Slow second half dooms St. Rita against Christ the King (N.Y.)

Kain Harris wasn’t sure what exactly went wrong in St. Rita’s 87-56 loss to Christ the King from New York City on Saturday in the Chicago Elite Classic at UIC.

‘‘We were rolling at first and then things got away from us,’’ Harris said. ‘‘We played soft. This was Chicago vs. New York City. You have to expect that it’s going to be intense from start to finish and we just didn’t keep it up for the whole game.’’

St. Rita (1-1) trailed by just four after the first quarter and then was down 38-24 at halftime. The Mustangs didn’t score for the first three and a half minutes of the second half as Christ the King went on an 11-0 run.

The Royals dominated the rest of the game.

Christ the King junior Rawle Alkins was the top player at the two-day event. He scored 28 points, shooting 11-for-16 from the field.

‘‘He was a great player, just did a lot of high level stuff,’’ Harris said. “I didn’t know too much about him before the game.’’

Alkins did it all. He shot 4-for-6 from 3-point range, drained several difficult mid-range jumpers and threw down a tip dunk.

He had the crowd buzzing throughout the second half.

‘‘[Alkins] is the real deal,” Royals coach Joe Arbitello said. ‘‘That’s pretty much what he does every game.’’

Arbitello said that pretty much everyone is recruiting Alkins. He mentioned Indiana, Kansas and Cincinnati specifically.

Senior forward Charles Matthews led St. Rita with 16 points and Harris finished with 14.

‘‘We didn’t execute anything well,’’ St. Rita point guard Armani Chaney said. ‘‘That was a big loss. We have to make sure to stay together as a team.’’

‘‘(Harris, a Morgan Park transfer) brings the same energy that Dominique (Matthews) had last year, so I don’t think this is a process for us or anything. We should be ready to go this season. This was just one bad game.’’

Tyrone Cohen added 22 points and Yashawn Bright had 11 for Christ the King (1-0).

St. Rita committed 23 turnovers and shot just 20 for 50 from the field.

‘‘There was way too much one-on-one from us,’’ Harris said. ‘‘That’s not the way we should be playing.’’