By Anthony Bosco
After Holy Cross defeated Christ the King Sunday at St. Francis College, the words “Black Sunday” were being uttered around the gymnasium, as St. Francis Prep, the No. 3 seed of the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan, struggled with No. 6 Monsignor McClancy.
The Terriers, however, avoided being bitten by the upset bug and rallied in the final minutes behind the sharp-shooting of Rashad Bell, to halt a pesky Crusaders team, 67-62.
Bell hit six free throws for St. Francis over the final 1:17 of the game to put away McClancy, which led, 60-59, with 1:27 to play following two free throws from Kevin Bishop.
“It was a great game,” remarked Prep coach Tim Leary. “It's not easy to beat anyone three times. They played very, very hard. We're just happy to win it.”
Indeed McClancy, which finished 2-10 in the regular season, gave Prep all it could handle right from the beginning. Bishop, Darryl Boykins and Anthony Olszewski provided the bulk of the offense for the Crusaders, which went ahead, 11-9, with 2:08 remaining in the first quarter before a three-pointer by Brendan Frazier gave a 12-11 lead to St. Francis.
The two teams exchanged baskets furiously in the second quarter, as McClancy inserted big man Khari Council to combat prep's Steve Hartwig under the boards.
Prep took a seven-point lead on baskets by Kevin Fitzgerald and Bell, but McClancy then strung together a run of their own, closing the half strongly and taking a 30-29 lead into the break after Council scored the final six points of the half for the Crusaders.
The pace never slowed in the game, with both teams taking and then giving up the lead early in the third quarter. A three-pointer by Fitzgerald pulled Prep to within one, 46-45, at the end of the fourth quarter, but McClancy had already begun to establish a slight edge.
Boykins and Bishop hit consecutive baskets for the Crusaders, giving McClancy a five-point lead with 4:36 to play, forcing Leary to call a timeout. The Terriers came back revitalized on defense. The score was 58-55, McClancy, when a lengthy delay – caused by a player vomiting on the court – held up play for at least 10 minutes.
When the game resumed, Prep scored four straight points to take its first lead since the 3:49 mark of the third quarter. Two free throws by Bishop gave McClancy back the lead, but Bell added six from the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the win for the Terriers.
“When we turned the heat up defensively, that;'s how we won the game,” Leary said. “I thought we did a good job.”
Bell finished with 20, while Hartwig added 17 and Fitzgerald poured in 13. For McClancy, Bishop led with 20, followed by 19 from Boykins and 12 from Olszewski, who came into the game with 12 points all season.
