Down by three at the half, Holy Cross quickly dug a 10-point hole less than two minutes into the third quarter, but Paul Gilvary wasn’t wondering what went wrong.
The Holy Cross coach had a list of infractions that led to the double-digit deficit and, eventually, a 79-63 loss to Rice at Gauchos Gym Tuesday night.
“We took a couple of bad shots and when you do that against Rice, it starts their transition game and creates opportunities for them, we made a couple of defensive mistakes and the biggest problem we had the whole game was we couldn’t get any defensive rebounds,” Gilvary said. “All those things happened in the same little flurry.”
Rice (12-7, 5-2 Archdiocesan New York) used its depth and length to take control of the game in the second half, making it especially difficult for Holy Cross to get back into it. When the Knights managed to get within striking range, the Raiders always had the response, whether it was Jermaine Sanders (22 points) crashing the boards for a putback, seldom-used Jahmeek Jones (16 points) bombing away from long distance or Melvin Johnson (12 points) getting to the basket.
“It’s hard to play from behind against them,” Gilvary said. “They’re just so deep and so talented that they keep running guys into the game that could make plays. When they play like they played today, they’re as good as anybody in our league for sure.”
Marquise Moore had 21 points, Evan Conti had 18 and Marcus Hopper added 12, but a few wasted possessions and the inability to grab defensive rebounds killed Holy Cross (12-8, 4-5 Brooklyn/Queens), which saw its modest two-game winning streak snapped.
“We gave them a couple of open looks, got them hot and once they’re hot they’re nearly impossible to stop,” Conti said. “What killed us was their penetration threes.”
Holy Cross will now turn its attentions to archrival St. Francis Prep and the second Battle of the Boulevard meeting of the regular season. In the first, the Terriers stunned the Knights, winning 67-51 on the road.
But there’s more than just revenge on their minds. Conti said more importantly, Holy Cross is trying to wrap up second place in the division and earn an all-important first-round bye in the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan playoffs.
“In addition to the rivalry, it’s an important league game,” Gilvary said. “We lost one tonight, they lost their last league game so we’re looking to bounce back and they’re looking to bounce back. Hopefully we’ll answer that challenge the right way.”
