MIDDLE VILLAGE, NY – On Friday evening, NYCHoops.net #5 ranked Christ the King played host to the unranked Xaverian Clippers. After recently losing to the St. Francis Prep Terriers, the Royals needed a reversal of fortune, but Brooklyn based high school would not oblige. Whereas the Terriers beat the Royals with speed, Xaverian employed a strategy that turned CTK inside/out, handing the Royals their second loss in a row, 53 – 40.
“Our plan was to stop them inside,” said Xaverian head coach Clyde Chapman. “They have a really big line up that’s very versatile, so our thing was to play them inside out and neutral [Dwayne] Pierce and Brandon Williams.”
The game was low scoring grind ‘em out affair which favored the Clippers in the long haul. In the short term, however, Christ the King was prevailing. While Pierce was neutralized to a single bucket for the game, Williams was a handful early on.
Down by a deuce to start the second quarter, Xaverian managed to forge ahead with inside play from 6’8” wing Spenser Mahoney ’23 along with perimeter scoring from 6’0” Aaron Goldstein ‘23. At. The half, the Royals found themselves behind, 23 – 21 and by the end of the third quarter, the Clippers were ahead by double digits.
Due to a low field goal percentage from the arc and containment in the paint, Christ the King was never able to narrow the gap and the Clippers cruise to the “W.”
Coach Chapman especially praised the play of Goldstein and Mahoney, labeling his point guard as the team’s stalwart. “Aaron is a really special person and a really special player. We’ve been struggling but his attitude has always been positive. Never wavering.”
As for Mahoney, Chapman sees enormous upside. “He has a very good perimeter skillset and doesn’t force it.”
Goldstein paced Xaverian with a game high 18 points with Mahoney and 6’0” Supreme Niles ‘22 adding 10 points apiece. Williams was limited to 12 points with six in the first quarter and six in the fourth quarter.
The Clippers overall record improves to 6 - 5 while Christ the King overall record falls to 7 - 3.
