B-Ball Title Comes Home In Triple OT

By Dan Miller

CTK Guard Omar Calhoun, who replaced injured team floor general Corey Edwards, hits a jumper and adds two more points to his total points in the game.

In a stunning triple-overtime win, Christ The King High School in Middle Village defeated Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School of Brooklyn 81-78 in the CHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament Championship on Sunday in front of a full house of shouting high school basketball fans at Fordham University in the Bronx.
The Christ The King Royals, at 23-5, were playing without their field general, senior guard Corey Edwards from Jamaica, who was out with an ankle injury.

Loughlin took a quick 21-9 lead in the first quarter but it all but disappeared when Christ the King senior 6-foot-4 guard Maurice Barrow from Hollis and sophomore guard Omar Calhoun led a comeback, which included a 12–0 CTK run in the second quarter. Loughlin led 48-43 through the end of the third quarter.

With Christ the King leading by 2 points and the game clock winding down Loughlin forward Jay Pinkston hit two foul shots to tie the game at 62 and send it into overtime. Pinkston led all scorers with 34 points and added 8 rebounds. The plan for CTK was to stop Pinkston, and they were pleased that he only scored 34 points.

Each team played tough defense in the first overtime session with each team holding the other to only 4 points leaving the teams tied at 66 all at the end of the first overtime period.

Things heated up and each team scored 10 points in the second overtime but were still tied as the clock ran out to send the game into a third overtime session.

Christ the King’s defense picked got tough and held Loughlin to only 2-points in the final OT.

With the score 78 all and 36 seconds to go, CTK’s T.J. Curry broke the tie with a lay up in which he was fouled on the play. Curry went to the free throw line and hit the shot to seal the CTK come-from-behind 81-78 victory to give the basketball powerhouse from Middle Vilalge the championship.

CTK will now play in the State Tournament that begins next weekend in Glens Falls, N.Y.

Maurice Barrow, the 6-foot-4 senior guard from Hollis was selected as the Tournament MVP. Barrow led CTK with 26 points and 12 rebounds while teammate Omar Calhoun from Park Slope added 18 points and 7 rebounds.

Dominykas Milka, an import from Lithuania who lives in Ridgewood, was dominant in blocking many of the Loughlin shots and pulling down crucial rebounds to compliment the 1-2 punch of Barrow and Calhoun.

CTK coach Joe Arbitello was very proud of his team. “They are the best,” Arbitello said of his Citywide CHSAA champions.

On hand for the championship game was Msgr. McClancy High School basketball coach, Don Kent. Coach Kent thought the game would be close, and he was right on target. Kent led his East Elmhurst McClancy team to an 11-3 CHSAA Class A South League record.

Catholic school basketball and baseball coach Leonard Leeds, 70, from Ridgewood was joined by his daughter Michele Stein and his two grandsons. He predicted that if CTK could stop Loughlin’s Pinkston they could win. And they did.

The Christ the King boys celebrate their victory in the citywide championship.