On a team as well-balanced as Rice had this season, it’s easy to overlook some pretty good players. And while Christian Brown was a key role player for the Raiders, it wasn’t until the state Federation tournament in Glens Falls that his skill became fully apparent.

“When we really needed him, he was there,” said Rice coach Maurice Hicks. “I knew he would be.”

Next year, he’ll be at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, where the 6-foot-4 senior signed this week.

Brown averaged 10 ppg. for the Raiders during the regular season and increased that to 14 ppg. in the two games upstate, when Rice was without its two big men, Shagari Alleyne and Arturo Dubois, who were left behind for academic reasons.

“He probably didn’t get all the credit he deserved,” Hicks said. “But he was willing to do the hard work like rebounding that got us to the championship.”