Christ the King’s Corey Edwards (l.) celebrates with teammate Chris Ortiz. (Christina Santucci)
Most of his teammates will get a chance to continue their basketball careers, but not Terrel Hunt. He will be playing football at Syracuse in the fall and his days on the hardwood are dwindling.
He made sure to extend his career for one more game yesterday, helping lead the Royals to a 60-57 win against Rice and a second consecutive CHSAA Class AA intersectional title at Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym.
“It feels amazing,” Hunt said. “Everybody else has a chance to play somewhere else next year, D-II, D-III, it don’t matter. I’m going to play football and to have the feeling that I have one more game left in my career and we’ve got a state championship coming up soon, it feels amazing.”
The star quarterback played more like a lockdown safety, limiting Cincinnati-bound Jermaine Sanders to just eight points. On the other end of the court, the 6-foot-3 senior, who averages 5.2 points per game, exploded for 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, including two in the final 29.9 seconds of the fourth quarter.
And as was the case in last year’s triple-overtime thriller against Bishop Loughlin, Hunt went to the line and hit a pivotal free throw in the closing seconds, this time going 1-of-2 with 4.4 seconds left.
“One game left, he’s got one game left in his high-school career and then he’s going to be playing football,” Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello said. “I’ll take Terrell Hunt every year. He’s just tough. Terrell Hunt did an incredible job on [Sanders]. That’s a kid going to the Big East, to Cincinnati.”
Led by Omar Calhoun, who scored nine of his 18 points in the first quarter, and Chris Ortiz (five points, seven rebounds, five blocks) defensively, Christ the King (22-6) raced out to a quick 15-0 lead. But Arbitello knew the championship wasn’t won just yet.
“When we went on that 15-0 run to start the game, we weren’t going to blow them out,” he said. “That was not going to happen.”
He was right. While Hunt locked up Sanders and the Royals led by as many as 14 early in the third quarter, Emmanuel Andujar had a game-high 28 points and 16 rebounds, nearly single-handedly bringing Rice (19-10) back and putting his team in a position to win, especially after Calhoun fouled out with 2:45 left in fourth.
“He just showed his ability,” Rice coach Dwayne Mitchell said. “What he did today was in him all the time, but unfortunately a couple of injuries set him back and sometimes Emmy can be very emotional and it holds him back, but today he came out as a senior not wanting to lose and he’s played at that high level.”
However, the senior forward went 7-of-13 from the foul line and missed a potential tying layup with 4.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Hunt grabbed that rebound as well as an offensive board on a missed Chris Ortiz free throw with 29.5 seconds left.
“Everyone says I’m the key to our team, but when it boils down to it and we need a stop, Terrel gets that stop,” said George Mason-bound Corey Edwards, who had seven points, nine assists, four rebounds and three steals to earn tournament MVP honors.
“It’s a great, great feeling,” Arbitello said. “Last year I was overwhelmed with everything, but now it’s something I can take in and really appreciate. Back-to-back is unbelievable.”
Christ the King, which is the first team to win consecutive titles since St. Raymond in 2003-04, advances to the New York State Federation Class AA title game and could have a rematch with Boys & Girls, which defeated rival Lincoln, 62-55, in the PSAL Class AA final Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
But for now, the Royals are basking in the glory of their sixth-ever CHSAA crown.
“Both years are special,” Calhoun said. “This year at least we didn’t have to go to overtime in order to win it. That was a bonus. Me fouling out, that hurt me but the team stepped up and got the win. It’s still special. I just want to in a state championship and make sure I win it next year, too.”