Roger Harris was honored before the start of Tuesday’s regular-season finale against Xaverian, one of five seniors recognized in Fresh Meadows, Queens before their final home game.
And when the point guard and co-captain returned to the St. Francis Prep locker room after a 55-52 overtime win against the Clippers, he celebrated his first — and only — CHSAA Class AA league win of his career.
“It feels so good,” Harris said. “I’ve waited for this so long. Finally I can go home, go to sleep at night and feel good about what we did today on the court. I kinda want to cry.”
The Terriers saved their best for last, literally, and Harris, a three-year varsity player, avoided the distinction of never winning a league game.
“I didn’t want to think about it at all,” Harris said. “I felt like if I could put my best foot forward we could get the win and go from there, hopefully get a win in the playoffs and turn our season around.”
It was St. Francis Prep’s first league win since Feb. 9, 2007, when the Terriers beat the Clippers, 64-58.
“I’m happy they won, I’m just not happy it was at our expense,” Xaverian coach Jack Alesi said. “I don’t think we lost the game as much as they won the game. They made the plays to win the game and we didn’t. I tip my hat to them and give them all the credit.”
St. Francis Prep (11-13, 1-12 CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens) has come close in several league games, but just didn’t make enough big plays down the stretch. The fourth quarter was often the bugaboo.
“Coach tells us all the time that we could play with almost any team in this league,” junior guard Khallid Straker said. “He just says in the fourth quarter we don’t make the extra hustle plays that other teams make in order to win games. I think today was the first time we made the plays and hit our free throws.”
The Terriers, who shot 82 percent from the line (23-of-28) actually opened the fourth quarter on a 14-0 run, erasing a nine-point deficit after three quarters and led 44-39 on Straker’s baseline layup with 2:51 left.
Justin Exum put the long awaited celebration on hold when he drained an NBA 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to send the game into overtime. The senior guard had a game-high 23 points and Manny Thomas added 13 for Xaverian, which fell to 11-10, 5-8 in the division.
It appeared Exum’s shot would be a dagger the Terriers couldn’t recover from, but St. Francis Prep remained resolute.
“We can’t lose,” Harris thought before the start of overtime. “We’ve all been tired of losing, we have to get our program back to where it was. This is not the time to get down. This has happened too many times before. We have to prove everybody wrong.”
Fittingly, Harris, who scored the first points of the game on a 3-pointer, finished the scoring, as well, going 1-of-2 from the foul line with 2.1 seconds left and a celebration three years in the making was on.
Straker scored 16 points, senior Bryan Caffrey had 11 and Harris netted nine for the Terriers.
“He’s like the glue that keeps us together, the X-factor,” Straker said of Harris. “He’s our vocal leader on the court, but he’s also the guy leading us emotionally.”
Having snapped an 11-game losing streak, the Terriers are now anxious to get back on the court. The Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan tournament is at St. Francis Prep and the sixth-seeded Terriers meet archrival Holy Cross in a first-round game Monday night.
“It’s a credit to their character that we really haven’t had anybody quit and they play hard all year,” longtime St. Francis Prep coach Tim Leary said. “Sometimes, as All Hallows proved when they beat us last year [in the intersectional first round] it just gives you a little spark at this time of the year and who knows?”
