Christ the King team celebrates after they won the championship. (Paul J. Bereswill)
Sunday’s CHSAA Class AA boys basketball city championship game was littered with highly recruited Division I talents, from Christ the King’s Jon Severe, hulking center Adonis Delarosa and UConn-bound football standout Jordan Fuchs, to Bishop Loughlin junior duo Mike Williams and Khadeen Carrington.
Yet it was tiny, lightly regarded senior Isaiah Cosbert who turned the tightly contested affair on its head with a pair of clutch 3-pointers, one to end the third quarter and another to start the fourth, as Christ the King pulled away from Loughlin for a commanding 78-63 victory at Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym to complete a four-game season sweep.
“I like the moment, I like taking big shots,” the 5-foot-9 Cosbert said. “I’m a risk taker and [the shots] just happened to go in. I just wanted to win so bad, I did whatever I had to do to win.”
The title was the famed Queens powerhouse’s third in four years after it was shockingly knocked out in the quarterfinal round last year. That team was loaded with talent — current UConn freshman Omar Calhoun was its star — but fell short of expectations.
“Last year it wasn’t a team, it was individuals,” Severe said. “We were talented, but we never clicked. This year we were a team and we played together and it happened. I knew we were going to win.”
The Lions (21-8) actually held a three-point lead midway through the third quarter, but Williams and Carrington, who combined for 43 points but just 17 in the second half, missed chances to extend the differential, and Christ the King (25-3) took over from there.
Cosbert’s two 3-pointers turned a two-point Royals lead into an eight-point cushion and started a 14-2 run. The first 3-pointer was a heave at the top of the key as the third-quarter buzzer sounded. The next one came off a set play Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello was originally going to run for Severe, but decided to go with Cosbert instead.
“Mr. Clutch, I love him,” Arbitello said. “I love his toughness.”
Soon after Cosbert’s big 3s, it would be a 14-point lead after dynamic freshman Rawle Alkins threw down a monster jam in transition after Loughlin went ice cold, never getting closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Virtually the Royals’ entire rotation contributed. Severe, the tournament MVP and CHSAA Player of the Year, was typically efficient, scoring 19 points and frequently attacking the basket.
The 6-foot-10 Delarosa was a monster in the paint, with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Fuchs, the football recruit, had his biggest scorer performance in a while with 17 points and and seven rebounds and was a key factor on the defensive end against Carringto and Williams. Alkins helped salt the game away with 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.
“I feel great — I feel great for the kids, I feel great for me, I feel great for the program,” Arbitello said.
Christ the King’s season isn’t over yet. The Royals will travel to Albany in two weeks for the New York State Federation Tournament, looking to add another title to its memorable season.
“It’s not over yet,” Severe said. “We’re trying to get a ring in states.”
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Fordham was flooded with college coaches, such as Fordham head man Tom Pecora and assistant John Morton, St. John’s assistant Tony Chiles, Drexel assistants Matt Collier and Bobby Jordan, George Washington head coach Mike Lonergan and assistant Hajj Turner, Rutgers head coach Mike Rice and assistant Van Macon, St. Francis College head coach Glenn Braica, Cincinnati assistant Darren Savino and Dayton assistant Allen Griffin. … The all-tournament team was Stepinac’s Josh James, Cardinal Hayes’ Chris Robinson, Loughlin’s Williams and Carrington, and Christ the King’s Fuchs and Delarosa.
zbraziller@nypost.com