St. Rays stuns Hayes in OT thriller

BRONX, NY- With St. Raymond's up 60-57 with just over five seconds left to play it looked like they were going to pull out a win over their rivals from Cardinal Hayes, but Joe Toussaint '19 had other ideas as he sent in a three at the buzzer to tie the game at 60 to send one of the CHSAA's best rivalries into OT.

Most would've thought the momentum had swung to the Cardinals with Toussaint's made three ball, but even though they are a young team the Ravens stayed poised and came up with big plays as a team in the extra session to rally back and defeat Cardinals Hayes in overtime 64-63.

Coming into this game winners of six out of seven games after a rough 0-3 start, St. Rays were a confident group, though according to star wing Gary Grant '20 they all knew the importance of this game against Cardinal Hayes.

"It was very important because they are one of the top teams so we knew that beating them would say that we are one of the top teams too," Grant stated.

Ravens head coach Jorge Lopez said he wanted to see a lot of pressure and a lot of tough harassing defense at the start, wanting to set a tone for the game that while the Cardinals may be considered a tough and physical team, St. Rays are just as tough and physical as well.

What Lopez wanted was what he got as the Ravens were flying all over the floor making it tough for the Cardinals guards to get any clean looks at the rim, while the driving lanes were equally as tough for them to get into.

Only Toussaint was able to do anything in the opening half for Cardinal Hayes as he had half of the Cardinals points over the first 16 minutes, and on the other end it was Grant rising above for dunks, and when Malachi Smith '21 sent home a three from the right wing just before the halftime buzzer it saw St. Raymond go up double digits for the first time, going into the locker with a 30-20 advantage.

For as well as the Ravens had played defensively early on it was Cardinal Hayes who came out and made sure that there would be no repeat performance to start the 3rd as Jalen Smith '20 was able to slither his way to the rim for finishes, Jaylen Murray '20 got good looks from behind the arc, and Shemani Fuller '20 started asserting his will around the basket as after scoring 20 points in the first half the Cardinals had 22 in the third quarter alone.

A once 10-point halftime deficit was now a 42-38 lead for Cardinal Hayes heading into the 4th quarter, and while Lopez credited the Cardinals a lot for what they did in the third, he also admitted that the comfortable lead may have also played into the poor eight minutes for the Ravens.

"It was a combination of them playing better, and credit has to go to Cardinal Hayes head coach Joe Lods because he did a great job in making adjustments, but I think we also took our foot off the gas in that moment as well," Lopez admitted.

Stepping up their game down the stretch the Ravens were able to come back and take the lead off Cardinal Hayes mistakes, going up 60-57 after a pair of Tahron Allen '21 FT's. Toussaint would miss a three that would've tied it and with 7.1 seconds left Smith went to the FT line for a one and one to put the game away.

Missing the front-end Cardinal Hayes called a timeout to set up a play, while St. Ray's looked to just deny any shots from the outside. Lopez admitted that the Ravens contemplated fouling up by three but let the game play out. Toussaint was able to get the ball up the court and even with a pair of defenders collapsing in on him he rose up and sent in the three at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

The shot was extremely well defended and while at that point you could've understood the St. Raymond coaches and players being down, Lopez said he remained confident things would finish on the right end for his team.

"I told them to stay confident because we are winning this game," Lopez said. "We are in our home gym with our home crowd and it was a gut feeling, I just had a good feeling about us going into overtime."

That faith spilled over into his team as both Grant and Allen said their coach’s belief rubbed off on them and they didn't feel any sense of panic at all. Grant would then start the OT off by putting back a missed jumper, and then with just over a minute to go it was Jalen Reneau '19 with a runner to see the Ravens go up 64-60.

Murray would calmly sink a three to make it a one point game with under a minute to play, and while Cardinal Hayes did have chances to win it, shots from Smith and Toussaint both were off in the closing seconds as again St. Ray's did a good job defending the perimeter as they were able to close the game out strong and win their 7th out of 8 by downing Cardinal Hayes, 64-63.

Leading the Ravens was Grant with 20 points as Allen added 15 points, with Reginald Hudson '20 chipping in with 10 for St. Raymond's.

In the defeat, Toussaint led all scorers with 21 points for the Cardinals, while Murray had 18 points, 16 of which came after the opening half of play.

Officially a team on a mission, St. Rays are a team with confidence and belief now as this every Ravens player and coach said was their game of the year so far knocking off the Cardinals, and while noting how big a performance it was Grant said he understands that there is still a lot to do to get to where they want to be as a team come the end of the season.

"This win was great because it says we are now also one of the top teams, but we got to keep pushing and keep winning as a team because we have a lot more, we want to do," Grant said.