Malik Makes Mark

Malik Boothe could not help but see the similarities.
City championship game - Fordham University’s Rose Hill gym - last possession - title on the line - crowd on its feet.
As St. Raymond’s Gerald Colds raced the ball up, down three, with 8.8 seconds remaining, the Christ the King guard immediately thought back to last season, when a “defensive breakdown,” as Boothe described it, enabled Rice’s Kashif Pratt to float in the baseline game-winner off the glass at the buzzer, leading to heartbreak for the Royals and ecstasy for the Raiders, including Rice’s Edgar Sosa, who Boothe remembers streaking down the court and tearing his jersey off, throwing it over his head.
“I didn’t want that to happen with Gerald Colds this year,” he said.
This time, after the 5-foot-9 Springfield Gardens product forced Colds into a desperation 3-pointer that fell a few feet short as the clock hit triple zeroes, it was the Royals who wildly jumped about, celebrating their first city championship since 1995, 57-54, Sunday afternoon.
“We put everything on this game,” CK Coach Bob Oliva said of his fourth CHSAA Class AA title. “Not the state playoffs or the state Catholics or the Federation. This is the one I wanted. I told them if we win I would get them rings.”
Sophomore Sean Johnson led CK with 19 points, Ryan Pearson had 18, Erving Walker had eight and Boothe six. Daryl Bryant led St. Raymond’s with 21 points.
After jumping out to an early 19-5 lead behind eight early points from Johnson and leading throughout, it looked like the Royals’ (21-5) string of four consecutive losses in the city final would come to an end. As the game wore on, the Ravens (16-12), who came from 19 behind in the second half to beat Holy Cross in the semifinals, showed they weren’t through, rallying late and cutting the deficit to two on a Bryant basket with 1:51 remaining.
But after Bryant hit one of two free throws, Boothe sank two from the charity stripe with 8.8 seconds left and forced Colds deep onto the perimeter, forcing up a prayer which went unanswered.
As the Drexel-bound guard approached, Boothe dug in, fighting back the memories of last year’s heartbreak. “I didn’t think we were going to let that happen again,” he said. “Somebody was going to make a play for us.”
That somebody was Boothe, which didn’t exactly surprise Oliva. “Malik is the guy you want in the foxhole with you,” he said. “Malik is old school. He’s as tough as they come - on and off the court.”