CTK 93 – St. Ray 79

Moments after his high school career ended, Ricky Torres calmly described what had happened earlier and how St. Raymond had been beaten.

“Christ the King has so many guys,” Torres said. “They all contribute and they just keep coming at you. We did everything we could, but they’re so good.”

Torres, who will play his next game at St. John’s and was consoled after his 33-point performance by Norm Roberts, was right. But of all the talented players on the Royals, junior Larry Davis could be the best of all.

He scored a team-high 27 points in CTK’s 93-79 win in the CHSAA AA intersectional quarterfinals last night at St. Francis Prep.

The victory propelled the Royals (24-2) into a semifinal matchup against Xaverian Sunday at St. John’s. The Clippers rolled into the semis with a 70-42 win over Msgr. Farrell, keyed by a 25-2 third quarter. Brian McKenzie led the Clippers with 18 points, while Levance Fields added 15.

Davis, a 6-4 guard, has lived up to expectations as one of the top players in the league and has already drawn serious interest from nearly every team in the Big East. His performance against the Ravens did nothing to hurt his reputation.

And that reputation is something the mild-mannered Davis is becoming more comfortable with.

“In the beginning of the season, I was slacking off a little bit,” Davis said. “On offense, I would let the seniors kind of control everything. But they came to me and told me I had to do more.”

It was a far cry from CTK’s last game, when it lost to Loughlin in the Brooklyn/Queens sectionals. It was the team’s only defeat after an early-season loss to powerful St. Mary’s.

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St. John’s Prep avenged its only loss of the year, pounding Cardinal Hayes 60-40 last night in the CHSAA A semifinals at Mt. St. Michael.

Richard Jean-Baptiste (18 points) helped spark a 20-0 St. John’s Prep run in the third quarter. The Red Storm will meet the Mount in the title game tomorrow at Iona College after Mount’s 48-46 win over La Salle.