St Mike’s Blue Raiders Closing in on 2nd U.S Tourny Title, 1 Game Left
BINGHAMTON,NY–Let’s pick up where we left off last night with Marcus Carr pouring it in for St. Michael’s, who has now moved into the finals at the Mirabito STOP-DWI Holiday Classic after beating Bishop Loughlin, a private school from Brooklyn, New York, 67-58.
SMC betters their record to 22-0 overall; they are now 14-0 against Canadian competition and 8-0 against American teams.
In today’s finals they will meet Roman Catholic, a high school program from Philadelphia, PA.
In the game against Bishop Loughlin, the teams were comparable in the sense that they are both young and very talented, the difference was that St. Mike’s can shoot the ball better than most teams that they run into.
St. Michael’s sophomore Marcus Carr had another sensational night putting up 28 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He shot 9-13 from the field.
It’s fair to say he is being considered as MVP of the tournament.
Last night’s game didn’t start on a high note. The Blue Raiders did a poor job on the defensive boards in the first quarter and allowed for many second chance opportunities for Bishop Loughlin.
Loughlin’s Keith Williams was able to execute off of these chances and ended up with 19 in the game. This 6’4 guard is another sophomore with a very bright future.
In the second quarter, SMC’s Blue Raiders were able to seal off the opposition and secure rebounds looking ahead in transition for Carr who was leaking into the open court.
The Championship game against Roman Catholic, who is the number one ranked team in Pennsylvania, could be the game of they year for the Canadian contingent.
Roman Catholic has three players who are already committed to NCAA programs, two of which will be playing basketball and one football. Their 6’5 wing Gemil Holbrook is going to Rider University, TreVaughn Hartford has signed with Hartford and 6’6 Manny Taylor will be playing football at Rutgers.
Tony Carr is Roman Catholic’s 6’4 junior guard who has offers from La Salle, Maryland, Penn State, Temple and Rhode Island.
Pennsylvania’s top team is arguably the best defensive team in this tournament and will be applying on ball pressure and forcing St. Mike’s to make quick decisions.
Going up against size, the key for SMC will be to keep Danilo Djuricic out foul trouble and in the game.
Djuricic has gained interest from Cornell University.
Nelson Kaputo’s leadership has escalated in many situations and been game changing in some cases. This will also be an area needed to help keep the team composed.
One more practice and one more game to win in Binghamton before the Blue Raiders can claim their second American tournament championship.
