St. Rays Knocks Off Stepinac
BRONX, NY - Sunday'’s championship matchup featured the No. 1 seed, Archbishop Stepinac HS Crusaders who have won 16 games in a row. They faced St. Raymond HS Ravens for the third time this season as they looked to capture another New York title. While the crowd started to fill up at Mount St. Michaels HS the intensity in this matchup started to heat up. Here is the full breakdown.
The teams traded empty possessions before Stepinac scored off an offensive rebound. Rays missed, the Crusaders hit a floater and then 6’5” SF Brandon Stores Jr (St. Raymond HS, NY ’25) got a bucket off a loose ball. Stepinac hit a tough mid-range shot, Stores made both free throws, and the Crusaders missed. Raven 6’0” PG Tai Turnage (St. Raymond HS, NY ’25) finished a layup but Stepinac converted one as well. Turnage made two free throws, Stepinac made both of theirs, and 6’3” PG Johnuel “Boogie” Fland (Archbishop Stepinac HS, NY ’24) buried a three but so did 6’4” SG Kamari Whyte (St. Raymond HS, NY ’26).
Stepinac led 13-10 after the first quarter, and Stores finished a layup. Fland hit a three. The Ravens turned it over and the Crusaders scored. Stores hit two free throws, and Stepinac found Boogie for an easy two. Rays missed, the Crusaders hit a big three causing a Ravens timeout. St. Ray’s turned it over, Fland hit a three, and the Ravens missed. Stepinac hit another three but Turnage got a big three to fall for the Ravens. He drew a foul after a stop, and he made them both. Raven 6’0” PG Anderson Diaz (St. Raymon HS, NY ’27) scored off a miss, Stepinac missed and then Whyte had a wild finish plus got fouled.
He missed the free throw, Fland had a good look but missed it as the horn went off. Stepinac led 29-21 at the half. Stores came out with a big slam to start, Crusaders turned it over, and Diaz blew by his defender for a layup. Stepinac threw it away and Whyte got inside for a layup. Fland hit a triple, Whyte hit a three, and Stepinac hit a jumper. Turnage finished a layup but the Crusaders turned it over again. Diaz broke down his defender for two, and Stepinac missed. Ray’s missed but Stores finished the put back.
St. Ray’s defensive effort got them a 41-34 lead going into the fourth quarter. Diaz started the quarter with a slam, Stepinac missed a three, and Turnage hit a three. The Crusaders turned it off but Stores uncharacteristically missed both free throws. Stores went 1/2 from the line, Stepinac hit a three, and Diaz hit his free throws. The Crusaders missed and Whyte split a pair of freebies. Stepinac made two free throws, Stores scored, and Fland hit a triple. The Crusaders split a pair and Whyte went 1/2 from the line.
The Crusaders hit a three, Ray’s missed, and Fland scored. Turnage hit both free throws, but Stepinac missed. They fouled, the Ravens missed both, and Stepinac missed again. Whyte made both his free throws and Fland nailed a three at the buzzer. Unfortunately for Stepinac, the time had run out and their poor shooting effort today had caught up to them.
We know as a former coach it’s hard to beat any quality team three times in a row but hats off to the Ravens who were sensational in the second half. Stores had 15-points, Turnage added 15-points, and Whyte chipped in 14-points. Diaz was massive in the second half finishing with 13-points. Fland led all scorers with 22-points all while he was questionable with an ankle injury. Stepinac definitely wasn’t 100% but no one is really. They have a great opportunity to defend their CHSAA Title. This was a massive one for the St. Ray’s program who will look to take the momentum and parlay it into a championship.