Move over Chauncey Billups, there’s a new Mr. Big Shot in town.
Corey Edwards scored seven of his 16 points in overtime to help lift Christ the King to a 70-67 victory against St. Raymond in the CHSAA Class AA intersectional semifinals Wednesday night at Carnesecca Arena.
The Royals advance to the title game for a sixth consecutive year and will meet Rice Sunday afternoon at Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym. The Raiders defeated Holy Cross, 55-52, in the other semifinal.
“That’s what seniors are supposed to do,” CK coach Joe Arbitello said. “They’re supposed to step up, make plays and that’s what happened.”
That wasn’t always the case. On the same court early in his sophomore year, Edwards missed a layup late in the fourth quarter in a loss against Boys & Girls.
“When I missed that shot, it changed my whole life,” Edwards said. “I came in the hallway and started crying. Coach told me that I was going to make a bunch of big shots. I just let that game go and moved forward with my career.”
And that high-school career continues in part because of the George Mason-bound point guard, who broke a 65-all tie on a corner 3-pointer with 32.4 seconds left in overtime.
“At that point I saw the ocean in the basket,” said Edwards, who also had seven rebounds and seven assists. “I knew I was going to make it.”
After a layup by Kerwin Okoro (11 points), Edwards buried a pair of free throws with 9.3 seconds left and watched as Okoro’s desperation 3-pointer caromed off the side of the backboard at the buzzer.
“He played like a senior today,” St. Ray’s coach Oliver Antigua said of Edwards. “The kid’s a hell of a competitor, I’m real happy for him. He’s been through a lot of injuries in his career, but he plays with a lot of class and always played hard and represents our league well.”
Omar Calhoun had a game-high 23 points and seven boards, including a pair of technical free throws after Myron Hickman (21 points) opened the overtime with a 3-pointer and clapped in the junior’s face.
“Guys try to come at me, we’re all juniors, bragging rights and stuff like that,” Calhoun said. “He hit a 3 and just tried to clap in my face. I didn’t take nothing from it. I just went to the line, hit the free throws and kept going.”
Chris Ortiz added 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks and T.J. Curry had 14 points and six rebounds for Christ the King (21-6), which trailed by four late in the fourth quarter. But Curry nailed a 3-pointer in a 7-1 run to give the Royals a 58-56 lead with 1:37 left in regulation.
Okoro forced overtime with a layup as time expired. The lone regular-season meeting between the teams also went to overtime, but St. Ray’s (17-11) came away with the win in Middle Village.
This time, though, Calhoun knew the outcome would be different.
“Omar told us to play together and stay strong,” Edwards said. “He said we have them right where we want them.”
Thanks to Mr. Big Shot, the Royals certainly did.
