CHSAA HOOPS
St. Ray’s 60
Xaverian 49
St. Raymond’s will be in Trenton today playing Lanier from Jackson, Mississippi. But before the Ravens left last night to face the 14th-ranked team in the country, they had important work to do.
“It’s a lot of fun going all over and playing good teams,” said junior Brian Laing. “But games like these are just as important.”
The Ravens faced divisional foe Xaverian in The Bronx last night and stayed undefeated in the ultra-competitive CHSAA with a 60-49 win at home. And even though St. Raymond’s struggled offensively, the team showed why it is likely the best team in the city. The Ravens improved to 18-3 and 11-0 in the CHSAA, while Xaverian dropped to 16-6, 8-3.
Despite not having the size of many other teams in the league, the Ravens have become experts at taking opponents out of their games and outlasting them, something they did again last night.
Xaverian played without point guard Levance Fields, who missed the game, according to coach Jack Alesi, because of a slight wrist injury as well as some disciplinary problems.
But the Clippers still had Pitt-signee Chris Taft to dominate the paint. While Taft took control at times, the Ravens have had enough experience dealing with big men that they aren’t intimidated,l and it showed.
“We just try and stay in front of him and don’t let him get the ball,” said Laing, who had 22 points and was partially responsible for limiting Taft to 23 points. “If you make contact with him, he’s not as good.”
St. Raymond’s already faced Rice’s Shagari Alleyne and adjusted at halftime of that game to deny him the ball. They did much the same last night, as Taft scored 15 of his points before intermission.
Louie McCroskey, who added 20 points and 13 rebounds, thinks that skilled centers think they will have field days when they see the relatively undersized Ravens.
“They take for granted that we can’t keep up with them,” said McCroskey. “But we’ve proven that we can stop guys like that.”
Of course, it helped that the Clippers didn’t have Fields to get Taft the ball in a comfortable spot. But Xaverian showed just how tough it is by staying with St. Raymond’s until the final quarter, when the Clippers trailed by five points.
“We’re a tough team and I think we can wear people down because we have so many physical players, even if none of them are all that big,” said coach Oliver Antigua. “As all great players do, Taft rose from the dead and took over, but we were able to contain him down the stretch.”
They will have to do more of that with the playoffs not far off and more big men in their way.