See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Bishop Loughlin’s Khadeen Carrington finally lost it in the third quarter when teammate Mike Williams went crashing to the floor because of a hard foul by Christ the King center Adonis Delarosa.
The Seton Hall-bound guard began screaming at his teammates as Delarosa was ejected for a flagrant foul and Williams walked off the court to have deep cut on the back of his head attended to.
“I said, ‘Our brother is on the floor,’ ” Carrington said. “Either we are going to hold up or we are going to come at them hard and we are going to play hard, just like they are coming at us hard.”
The Lions became the aggressors when the game resumed, and despite some shaky moments late, the team was able to hold on for an important 76–74 victory over visiting Christ the King in Catholic High School League Class AA boys’ basketball Friday night. The rowdy game was a rematch of last year’s city title game won by the Royals, and Loughlin’s first win over its rival in its last seven tries. The Lions have won nine straight games.
“Khadeen was fired up,” guard Javian Delacruz said. “He was screaming at us, talking about, ‘We can’t let these guys do this to us in our house.’ ”
Williams was sent to the hospital, where he received two staples in the back of his head, but he did not have a concussion and will be out just 3–5 days, according to Loughlin coach Ed Gonzalez. Delarosa will be suspended two games for the incident, but will be back when the two teams meet again in Middle Village on Feb. 9.
The contest for first place in the Brooklyn-Queens division was marred by shenanigans from both sides that started when the teams jawed while crossing paths after warmups. Midway through the second quarter Christ the King’s Travis Atson pushed Loughlin’s Keith Williams after getting his shot blocked. Lions’ teammate Issak Bodon then shoved Atson in retaliation, resulting in double technical fouls.
Things escalated from there.
The Rutgers-bound Mike Williams got free along the left side with Loughlin up 48–44 with 4:31 left in the third quarter. He went for a one-handed slam on the 6-foot-11 Delarosa and was sent spiraling hard to the floor by his horizontally outstretched arm.
Delarosa was then pushed in the back of the head by a fan who rushed the court. Another attempted to land a punch, but was stopped and escorted out by school officials. Cooler heads finally prevailed.
“I told them to relax and just play basketball,” Gonzalez said. “I said, ‘enough of this stuff.’ I said, ‘you want to win? You beat them on the court. This is not a boxing match.’ ”
Carrington began to attack the basket and Delacruz buried a three-pointer to give Loughlin a 62–53 lead heading into the fourth. The Lions (17–3) twice held 10-point leads in the final frame before having to cut short a CK rally.
The Royals (16–4) pulled within 74–72 with 44.2 seconds left on a three-pointer by Rawle Alkins. A Loughlin turnover gave CK the ball back with 17 ticks left, but Darius James forced Andre Walker out of bounds as he tried to control an inbound pass along the sideline. Gonzalez was worried another victory against CK was going to get away late.
“A year ago maybe we didn’t make those plays” he said. “That’s what happens when you have a veteran team.”
Carrington, who scored the 2,000th point of his career, scored 24 points. Delacruz had 15, Williams finished with 14, and Bodon chipped in 10. Alkins led Christ the King with 23 points, Atson had 17 and Andre Walker added 15.
The Loughlin players celebrated in the hallway outside their locker room following the victory. They long believed they were the better team, and felt they proved it — at least for this night.
“Everybody just played great,” Carrington said. “We looked like a championship team out there tonight.”