Christ the King wins Tournament of Champions in Missouri

For much of the season, Erving Walker has taken a backseat to Ryan Pearson. That changed last weekend, as the Florida-bound 5-foot-9 guard took home MVP honors in the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions in Springfield, Missouri on the campus of Missouri State University.
Walker led the Royals to the crown by averaging 28 points per game, including a 33-point performance in the 63-59 semifinal victory over Kickapoo (Springfield, MO) in which he drained seven 3-pointers to lead CK back from a 12-point second-half deficit.
“Erving put on one of the greatest shows anyone has ever seen in high school basketball,” CK Coach Bob Oliva said. “We were losing the game, no way we were going to win it. He hit five 3’s in a three-minute span, all while we were losing. Two came from at least 30 feet. It was incredible. They [the fans] stood and cheered forever. I would’ve stood and cheered if I wasn’t coaching the team.”
In the finals, Walker had 24 points and Ryan Pearson added 34 points and 15 rebounds in a 73-71 overtime victory over LeFlore (Mobile, AL), led by 6-foot-10 junior DeMarcus Cousins (38 points, 12 rebounds), the 17th team in the nation in USA Today.
The first-place finish was the fifth time the Royals had won the Missouri tournament, where they go every other year, in 12 attempts. It also gave CK (13-2, 4-1 CHSAA AA Brooklyn/Queens) their ninth win in a row, continuing a hot streak that began in a January 4 win over Rice.
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Cardozo enjoyed a big weekend, too. The Judges topped Archbishop Carroll (Washington, D.C.) and San Diego (California) in the Big Apple Basketball Invitational at Baruch College. The Judges got 24 points from Trinity Fields on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in taking apart San Diego, 71-49, in a game that was not nearly as close as the final score would indicate.
Just as important, they limited the 6-foot-11 center Jeremy Tyler, the No. 1 player in the class of 2010, to six points and two rebounds, banging him on every occasion with the trio of Edy Toussaint, Marquis Grant and Denzel Wilson. Cardozo (13-3, 10-3 Queens AA), third in Queens AA, approached the weekend struggling, having lost another close division game - their three losses are by a combined six points - to Campus Magnet. But they bounced back, beating a pair of quality opponents based on strong defense and smart play.
“It’s an eye-opener for our potential,” said Grant, who had seven points and eight rebounds to give Cardozo their eighth win in nine tries.