By Joseph Staszewski
Jermaine Bishop didn’t give his team time to feel sorry for itself.
Holy Cross had just watched St. Raymond force overtime on a buzzer beating 3-pointer by Sidney Wilson to end regulation. The Ravens even scored the first hoop of the extra session, but Bishop stopped that momentum right in its tracks. The senior guard scored the next five Holy Cross points and a Jamel Horton jumper gave the Knights a five-point lead; it never looked back from.
“I tell him all the time, make plays,” Cross junior Christian Wilson said. “If he is going, everyone is going. He was going. So we did well.”
Bishop scored a game-high 27 points, dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Knights to a 75-70 upset of St. Raymond in the CHSAA Class AA Intersectional boy’s basketball quarterfinals at Fordham University last Sunday. Holy Cross will be making its first semifinal appearance since 2012. It faces two-time defending champion Christ the King 8 p.m. Tuesday back at Fordham.
“That was a tough shot,” Bishop said of Sidney Wilson’s three. “I contested it and everything. We just kept our heads and kept going.”
Wilson tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds. Horton scored 12 points, including a 3-point play to put Holy Cross up 61-58 with 32 seconds left in regulation. Christian Wilson had a chance to ice the game with five seconds left in the fourth, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 to give St. Raymond a chance.
Chaz Platt chipped in 11 points for the Knights. Caheim Brown paced St. Ray’s with 25 points and eight rebounds. Sidney Wilson added 15 points.
Holy Cross came into the game with confidence. It lost to the Ravens by just five points in December and was coming off a close loss to Xaverian and victory over Stepinac. Knights coach Terry Tarpey saw his team playing with a ton of confidence lately.
“They have been loose,” he said. “They have been surprisingly loose.”
Reaching the semifinals is extra special for this group, which is on its third coach in the last four years. They are happy to get Cross back to the final four, but aren’t content with just getting there.
“We have been kind of pushed to the side,” Christian Wilson said. “We got to give it all we got. We are just going to take it as far as we can.”
Christ the King 73, St. Peter’s 58: Rawle Alkins posted a near triple double with 29 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists for Christ the King (23-4). The junior shot 10 of 16 from the field, made three three-pointers and blocked three shots. The only numbers he was excited about were the ones that had the Royals head in the final score.
“That’s just how I play,” Alkins said. “I’m the type of guy that doesn’t worry about numbers. I just worry about winning.”
Christ the King held the sharp-shooting Eagles (20-10) to just 4-for-24 shooting from behind the arc. Star Reilly Walsh scored 20 points, but did not make a trey despite 12 attempts. CK led 35-23 at the half.
“I think a lot had to do with us,” Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello said.
Jared Rivers scored 17 points and grabbed five boards for the Royals and Tracy Cleckly added 11 points. CK, which is going for a third straight city title, knows its cannot take a semifinals match up with Holy Cross lightly despite winning both regular season meetings.
“I don’t thing there is avoiding a close game here,” Arbitello said.
Iona Prep 69, Molloy 63: D’Ante Warren led Molloy (15-13) with 27 points and seven rebound. Isaac Grant had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Chase Audige added 10 points and seven rebounds. Virginia commit Ty Jerome scored 26 points and Tom Capuano had 24 for Iona Prep (22-5), the Archdiocesan champion. Matt Ryan, who is headed to Notre Dame added 13 points
