St. Raymond’s had overcome a nine-point first-half deficit, but with the game in the fourth quarter, the Ravens couldn’t put away Bishop Loughlin.
Finally, Gerald Colds did it for them.
The Drexel-bound senior guard erupted for 11 of his 21 points in the final quarter, leading St. Raymond’s to an 83-74 CHSAA AA quarterfinal win last night at Christ the King. The victory propelled St. Raymond’s into Wednesday’s semifinals at St. John’s, where it will meet Holy Cross, an 86-53 winner over Msgr. Farrell last night in another quarterfinal at CTK.
“In the first half, they denied me the ball,” Colds said. “After that, I had to be more aggressive.”
It’s an aspect of his game that head coach Oliver Antigua loves.
“You need a player to take control of the steering wheel,” Antigua said of Colds, who included an acrobatic reverse layup in his fourth-quarter heroics. “That’s his gift. I didn’t call a play specifically for him, he just attacked.”
The strategy worked; St. Raymond’s, which led by three heading into the fourth quarter, pulled away in the final minutes.
“He took over the team,” Antigua said. “He was phenomenal with the ball.”
Colds hardly did it alone. His less-heralded teammate, Darion Benbow, was just as important in getting the Ravens back in the game after their sluggish start against the youthful Lions.
Although it would have been easy for rail-thin 6-7 Benbow to look at Lough- lin’s bigger post players and be intimidated, he was not.
The 160-pounder was outweighed by at least 40 pounds by 6-8 Dan Jennings, 6-7 Kevin Phillip and 6-6 freshman Jayvaughn Pinkston. But it was Benbow, who also had 21 points, who had the largest impact on the game.
“We knew if we were going to win, it would have to be on the boards,” said Benbow, who is still undecided about what college he will attend next year and undoubtedly got himself noticed last night.
Benbow used to be the Carl Pavano of the Ravens, constantly finding new ways to injure himself. The only difference was that his teammates actually liked him. Now, they have even more reason to.
“I was really proud of Darion,” Colds said. “He was really tough for us.”
That’s a long way from his painful past.
“It used to be almost comical,” Antigua said. “But this was a big game for him. He keeps getting better. He’s going to be a better college player than in high school.”
Antigua said he just hopes he gets to see him improve some more before he leaves.
Sylven Landesberg scored 24 points as Holy Cross, coming off an impressive win over Christ the King in the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan finals last week, played well again. Shameel Carty added 21 for the Knights.
Rice will face Christ the King in the other semifinal Wednesday.