaels Lose 2nd

BRONX, NY - St. Raymond and Iona Prep have always had a Bronx vs. Westchester rivalry and Friday evening's game was no different. Big shots were taken by new faces but in the end it would be a big miss by veteran PG Ty Jerome '16 that landed Iona Prep its second loss in as many games.

The Ravens would pull out the 50-48 home court victory buoyed by solid performances from its veteran players, point guard Isaiah Washington '17 and Sid Wilson '17. The victory was also the result of exemplary team play in the fourth quarter and clutch shots and plays from sophomores 5'8" Terrence Trice '18 (8 points) and 6'2" Dallas Watson '18 (7 points).

It would be a dog-eat-dog game all the way down to the closing seconds with the Gaels gaining steady momentum, increasing a one-point halftime lead into an eight point advantage to start the fourth quarter. Trice and Washington sparked a late quarter Ravens comeback that put St. Ray's out front by two points.

6'2" Gio Gabbidon '16 (11 points) responded for the Gaels, knotting the game at 48 with 44.8 seconds left to play. On the following possession, good ball movement by St. Ray's eventually resulted in Watson being open for a shot. "It felt good," said Watson about the release. "I knew it was going in."

Down by two, the Gaels called timeout with 14.3 seconds, ran a play and got the rock to Jerome, their go-to-guy, for the potential game winner but the Virginia-bound point guard came up short. It was ironic that Jerome got the last shot considering the Ravens overall strategy was the exact opposite. "Just contain Ty Jerome. That was it," said Wilson.

With Jerome's rep for being clutch, Washington was honest about when the ball left his hands saying, "I thought it was going to go in. I was scared." The junior point guard was also confident in his teammate's ability to gut out the win. "I trust my sophomores. Terrence Trice and Dallas Watson."

Watson, who's in his third game as a starter, received high praise from Ravens head Coach Jorge Lopez. "It was a tremendous game for him as a sophomore. Just recently we moved him into that starting role and gave him the challenge of guarding one of the best players in New York City." Jerome was held to two second half points.

While Lopez credited Watson on being clutch on both ends of the court, he also gave props to his other sophomore for hustle points. "I thought [Trice] made the key plays to help us win this game. He got an offensive rebound, dove for the loose ball. That's just the type of kid he is."

Washington ran the show for the Ravens from the point guard position, finishing with 15 points and 6 assists with Wilson adding 12 points, 7 rebounds & 3 blocked shots. While Jerome paced Iona Prep with 14 points, the Gaels received outstanding performances from 6'4" Pat Flemming '16 and 6'4" Nick Brennen '17 who added 11 points each.

Washington downplayed the importance of the win, saying that the CHSAA championship is the team's primary focus. As far as point guards go, the charismatic guard gave Jerome his just due but made no bones about how he thinks he rates versus the UVA commit. "He's a good player," said Washington. "Everybody's talking about him. It's time for them to talk about me."

St. Raymond's improves to 5-1 while Iona Prep falls to 4-2.