St. Raphael Academy senior guard Jayden Cardoso drives past La Salle Academy senior guard Ja'kai Washington and makes his way to the basket during Sunday afternoon's Elite Eight matchup at Rhode Island College. The top-seeded Rams defeated the 9th-seeded Saints, 75-46/
St. Raphael Academy senior guard Niyo White, right, puts in a layup over La Salle Academy senior guard Kelvin Odih during Sunday afternoon’s Elite Eight game at Rhode Island College. White scored a game-high 22 points, but the Saints suffered a 75-46 loss.
St. Raphael Academy senior guard Jayden Cardoso drives past La Salle Academy senior guard Ja'kai Washington and makes his way to the basket during Sunday afternoon's Elite Eight matchup at Rhode Island College. The top-seeded Rams defeated the 9th-seeded Saints, 75-46/
St. Raphael Academy senior guard Niyo White, right, puts in a layup over La Salle Academy senior guard Kelvin Odih during Sunday afternoon’s Elite Eight game at Rhode Island College. White scored a game-high 22 points, but the Saints suffered a 75-46 loss.
PROVIDENCE – The St. Raphael Academy boys’ basketball team ran into a very tough opponent on Sunday afternoon, top-seeded Division I champion La Salle Academy, in the Open Tournament’s Elite Eight at Rhode Island College’s Murray Center, and the Saints suffered a 75-46 loss that was their most lopsided defeat of the season.
It also was a difficult way to end an outstanding season that included a 10-game win streak and saw the Saints end up with a 17-6 record. The Saints, who were the ninth seed in the Open Tournament, reached the quarterfinals by defeating 8th-seeded Lincoln last Thursday night, 51-46.
Despite taking on a D-I opponent on Sunday, and one with only one loss on its record, “I just feel like there wasn’t that much of a difference (from the Saints’ other competition),” said SRA senior guard Niyo White. “We just didn’t come here to compete as much as we wanted to. (La Salle) is a good team, but we didn’t play to our standards.”
White scored a game-high 22 points, and the only other SRA player to score in double figures was senior center Moses Meus with 11. While no one else scored more than five points, La Salle had seven players with six or more points and three of them in double digits.
The Rams jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Meus got the Saints on the board with his first basket. After a quarter of play, the Rams owned a 16-5 lead, but the Saints picked it up in the second, as both White and Scott Palardy got into the action, along with Meus.
White sank a pair of free throws to cut the Saints’ deficit to 19-9, but La Salle scored the next seven points, taking advantage of three steals along the way. White snapped that run with a three-pointer, but again, the Rams continued to increase their lead, and despite another three-pointer from White and a basket from Meus in the final minute, they went into halftime with a 36-20 lead.
The Saints continued to chip away at their deficit in the third quarter, but despite cutting it down to as little as 13 points, Jacob Marcone hit a three at the buzzer to help the Rams end that quarter with a 51-35 lead.
“Those third and fourth quarters, we just started giving them the open threes,” White added. “We thought we were playing great on defense, and when they hit that shot, it just brought the momentum down. It shifted the game to their way.”
La Salle, which went on to score the first seven points of the fourth quarter, “is a very great team – they’re D-I, of course,” White remarked. “They have great shooters, and we just couldn’t close it out on those shooters.”
The Saints, who carried their 10-game win streak into the Division II semifinals two weeks ago before suffering a 70-52 loss to the eventual champion, Johnston High, came back the following week to defeat Lincoln in their Open Tournament opener, as White scored 21 points and senior guard Jonah Venditto added 11.
They will graduate seven players from a team that enjoyed its best season in six years, “and it’s been very great,” White said. “I love this team. This was a very good season for the Saints’ program, and I feel like good things are coming toward St. Ray’s.”
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