Xaverian loses to St. Raymond in final regular season matchup

February 18, 2015 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Xaverian looked good in the first quarter when Najee Larcher scored 13 points. However, the team struggled when he stopped scoring and nobody picked up the slack. Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese

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In their final game of the regular season, the Xaverian Clippers lost to St. Raymond 56-48 in Bay Ridge on Sunday night. It was Xaverian’s fifth loss of the season, but after an impressive year, the team is now floundering with two losses in its last three games.

“We started off playing well, but then we got a bit selfish,” said senior forward Najee Larcher. “We stopped passing the ball, started slacking on defense and just doing things that we don’t normally do.”

The Clippers got off to a good start as they led 13-7 after the first quarter. Larcher was the catalyst during that run with a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and all 13 points. That was an early warning sign that the rest of the team was struggling offensively.

The early lead quickly disappeared in the second as only three Xaverian players scored, and Doyin Isaac was the only one of the three to score more than two points. The third quarter was even worse. Nobody on the team scored more than two points while St. Rays went ahead 37-33.

Xaverian improved in the fourth quarter when Larcher and Isaac each scored five points, but St. Rays went 9-for-10 from the free throw line in the final minutes and held onto the lead.

Larcher finished with 18 points, Isaac had 12 and no other players had more than five points. Xaverian committed 16 turnovers as a team and shot just 13-for-24 from the line.

With the loss, the Clippers finish the season with a 19-5 overall record and an 11-5 division record which is good enough for second place in the Catholic High School Athletic League Brooklyn/Queens AA division. Despite the recent struggles, Larcher still expects his team to make a lot of noise in the playoffs.

“I feel like we’ve developed into a strong unit,” Larcher said. “On most nights we play pretty well. Tonight we played bad, but I think we’ll be tough in the playoffs. I feel like our chances are really good. We might take the championship.”