St. Raymonds 65, Riverside 63

We had a long delay here due to some blood on the court - no major injury but it has just thrown off my schedule to write.

St. Raymonds has come out strong this game. With a 25 point 2nd quarter, they lead by nine at half. The Ravens are shooting 59% from the field and have been led by Daryl Bryant with 13 (5-6 on FG, including 2-3 from three point range) , Omari Lawrence (4 of 5 on field goals) and Kevin Parrom with five rebounds. Riverside got 11 from Justin Burton and nine from Carlos Sanford. Weslye Saunders has four rebounds.

Lawrence just picked up his fourth foul with 2 mins to go in the 3rd quarter. The Ravens are really packing down on Saunders in the paint. End of three, the lead is down to six. With three to go, Saunders makes a free throw to narrow the gap to three.

With 11.8 seconds to go, Saunders just made the first of two free throws. After a timeout, he makes the second to tie the game. The Ravens' Gerald Colds drives the lane and floats up a bucket - 01.8 seconds left (the photo above/right is Coles starting his drive to the hoop). Riverside calls timeout and once the players come back from the TO, St. Raymond's calls one as well.

Weslye Saunders runs the baseline and heaves a long baseball pass to right past the half court line to Carlos Sanford, who deftly gathers the ball and gets off a fairly decent shot but it is high and bounces off the backboard. Ravens win.

Riverside 15 19 12 17 - 63
St. Raymonds - 18 25 9 13 - 65

Riverside - J. Burton 21, C. Sanford 13, S. Evans 13, W. Saunders 10, H. Collins 3, C. Byrd 2. Leading rebounders - S. Evans 6, W. Saunders 5. Assist leader - four with one.

St. Raymonds - O. Lawrence 19, D. Bryant 15, G. Colds 11, D. Benbow 8, K. Parrom 6, L. McNeil 6. Leading rebounder - K. Parrom 7. Assist leader -three with two.

St. Benedict 70, St. Raymond's 67 (OT)

It's a saintly battle in the final game of the night as Newark's St. Benedict Gray Bees against Ravens of St. Raymond's from the Bronx. This is one of those games with big bodies, hauling up and down the court. It's been fun to watch.

The Gray Bees opened hot but the Ravens outscored them in the 2nd quarter by five to take a one point lead to halftime. St. Raymond's Gerald Coles has hit two three-pointers, one from NBA range. St. Raymond' s Corey Stokes has hit three three-pointers and has four rebounds. Coles has 10 at the half for the Ravens, Stokes leads the Gray Bees with 13.

Stokes and Samardo Samuels have got the Gray Bees in control of the game and entire Benedict defense has picked it up a notch. Samuels has a scary block and just stood there over the player he blocked. He wasn't taunting really but he just looked so menacing. The Ravens scored just four points in the third. End of three, score is 45-34.

The Ravens will not let up and rally to cut the margin to three with 1:29 left. Daryl Bryant's layup makes it a one point game, 54-53. With 43 seconds left, a goal tend by Samuels on a Coles' drive gives the Ravens a tying bucket. And that's the way it ends for regulation, 55-55.

The Gray Bees strike first with a couple of buckets but a tKevin Parrom comes up big in overtime with two huge three-point shots, the last over the long outstretched arms of a defender. Raven's Lenny McNeil misses two free throws with 15 seconds left. With 13 seconds left, Samuels is fouled and makes one of two, 70-67 St. Benedicts. St. Raymond's was led by Coles with 27, Parrom with 15 and Bryant 14. St. Benedict got 24 from Samuels and 20 from Stokes.

St. Raymonds 12 18 4 21 12 - 67
St. Benedict 16 13 16 10 15 - 70

St. Raymonds - G. Coles 27, K. Parrom 15, D Bryant 14, O. Lawrence 6, L. McNeil 3, D. Benbow 2. Leading rebounder - D. Benbow 5. Assist leader - four with one.

St. Benedict - S. Samuels 24, C. Stokes 20, G. Echenique 8, D. McMillan 8, T. Jackson 5, Z. Rosen 5. Leading rebounder - C. Stokes 7, G. Echenique 6. Assist leader - three with one.

St. Raymonds 62, Middle Creek 52

It was close early on but St. Raymonds began to pull away in the 3rd as the baskets stopped dropping as easily for Middle Creek. Middle Creek is still battling though.

Middle Creek cuts the lead to eight, then the Ravens pushes it back out. Kip Kelley hits a three-pointer at the two minute mark to get the lead back down to eight, 59-51 but Daryl Bryant immediate takes the ball to the hoop for the bucket and one - three the old fashioned way. And that was pretty much all it.

Middle Creek 12 16 12 12 - 52
St. Raymonds 14 17 18 13 - 62

Middle Creek - G. Adams 16, K. Kelley 12, M. Kitts 11, S. Cook 11, W. Jones 2. Leading rebounder - M. Kitts 4. G. Adams 4. Leading assists - M. Kitts 3.

St. Raymonds -G. Colds 16, D. Benbow 14, L. McNeil 12, D. Bryant 10, J. Rivers 4, O. Lawrence 4. D. Daley 2. Leading rebounder - O. Lawrence 5. Leading assists - O. Lawrence 1.