Walker provides Juice

Because Lincoln and Christ the King are each nationally ranked and the favorites to lead their respective leagues, the meeting between the two teams in the finale of the Big Apple Basketball PSAL-CHSAA Challenge was met with far more anticipation than is normally attached to an early-season non-league game.
It was considered a possible preview for the state championship.
&#8220I looked at is as one of the biggest games of the year,” CK junior Ryan Pearson said. &#8220Lincoln is such a great team. They own the PSAL.”
The showdown meant even more to Erving Walker. A Brooklyn native, CK's 5-foot-7 off guard has played A.A.U. basketball for years with the Juice All-Stars, run by Lincoln Coach Dwayne ‘Tiny' Morton, and filled with Railsplitters up and down the roster.
&#8220That was a little extra motivation,” he said. &#8220We've been talking about this since the summer. I didn't want to lose this one.”
Walker, with help from Pearson, made sure the Royals (2-0) remained undefeated. Down 20, 43-23, with 6:32 left in the third quarter, the duo changed the game's complexion, combining for 24 points in the second half as CK outscored Lincoln 50-23 the rest of the way en route to a 73-66 triumph at Baruch College Sunday night.
They scored all the Royals points in a 13-2 spurt with Walker draining a trio of 3-pointers during the surge. &#8220He's electric,” CK Coach Bob Oliva said of Walker. &#8220He's instant offense.”
Each finished with 19 points and Pearson also grabbed 10 rebounds.
Even so, it was the lanky 6-foot-5 Pearson, the game's MVP, who slowed the Railsplitters (2-1) down at the offensive end. With their resident defensive stopper, St. John's recruit Malik Boothe, saddled with four fouls early in the second half, and the game getting out of hand, Pearson was given the assignment of shadowing Lance Stephenson.
Following in the footsteps of Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair - in town with the Boston Celtics, he sat courtside during the first half - Stephenson is the latest pro prospect out of Coney Island.
The 6-foot-5 combo guard led Lincoln to a runner-up finish in the state tournament last March as a freshman, and dominated Boothe early. He scored seven of Lincoln's first 12 points, wowing the capacity crowd with a dizzying array of crossovers and pull-up jumpers, and ended the first half with 13.
But forcing Stephenson (game-high 20 points) into some tough shots, Pearson held the flashy star to just four points, taking over Boothe's role for one night at least. &#8220Malik was my inspiration,” he said. &#8220I just wanted to make him (Stephenson) go left and prove what I could do.”
&#8220We rolled the dice,” Oliva said. &#8220He's (Pearson) getting better and better defensively all the time.”
Of course, it helped, Pearson said, that the Royals knew what was coming - thanks to Walker's A.A.U. exposure. &#8220Everything was in the scouting report,” the forward revealed. &#8220We played based on what he said.”