sports
Buzzer-beater goes bad in Holy Cross hoops opener
Th ey played hard, but Holy Cross
Knights lost the opening game of their
2018-19 campaign against Iona Prep in
the fi nal second of regulation.
Th e Knights, with coach Ray Cullinan
making his debut, fought back from an
early defi cit and pulled the game to within
three point. Elijah Perry took a fi nal shot
from three-point range to force a tie and
overtime — only to have the shot blocked
as time expired, preserving Iona Prep’s
56-53 victory.
“In the fi rst half we played well, defensively
98 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 6, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
we did a great job in the fi rst half,”
Cullinan said. “Th ey stretched the lead in
the third quarter, but in the fourth quarter,
we were aggressive and we kept going,
which is what you always want to see.
You never want to see your team rollover
and die, instead you want them to get
back up and see what you can do, which
is what we did, so I was happy about that.”
Both teams were cold from the fi eld
during the fi rst quarter, but the Knights
rallied and fi nished the stanza with
a three-point basket at the buzzer by
Shemar Franklin, which gave
them an 11-6 heading into the
second quarter.
Iona Prep’s off ense heated up
in the second period; the Gaels
went on a 10-0 run to grab a 16-13
advantage. Th eir lead increased
to 21-13, but Holy Cross fought
back, cutting the defi cit to 23-21
heading into halft ime.
Tyler Chapman, who lead the
Knights off ense with 17 points,
opened the third quarter with
a three-point basket to give the
Knights a 24-23 lead. Th e teams
would battle back and forth and
with the score tied at 29-29, Iona
Prep, led by four three-pointers
from Will Rubin, went on a 17-9
run to close the quarter, taking
the 46-38 lead into the fi nal frame.
Th e Knights continued their
rally up until the fi nal second, but
simply ran out of time.
“Th ere’s no days off , there’s no
easy ones and we just have to keep
grinding, keep working and just
focus on everybody doing their
job,” Cullinan said. “Th at’s the
most important thing.”
— story and photos
by Robert Cole