The ball was in Daniel Dingle’s hands again with the game hanging in the balance. St. Raymond was down a point with 9.1 seconds left and the Temple-bound star was heading to the free throw line.
The first shot went up.
Airball.
Dingle smiled and backtracked toward halfcourt. The Cardinal Hayes crowd was all over him. He came back to the line and calmly sank the game-tying free throw.
“I don’t know what happened,” Dingle said with a chuckle. “It slipped.”
The game went into overtime. Dingle made two more free throws, including the one that put St. Ray’s ahead for good in a 54-53 win over Hayes in the CHSAA Class AA boys basketball semifinals Wednesday night at St. John’s University.
Dingle put the team on his back again to the tune of 27 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. The Ravens will be in their first final since 2007 on Sunday at 3 p.m. against Holy Cross.
“They say I’m a big-time player,” Dingle said. “Big-time players do big-time things.”
Dingle, who had 27 points in the quarterfinals against All Hallows, had lost in the semifinals every season – the last two seasons to Christ the King and the year prior when he was on the freshmen team. The monkey is off the senior star’s back for good now.
When St. Ray’s was down 48-41 with 2:50 left, Dingle and fellow Division I-bound senior Kerwin Okoro (Iowa State) led the Ravens all the way back. Dingle’s three-point play got them within 48-46 with 1:54 left. Okoro put St. Raymond up for good with another three-point play.
“Dingle – huge,” St. Ray’s coach Oliver Antigua said. “Big free throws. Pressure. Senior. Leader.”
Dingle and Okoro could have easily left two years during what was a trying time in program history. St. Raymond lost six players in two years to transfers. Antigua came under fire. But Dingle and Okoro stood by his side through the tough times.
“It’s nice to see for the guys,” Antigua said. “I’m happy for them. We deserve a chance to hold a trophy.”
The semifinals curse is finally over. But Dingle isn’t satisfied with just that. St. Raymond wants its first CHSAA Class AA intersectional title since 2004.
It’s a good thing for the Ravens that Dingle made that second free throw at the end of regulation.
“I was basically just smiling,” Dingle said. “I thought, ‘This shot is going in.’”