The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

It was a storybook ending for the Our Lady’s Blue Flames basketball team as they closed out the Catholic Diocesan Primary Schools Basketball League with a two game sweep to claim the second title in league history.

In game two yesterday at Loyola Hall, the Blue Flames won 40-26 over the Xavier’s Giants led by a game high 16 points from championship series MVP Mateo Taylor, 10 points from season MVP Dayton Albury and nine points from Lucendre Paul.

Kevin Thompson led the Giants with six points while Zionn Bannister added five.

As Our Lady’s prepares to close its doors permanently following this academic year, Blue Flames’ head coach Rohan Parks said the win was a special milestone in the school’s history.

“It’s great. It’s a euphoric feeling right now. As we all know this is the last year of the school and the boys will have a chance to say they went out as champions and it’s a great thing for them to accomplish before they left,” he said.

“It’s been painful since the announcement but this right now is bittersweet because they loved the school and they loved the community so school pride is at a peak right now for everyone, for the parents, the teachers, the team and the other students, this one meant a lot.”

The Blue Flames led wire to wire in the win and Taylor started early with the first basket of the game.

It sparked an 8-0 run, which was finally stopped by a Dante Cooper layup for the Giants.

Albury’s steal and fastbreak layup gave Our Lady’s an early 10 point lead,15-5, and they led 16-5 after the first.

The Giants would respond with an 8-0 run of their own in the second quarter as the Blue Flames offense struggled without Taylor on the floor. They came within a single possession, 16-13, but it would be as close as they could manage for the rest of the game.

Our Lady’s went to full court press to generate easy offense and took a 21-17 at the half.

“I told them to be sharp from the get go because in game one we came out slow and we led by just one at the half and I thought we were a better team than that,” he said. “We wanted a good lead because our second quarter team, they are good defensively but sometimes they struggled to score so we wanted to get a good lead headed into the second quarter.”

In the second half, the Blue Flames opened 6-8 from the free throw line and took an eight point lead into the fourth quarter, 31-23.

With just under three minutes left to play, Albury’s layup regained a double figure lead for the Blue Flames before an enthusiastic crowd started an early celebration for the team and the school in its final year of existence.

Parks said as the team parts ways, he will watch the development of his two stars closely as they look to improve at the next level.

“Dayton is still in the fifth grade so he will be moving on to another school, hopefully he still will be playing ball because he has a great talent for it and I’d like to see him improve,” he said.

“Mateo is moving on to junior high and hopefully the coaches there will continue to work with him because he’s an excellent player. He just needs to continue to work and develop to be able to have this kind of impact when he gets to the next level.”