CHSAA: Xaverian 66 – St. Ray’s 49
Xaverian head coach Jack Alesi has tried to figure out his team all year. One game the Clippers look like one of the best teams in the city, other nights they look extremely vulnerable.
But after his team fell by 17 to Xaverian, St. Raymond’s head coach Gary DeCesare thought he had a pretty good read on it.
“If Chris Taft comes to play, nobody’s beating them,” DeCesare said following Xaverian’s 66-49 win in the CHSAA quarterfinals at Iona College last night. Xaverian (18-9) advanced to play Rice on Sunday at Fordham University in the semifinals. The Raiders beat Christ the King, 73-53, in the other quarterfinal. “We couldn’t play with him.”
DeCesare, whose team finished 17-10, is right. When the 6-foot-9 Taft is on his game, the junior is the most dominant player in the league. Last night, coupled with a strong performance by senior guard Shaun Wynn, the Clippers looked like the championship-caliber team they were thought to be at the beginning of the season. Taft led the way, with 23 points, 15 boards and five blocks.
“Any time you see this team play, you won’t know what team you’re seeing,” said Alesi, who had his team repeatedly watch film of the Clippers’ 11-point loss to the Ravens in January. “When we take care of the ball and defend, we’re really good.”
That’s what happened last night, sparked by both Taft and Wynn (11 points). Xaverian has been plagued throughout the season by weak guard play, so Alesi told Wynn – a talented scorer – to focus more on handling the ball than on shooting.
“I just had to be a leader,” said the Boston University-bound Wynn. “The last time we played St. Raymond’s, I was too concerned about scoring. Today, I wanted to get everyone involved.”
Which he did, not turning the ball over, something Xaverian has done a lot of this year. But perhaps even more importantly, Wynn was his usual defensive maven, holding the Ravens’ Allan Ray to just four points before Ray fouled out midway through the fourth quarter.
“They knocked us out of the playoffs the last two years and I didn’t want it to happen again,” Wynn said.
Specifically, Wynn didn’t want Ray to go off like he did in last year’s playoff, when Ray had 24 points in the win over Xaverian.
“I always guard the other team’s best player,” said Wynn, who held Julius Hodge, now with N.C. State, to eight points in that game. “I had been itching to guard him. It’s a challenge. He’s one of my favorite players to guard.”
It will be another challenge for the Clippers to play this well again, which they will have to do advance to the title game.
“We know we have to be more consistent,” Wynn said. “But I think we’re getting better.”
Which is what Rice’s Shagari Alleyne appears to be doing. The 7-foot-2 junior scored a career-high 30 points, grabbed a dozen rebounds and blocked eight shots in the Raiders (25-2) 20-point victory. Christian Brown added 15 points and eight rebounds and Japhet McNeil and Mitchell Beauford each scored 19 points for Christ the King (15-13).