Indelible Setback

The better Christ the King played defensively, the more intense they grew, the tighter they got to a St. Raymond’s shooter, the easier the Ravens made it look.
Possession after possession they swished contested 3-point shots and knocked down feathery jumper after feathery jumper in a blistering 32-point opening quarter.
“That was incredible,” CK Coach Bob Oliva said of the barrage. “Especially against our half-court defense. We were in their face. They shot lights out.”
“Nothing you could do about it,” senior forward Ryan Pearson said.
The impeccable display was a fitting prelude to an unforgettable, although deflating, league opener for the Royals, a thrilling 95-90 overtime loss to St. Ray’s in the Bronx Friday night.
The defending Catholic city champions, CK battled back from a 12-point deficit, got a career-high 40 points from Pearson, 24 more from Erving Walker, their Florida-bound point guard, and showed early grit and toughness for a team breaking in so many young, and inexperienced underclassmen.
“That was a March game in December,” Oliva said of a rematch between last year’s city finalists.
“Tough defense, intense, very hotly contested, every play counts - you want to be in games like that,” St. Ray’s Coach Oliver Antigua said.
A George Mason recruit, Pearson was “tremendous,” as Oliva described the performance. He soared through the air for dunks, contorted his lithe 6-foot-5 frame to create deflections and steals on the defensive end and grabbed offensive rebounds on the other end, and found creases through the lane for lay-ups and short runners. He forced overtime with a spinning bank-shot in the paint with four seconds remaining in regulation.
“It’s good, but it wasn’t enough,” he said. “We lost. As a team, we went down.”
In the seesaw affair, the Royals just did not get enough production from their secondary sources.
Impressive sophomore center Roland Brown, saddled with foul woes throughout, was never a factor. His backup, Domynikas Milka, made his presence felt, but was a step slow. Guards Sean Johnson and Anthony Martin were unable to contribute consistently, finishing with eight and six points respectively. Senior Joe Nuss, so accurate for the Royals (1-1) in the fall as their starting quarterback, never found the range from 3-point land.
“We got a lot of things to go over in practice,” Pearson said.
Nevertheless, the Royals left the South Bronx with their heads held high. If they do meet these Ravens (5-0) again, the Ravens will be hardpressed to shoot so well again. Furthermore, Milka, Brown, Johnson, Martin and Nuss are bound to provide more.
“We’re looking at is as a good experience,” Oliva said. “Two good teams clash, on their court, they shot lights out for a quarter and a half. … Nothing at all negative about it. All positive.”
“We got 22 more games left,” Pearson said. “It’s not the end of the season.”
Another reason to be optimistic, Oliva noted, is the league season this winter will be unforgiving. No team will leave unscathed. An early test passed, albeit without victory, so early is nothing to scoff at.
Five teams - CK, St. Ray’s, Rice, Bishop Loughlin and Holy Cross - are all capable of hosting the city’s crown in March. This was merely a preview.
“By basic math, only four are going to be in the Final Four; one is not going to be there,” Oliva said. “We tell our guys make sure it’s not us.”