Royals Flushed-Rice Stops CTK again, this time in state finals

Down two-fifths of their starting lineup and twenty points midway through the third quarter to Rice, Christ the King’s season looked to be ending even worse than their city championship defeat the previous Sunday - in a blowout.
It still came to a close late Sunday afternoon at Fordham University’s Rose Hill Gym, but not before the gritty Royals came roaring back, putting a legitimate scare into Rice, cutting their deficit to three twice in the final minutes, before succumbing to the Raiders, 64-58, in the CHSAA Class AA state title game. “There’s a lot of heart [with] this particular group,” Christ the King Coach Bob Oliva said proudly.
Nevertheless, the loss marked the second time in a week the Raiders (25-4) topped the Royals at the Bronx gymnasium - the previous Sunday Kashif Pratt’s runner at the buzzer of overtime clinched Rice’s first city championship since 2002. Edgar Sosa, the Louisville recruit, scored 14 points to lead Rice and Curtis Kelly added 13.
This meeting had a different feel altogether. While Rice is loaded with seniors - their entire starting lineup is in their final season, in fact - the Royals are a youthful bunch (four of their five starters against Rice will return), magnified by the absence of the N.C. State-bound guard Larry Davis, suspended for the season when he verbally accosted referee Michael Bennett after the city championship defeat. “The whole thing with Larry being out; it didn’t hurt us, but it didn’t help us,” said senior Rob Hampton, who scored 14 points.
They nearly had a chance to continue on even without Davis, their second-leading scorer, and sophomore guard Erving Walker, who missed the second half after injuring his right elbow. “It just shows we’re a deep team,” Hampton said. “Two players go down, two players step up.”
Down 47-27 at one point, the Royals (25-6) unleashed a 19-4 run, capped by Rob Hampton’s 3-pointer from the left wing in transition. After Kelly, Rice’s 6-foot-9 center who is headed to UConn, pushed the lead back to seven, Ryan Pearson finished inside after gathering an offensive rebound. “We had momentum,” said Pearson, a sophomore forward, who led the Royals with 18 points. “We just started to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played from the beginning.”
Much like the previous week when the ball bounced Rice’s way, Sosa’s baseline jumper caromed off the front rim and fell through. Christ the King’s Malik Boothe followed with a runner off the glass, but after Rice’s Vincent Johnson hit a free-throw, Darren Duncan, in the lineup for the injured Walker, misfired from long range and the Royals’ comeback floundered. “We just dug ourselves a little too deep of a hole,” Hampton said. “We could’ve won this game.”