There was one future Big East player on the court at Carnesecca Arena for the opening CHSAA Class AA intersectional semifinal and Rice’s Jermaine Sanders looked the part Wednesday night, helping lift the Raiders to a 55-52 win against Holy Cross.
The senior swingman scored a game-high 30 points in a dominating performance as the Raiders booked their ticket to Sunday’s title game at Fordham University.
“I thought me having a game like this, we’d win the game no matter what,” Sanders said. “I just had to come out aggressive.”
Rice (19-9) will play Christ the King in the final. The Royals defeated St. Raymond, 70-67, in overtime in the other semifinal.
“I’ve been pushing him, man,” Rice coach Dwayne Mitchell said. “Jermaine is going to a high level and he’s got to have high-level games. When he plays that way, it definitely gives us a great opportunity to win. I’m hoping he can carry that on Sunday.”
Sanders spent much of his senior year trying to match preseason expectations that haven’t been entirely fair or realistic, according to junior guard Melvin Johnson.
“People expected him to get 50 every night for the simple fact that he’s going to Cincinnati,” Johnson said. “But he told me before the game that he felt good about this one and he went out and got 30 points.”
Sanders heated up in the third quarter, scoring 11 points in a span of just over 90 seconds, to give Rice a 42-27 late in the third quarter.
“He’s an enormously talented kid and he’s very difficult to guard because he can make shots from beyond the 3-point arc, he’s got a little bit of a post-up game and he’s good in transition,” Holy Cross coach Paul Gilvary said. “He finds a lot of ways to score.”
It was a seemingly insurmountable lead because Holy Cross (17-12) shot 7-of-43 from the field, including 2-of-22 from 3-point range, through three quarters.
“Once he got on his run, I thought we were going to blow them out of the water,” Johnson said. “But we got a little fatigued.”
The Knights rallied late. Anthony Libroia scored 11 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer while falling out of bounds to cut the Knights deficit to 49-48 with 35.6 seconds left.
However Johnson scored four of his nine points from the foul line in the final 31.1 seconds, draining four clutch one-and-one bonus free throws.
“I was nervous to a certain extent, but overall I was confident about it,” Johnson said of his foul shots. “I just had a lot of ‘What Ifs’ but I was confident I’d knock them down.”
Libroia had one more chance to tie it, but his open 3-pointer caromed off the rim at the buzzer, securing Rice’s spot in the final.
“I was under the net, so my heart dropped a little bit,” Johnson said. “But when I saw it was off, I was excited.”
The last time the Raiders played in the title game, Sanders was a sophomore and he deferred to Durand Scott, who helped lead Rice to the 2009 title against Christ the King before going on to Miami.
Sanders will be at Cincinnati next year, but first he has some unfinished business on Sunday.
“It feels great going to the championship game,” Sanders said.