By Joseph Staszewski
Poor execution without the starting point guard in the lineup was understandable and somewhat expected by Christ the King Coach Joe Arbitello. Seeing his team play without energy, aggressiveness or urgency against Cardinal Hayes was what came as a surprise.
“When you take out one part, you stop being a well-oiled machine and guys don’t know how to react to that,” Arbitello said. “If we would have given an effort, they might have beat us, but the game would have come down to the final minutes.”
Instead, the Royals’ eventual 69-48 home loss was over in the third quarter of CHSAA Class AA boys’ basketball action Friday night. The Cardinals (7-0) took a 10-point lead into the half after a last-second dunk in transition by Mustafa Jones and closed the third quarter on an 11-0 run to grab a 56-31 advantage.
“Second half we needed to come out with more energy and we came out with the opposite,” said CK star Rawle Alkins, who scored 18 points and saw time at the point. “We had a bad game.”
Much of Christ the King’s druthers stemmed from the absence of point guard Andre Walker. The senior was not in the gym but at home and is still part of the program, according to Arbitello. The coach would not comment on the reason for Walker being out of the lineup.
“I’m only going to talk about the guys who are on the court for me,” Arbitello said.
Those guys were out-worked and out-played by a Hayes team it eliminated from last year’s CHSAA intersectional quarterfinals. The Royals (3-1), the defending state Federation champions, struggled to start their offense, didn’t handle ball pressure well and were beat on the boards. Alkins picked up his fourth foul midway through the second quarter.
CK did get a good contribution from guard Kamron Johnson off the bench during a strong second quarter. Travis Atson scored 14 points and Bryler Paige added 10. Center Adonis Delarosa tallied just 3 points and Arbitello was left searching for answers.
“I saw Jordan Fuchs over there with Sean Johnson and I was ready to throw them a jersey,” he said of the former CK standouts in attendance.
The Cardinals, who excelled in transition, produced balanced scoring as Jones, Shavar Newkirk and Nathan Ekwu all scored 14 points. Chris Robinson added 11. The Cardinals knew they were making CK’s life uneasy.
“They didn’t have anyone who could get them in their offense,” Newkirk said. “When we pressured them, we played the passing lane and got easy fast break points.”
Arbitello and Alkins see the game as a learning experience for a team that is still young, especially without Walker in the lineup.
“It’s just something you have to go through,” Arbitello said. “It’s the growing process.”
