First, the boys team lost to Rice, 44-41, when Kemba Walker drilled an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer for the CHSAA AA state title and a trip to next week's state Federation tournament.

Not long after that, the girls saw their remarkable streak of 17 consecutive state titles come to an end. Lorin Dixon missed a late 3-pointer, allowing St. John the Baptist (Long Island) to pull off the 54-51 upset at Cardinal Spellman.

The Lady Royals played again without Sky Lindsay, who quit the team last week and her absence finally caught up to them. St. John the Baptist will play Bergtraum in the Federation semifinals Friday.

The loss by the boys team was equally as difficult, if not nearly as surprising. CTK won the city title last week with a three-point victory over St. Raymond's in the final. But yesterday the Royals had to play Rice, the New York Archdiocesan champion yesterday at Fordham University for the state crown.

On the last possession, Walker asked to take the last shot, but the play was designed instead to go to Chris Fouch. Nevertheless, Walker wound up with the ball and tossed up a last-second three.

"This is the game we were looking at," said Chris Fouch, whose team lost to CTK in the city semifinals. "We wanted to beat the team that beat us."

In the CHSAA B state final, also at Fordham, Cardinal Hayes advanced to the Federation tourney with a 58-38 win over Nichols (Buffalo). . . . Molloy's Rocco Rubino committed to St. Francis College (Brooklyn).

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