Bishop Loughlin stars Khadeen Carrington and Mike Williams have an irreverent running gag. Williams refers to Carrington, the school’s all-time leading scorer, as “God,” while Carrington calls Williams “Jesus.” And Williams indeed played the savior in the team’s city semifinal contest.
The Rutgers-bound guard, who donned a custom Nike t-shirt that read “Mike is serious” for warm ups, scored 18 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter of an 89–77 victory over St. Peter’s in the Catholic Class AA intersectional boys’ basketball semifinal at Fordham University on Thursday.
Williams, who tweaked his left ankle, scored eight points during a 10–0 Lions run that finally put the game away, and did not hit a three-pointer in the contest. Loughlin went up 81–67 with 2:46 remaining in the game.
“He is just relentless,” Lions coach Ed Gonzalez said. “He refused to lose.”
Loughlin will make its second-straight appearance in the title game, and third in the last five years, facing rival Christ the King at 3 pm Sunday at Fordham. The Royals have beaten the Lions in their last three appearances in the championship game.
A city title is the only thing that as eluded the Seton Hall-bound Carrington. He feels that with nine seniors on the roster, it’s his team’s time to bring home its first crown since 1992.
“I think all I am missing in my four years of high school is a championship,” Carrington said. “I don’t think anyone is hungrier than me right now.”
St. Peter’s, which connected on 14 three-pointers in the game, cut the Lions lead to 73–67 with 4:23 left in the game on a three-pointer by Reilly Walsh (25 points). The Eagles had answered every Lions run up until that point, but Williams kept attacking the rim to put Loughlin ahead for good.
“When St. Peter’s goes and shoots the ball like that, it was very nerve racking,” Williams said. “We had to capitalize on every mistake they had, and try to turn it into points. That’s what we did.”
His team also showed the composure, grit and precise execution that comes with being a veteran club which has played in numerous big games. Loughlin shot 61 percent from the field for the game. Williams shot 15 of 19.
St. Peter’s trailed by eight points at the half and just four midway through the third quarter, but Loughlin never got rattled. It just kept playing and kept converting.
Carrington scored 22 points, Javian Delacruz had 16 and eight rebounds and Issak Bodon added 11 for Loughlin (23–5). Glenn Sanabria tallied 16 points for St. Peter’s (27–4) and Latrell Curtis chipped in 15.
“All that’s left is a city championship for these kids,” Gonzalez said. “They want it and they’re hungry. Hopefully it will be a different result than the last couple of years.”
