Raymond's career high not enough as 6th grade ousted

Look no further than the 6th grade playoff game this afternoon as to why basketball is a team game.

Despite one of the best performances by a player in St. Mary's playoff history, the 6th grade's quest for a second straight championship went up in flames in a 28-22 loss.

Raymond had a remarkable game and scored 18 of the team's 22 points, and it still wasn't enough to get them to a second straight title game.

In a game that was close throughout, Raymond was the only one of the eight players on the team that hit a field goal during the game.

He relentless drove to the basket and almost single handedly carried his team to victory.

Unfortunately, their defense, press, rebounding, and pretty much everything outside of a Raymond drive to the basket was missing.

No longer could they hide their weaknesses, not in a playoff game with so much at stake.

Offensively, the ball stalled like it did for most of the year. If Raymond didn't have a lane to drive to the basket, there would be no points scored.

None of the players on the wing, Jason N., Jason Z., Grant could get anything going. Any time they drove they ended up either losing the ball or throwing up a low percentage shot.

Their post players, Garrick, The Twins and Ryan were all held in check, unable to score down low.

Defensively, they were a bit slow to the ball and unable to get any positioning inside the key. The other team was able to pass the ball into the paint and drive into the key setting up a lot of make-able shots.

Even with their lackluster performance, they still held a 19-15 lead going into the fourth, mainly thanks to Raymond's ability to draw fouls. They were already in the bonus to start the fourth.

But the other team went on a furious 9-0 run in the final six minutes, capped off by a 3 pointer which made it a 24-19 game with about two minutes to go.

Desperation began to set in as it become a game of fouling the other team to get the ball back.

Their best chance to make it a one possession game was when Garrick rebounded a free throw, and just missed a put back which would've cut the lead down to three.

Instead, they were forced to foul and the other team sank two free throws to close the season on the 6th grade boys.

This will undoubtedly be a tough pill to swallow for a team that had such high aspirations of reaching the championship for the second straight year. At (7-1), they were on track for a collision course with the number one team in the division, but that rematch will never happen.

In a season where they moved up a division, record wise they were really good, even great. They had their share of things they had to and still need to work on, but the bottom line was that they found ways to win games. But sooner or later, it was going to catch up with them and their playoff game was when it finally caught up.

Next season, they will likely ascend the divisions again, and will need to elevate their game to the next level.

And hopefully the bitter taste in their mouths will push them to the level they are capable of playing.