First it lost Julius Hodge and Chris McRae to graduation and now St. Raymond’s is without Allan Ray, for a month anyway.

Ray, a 6-foot-1 guard who signed a letter of intent with Villanova yesterday, suffered a stress fracture in his fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot during practice Sunday. After undergoing tests yesterday, it was determined that he needed surgery to place a screw into his foot.

Surgery is scheduled for next week and is expected to keep Ray out from four to five weeks, so he will likely miss the beginning of the team’s CHSAA schedule.

“We hope to have him back by the end of December,” St. Raymond’s’ head coach Gary DeCesare said of Ray, who emerged as one of the Ravens’ top players during their run to the state title last year. “It will be a big challenge for us. Between Allan, Julius and Chris, we’re missing 50 points a game from last year. But we want to make sure Allan is healthy when he gets back.”