Royal Flush

Erving Walker was on fire. The long 3-point bombs were dropping. So were the runners that brought rain, and step back jumpers.
The Florida-bound junior guard scored 14 of 16 Christ the King points in one unconscious stretch when everything he threw up found the bottom of the net. The only problem was he did not have any help - on either end of the court.
Last year’s tormenters, Rice, who topped the Royals the last three times they met a season ago, including heartbreakers in the Catholic city and state final, continued to own Christ the King, dominating them at the Gauchos Gym in the Bronx Friday night, 68-49.
Lamont Jones and Chris Fouche led the Raiders, ranked 19th in USA Today’s latest national poll, with 17 points apiece, raining in six 3-pointers in all. Walker led the Royals (21-5) with 17, but his backcourt mate, Malik Boothe, the St. John’s recruit, managed just one basket while struggling on a bad wheel.
“They just came out more aggressive than us and they were on fire,” said Walker, who failed to score in the opening half. “We just didn’t match their intensity tonight.”
It was looking like one of those typical Rice-CK nail biters for the first quarter and a half after forward Ryan Pearson, who finished with just 12 points, scored inside off a Boothe drive and dish to bring the Royals within two, 19-17. An 8-1 Rice run to end the half put an end to that, and they carried that momentum over to the third quarter in the form of a 13-5 spurt, with five different Raiders scoring.
Walker would bring CK back within 10 on a few occasions in the fourth quarter, but they were never able to get the needed stop; it seemed like every time the Royals looked to be gaining momentum, Scott or Fouche would knock down a shot from the perimeter, or Kemba Walker, Rice’s impressive junior point guard, would get to the rim.
Although the two teams had clinched their respective division titles, and the matchup held little meaning outside of bragging rights, it was still a game circled on each other’s calendar.
It would’ve seemed to warrant more for the Royals, considering how their season ended last March. But Rice (21-2), despite graduating three seniors - Curtis Kelly (Connecticut), Kashif Pratt (Seton Hall), and Edgar Sosa (Louisville) - from last year’s group that are all now playing in the Big East, has been surprising teams all year in finishing the league season undefeated.
“We just wanted to come here and show those guys we are the best,” Jones said.
For one day at least, there was no doubt. CK hasn’t played well of late, falling to Harrisburg (PA) at the Prime Time Shootout in Trenton, N.J., in their previous game. And now the postseason is here, with the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan playoffs this week. If they do meet Rice again, it will be in the intersectional playoffs, and maybe a return engagement in the city championship game.
However, after this trashing, do the Royals even want another shot at the prolific Raiders? “Of course,” Walker said, “we want a rematch.”