Tough year ends for Terriers

St. Francis Prep lost to St. Raymond’s for a third time, 61-45, Sunday afternoon but this defeat wasn’t even competitive and ended a trying season for the Terriers in the opening round of the CHSAA ‘AA’ intersectional playoffs at Holy Cross. “It’s really disappointing,” senior Jeremiah Adegbola said. “We wanted this one. We made some early mistakes and that cost us.”
A 10-0 Ravens run to start the second half put St. Francis in a 17-point hole they were unable to climb out of. Darryl Bryant, who scored eight points to lead the outburst, led St. Raymond’s with 13 points and Gerald Colds added 11. “We didn’t get to their shooters early [in the run],” Adegbola said, “and the lead got bigger.”
Adegbola led the Terriers with 13 points and Ray McKie added nine but failed to score after the first quarter. “After the first quarter, we didn’t execute,” McKie said. “Defensively, we weren’t stopping them. We had a few lapses and that killed us. We didn’t get defensive rebounds, [either].”
Still, St. Francis trailed by just seven, 32-25, at halftime, buoyed by an 8-2 spurt. Unfortunately, that run failed to carry over to the second half. “It certainly could’ve been tighter,” St. Francis Coach Tim Leary said after his team’s final game. “We just didn’t do a good job. We had our moments against the press when we turned the ball over. It just got away from us. . . . They were physically stronger than us and they played a lot harder than us.”
In the team’s previous two meetings - a pair of Raven victories - St. Francis was right there at the end, losing at the buzzer in the second match-up. But this time around, the Ravens dominated defensively from the opening tip to the final horn.
“I thought our press bothered them,” St. Raymond’s Coach Oliver Antigua said. “We focused on being more aggressive defensively.”
The Terriers (10-14), meanwhile, finished a disheartening season with a whimper, never getting closer than 11 after the Ravens (17-8) initial outburst at the start of the third quarter.
“It’s been kind of a long year for us,” Leary said with a shrug.