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Holy Cross Loses One At The Line

Laurence Jolicoeur stepped to the free-throw line down two with just 9.1 seconds remaining in overtime. As the lone returning senior starter on a young Holy Cross basketball team, Jolicoeur completely understood the task ahead: sink the free throws to force another extra session.
After calmly knocking down the first one, St. Raymond’s called a timeout to freeze the 6-foot-9 center. Jolicoeur didn’t change much on his next attempt. He went through his normal routine at the charity stripe, followed through, but this time, as the ball glided just over the front of the rim and into the hoop, it slid out.
So did any chances of an upset for the Knights, as St. Raymond’s held on in overtime, 63-60, Friday evening.
“I thought it was good,” Jolicoeur said. “It just didn’t go in.”
Besides the miscue by Jolicoeur, the Knights missed three other times from the foul line in overtime and had the final possession of regulation only to fail to get off a shot.
“It doesn’t always work the way you draw it up,” Holy Cross Coach Paul Gilvary said.
Despite the defeat, their second consecutive road league loss, Gilvary was surprisingly upbeat afterwards. After all, they did rally from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit against one of the top teams in the Catholic League.
“It was a great high school game,” he said. “. . . I was very proud of our effort. They showed they could come back against a great team on the road.”
Darryl Bryant led St. Raymond’s (12-2, 5-1 CHSAA AA East) with 13 points and Gerald Colds added 11.
Among the most encouraging was the play of Jolicoeur, who scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. His emphatic two-handed jam ignited a 14-4 run that erased the Knights (8-9, 1-2 CHSAA AA East) deficit.
The youngsters - sophomores Trinity Fields and Sylvan Landesberg - also featured prominently in the spurt. Fields tied the game with a 3-pointer from the left corner and set up Jolicoeur for a slam while Landesberg, who scored 15 points, converted a 3-point play.
“The whole season is a learning experience,” said Gilvary. “As long as we continue to learn and work hard, we’re only going to get better.”