HILLSIDE, NJ -The Upper Room Christian Royals played the first game of the season for anyone on Long Island taking on New Jersey powerhouse the Patrick School at their place. This matchup features two premier programs in the tristate and includes some big-time college prospects. There were many questions leading into this game especially with such a long layoff and lack of gym time together.
Despite the amount of talent on display you could see right away both teams needed to shake off some rust. The Patrick School was able to get some offense generated while completely shutting down the Royals holding them to just 3 points in the first quarter. While some may not know The Patrick Schools gym its very small and tight which helps them play their intense switching pressure defense.
After leading 11-3 after 1 The Patrick School kept their foot on the gas creating multiple turnovers and capitalizing. Upper Room Head Coach Joan Sanchez tried to break things up with some early timeouts, but nothing seems to be click for the Royals. They seem to be pulling up away from Upper Room as 6”10 4-star Senior Forward Samson Johnson got rolling. The future UConn big man was tough inside grabbing a ton of rebounds, altering shots, and scoring inside. He finished the half with 8 and 6”4 Junior point guard Zion Cruz chipped in 8 as well. Cruz is the 26th ranked player in the 2022 class according to ESPN and helped lead The Patrick School a halftime lead of 29–14.
The Royals despite trailing 15 at the half seemed to just need a spark of offense to get back in track. They certainly did when 6”4 Sophomore guard Armoni Zeigler was able to 5 of his 9 points in the third quarter just when his team needed it. Johnson responded and was able to convert an and1 to stop Upper Rooms momentum, but The Patrick School had lost the quarter 16-10.
Now the score being 39-30 heading into the fourth the Royals needed a good start to cut the lead. Unfortunately for the Royals Cruz and Johnson each had early buckets which lead to an 8-0 run by The Patrick School. When all hope seemed lost for the Royals their go to guy 6”3 Senior guard Dian Wright-Forde went to work. The lefty guard was tremendous in the second half especially down the stretch scoring 7 straight points trying to will his team to victory.
After a time out by TPS the Royals seem to have their opportunity but after back-to-back turnovers they saw it slip away. Now down 11 with 3:30 left Zeigler was able to finish a tough layup and create a steal for the Royals to try and bring back some life. After some steals and fight by Upper Room The Patrick School was still able to close out the game winning 55-49.
Johnson was terrific from the jump finishing with a double-double including 15 points while Cruz was able to add 14 points. Despite the loss Wright-Forde might have had the best night finishing with an impressive 23 points 16 of which came in the second half.
