Raiders went toe-to-toe with Division I champs
KINGSTON – Abdul Ajia stared up at the Ryan Center videoboard in disbelief, a look of frustration in his eyes and undoubtedly pain in his heart.
There was 2:32 left when Ajia wore a look on his face that made it clear he wasn’t ready to accept what was happening. Bishop Hendricken was up eight points on Shea High at that point, the game having already turned in the Hawks’ favor for good.
Buoyed by a relentless fullcourt press that did its job, topseeded Hendricken blitzed No. 3 seed Shea to capture its second straight Open state championship, 66-55, on Sunday night. The Hawks closed the game on a 38-23 run and went to the free-throw line 37 times, making 23.
On the flip side, the Raiders attempted 14 free throws as a unit, or two fewer than Hendricken guard Tyrone Weeks.
“We did everything right. We were prepared,” Shea head coach Matt Pita. “They just hit more shots and caused more turnovers. They hit another gear.”
“Tremendous group of young men. They should be proud of their season.” – Hendricken’s Jamal Gomes on Shea
Robert Fioreto led the Hawks with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting while Weeks registered a double-double (20 points, 12 rebounds). Hendricken forced Shea into 20 turnovers while shooting-wise used a 46.4-percent clip in the second half to finish the game at 36.4 percent.
For Shea, which like Hendricken also closed the season with a 25-3 record, senior Malik Muhammed-Hester led the charge with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Ajia and freshman Erickson Bans fought their way through foul trouble in the first half to muster respectful final totals, Ajia with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Bans had 13 points and five assists.
Surprisingly, the Shea locker room was upbeat after accepting the runner-up trophy and medals. Deep down, everyone associated with the Raiders knew they were playing with house money – a Division II team going up against the state’s perennial power.
“I’m happy for these guys,” Pita said.
Added Muhammed-Hester, who was the correct choice for Player of the Game honors in Shea’s camp, “We weren’t supposed to be here. We had a helluva season. I’m not really disappointed.”
That free-spirit and carefree attitude was apparent for much of the first half. Shea threw the first punch in jumping out to a 16-4 lead. Most early-game deficits would rattle most teams, but the Hawks calmly navigated a tough start that featured eight turnovers in the opening eight minutes.
Five straight points got Hendricken in the right direction, but Shea went back up by double figures after Bans converted a layup and Muhammed-Hester went 1-of-2 at the line with 5:20 left in the half. That’s when trouble struck as Ajia went to the bench with two fouls and Bans soon joined him after picking up his third personal with 2:11 left and Shea’s lead down to 19-13.
Gerald Soe appeared to give the Raiders some breathing room heading into halftime after converting a three-point play with 3.5 seconds remaining. That put Shea up 22-16, yet the lead was trimmed to as Hendricken’s Fiorito banked in a 30-footer as the horn sounded.
“We were pretty confident,” Muhammed-Hester said about the 22-19 lead that Shea took into the second half.
The early minutes of the latter half saw Shea receive a favorable break, the kind that suggested that this might be the Raiders’ night. After a mad scramble, Bans rolled the ball to Ajia for an emphatic two-handed dunk. The sequence helped the Raiders go up 29-27, yet Ajia twisted his knee on the dunk. The high-flying senior wore a wrap the rest of the game and admitted afterwards the injury didn’t really bother him.
The Raiders continued to own a two-point lead at the 10-minute mark, but that’s when the Hawks took control by going inside and turning Weeks loose on the press. Hendricken took its first lead of the game when Fiorito nailed a floater on the baseline to break a 32-32 stalemate. Shea tied the game at 34-34 when Soe (10 points) picked up a loose ball and scored, but Hendricken responded with 10 straight points, the sequence capped by a fallaway jumper in the paint by Weeks with just over seven minutes left.
With their chance at the top prize slipping away, the Raiders countered with an 8-1 run that made it a 45-43 affair. That’s as close as Shea would come the rest of the way. Hendricken made a living at the foul line down the stretch as its relentless approach proved too much for a Raider outfit that certainly earned the respect of their opponent.
“Tremendous group of young men. They should be proud of their season,” Hendricken head coach Jamal Gomes said. “They were killing us early and came in with a great game plan. We made a couple of adjustments in the second half and tried to wear them down and thankfully it worked for us.”