St. Anthony’s Myles Mack hangs in the air for a layup. (Denis Gostev)
Mike Taylor curled off the screen at the top of the key free of the defender. The pass was delivered on time and out of his hands the shot felt on target – all the way until it hit the front rim, the back rim and glanced off the backboard and harmlessly to the floor with 6.1 seconds remaining.
“I hit that shot three times before, the same exact play to put us up one,” the Boys & Girls shooting guard said. “I thought it was there.”
For a change, the Boys & Girls standout wasn’t able to play the role of the hero. Neither were his teammates as the Kangaroos put forth an anemic offensive performance in the second half – they managed just five points over the final 12:44 – in blowing a 12-point, third-quarter lead.
The result was a disappointing 43-38 loss to New Jersey powerhouse St. Anthony in the SNY Invitational championship game Saturday afternoon at LIU. The Friars (14-0), ranked second in the country by USA Today, outscored No. 22 Boys & Girls 16-3 in the fourth quarter and notched the game’s final 10 points.
“That’s a heartbreaker,” Boys & Girls point guard Antione Slaughter said.
Kyle Anderson, one of the nation’s top junior recruits, hit two go-ahead free throws with 3:31 remaining and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds to earn MVP honors. Lucious Jones led St. Anthony with 12 points while Jeffland Neverson paced Boys & Girls (18-4) with 11 points and Taylor, who eclipsed the 1,000-point marker for his career, had nine.
“I didn’t think we did good job of seizing the moment,” Boys & Girls coach Ruth Lovelace said. “They’re the No. 2 team. It would be a great win for the program.”
There were a few questionable calls in the fourth quarter that went against the Kangaroos, Lovelace pointed to, such as an offensive foul against Taylor that nullified a made jump shot early in the fourth quarter and the fifth foul on Nichols on what appeared to be a clean block of Anderson.
Yet, none of the calls truly offset Boys & Girls’ struggles on the offensive end, particularly down the stretch. Slaughter missed the front end of a 1-and-1, turned the ball over twice and Leroy (Truck) Fludd missed two free throws. It was a weekend of droughts as the Kangaroos also managed just two second-quarter points in Friday’s 69-52 victory over Rice.
“I blame that on myself,” said Taylor, who scored just 17 points in the two-day tournament. I’m not getting up enough shots.”
Lovelace was proud of her players’ effort – the Kangaroos were in complete control much of the way, racing out to a 10-4 lead en route to a 22-19 edge at halftime. Pressuring the ball from end to end and getting out in transition for easy baskets, the versatile Brooklyn school went ahead 33-21 with 4:44 left on Fludd’s bank shot in the lane.
The Kangaroos made St. Anthony look like a poor offensive team. The Friars managed just 27 points through three quarters; they had trouble finishing in transition against the quicker Kangaroos and were soundly beaten off the boards, too.
“We were more than tested,” said St. Anthony’s Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley, who picked up career win No. 998. “They took everything out of us.”
Down big late in the third quarter, Hurley opted to test Boys & Girls with pressure by going to “Fist,” an aggressive trapping defense. At that point, the Kangaroos began settling for long jump shots instead of getting to the basket, which had worked so well earlier, and committed six turnovers in the final frame.
Lovelace, Taylor said, faulted herself afterwards for the loss, saying she should’ve stayed with the Rutgers-bound star and Nichols late in the third quarter though each was saddled with three fouls. It would’ve been a risk, but instead of building the lead, it was cut to 35-27 after three and the Friars had the momentum it needed.
The loss was the Kangaroos’ second in non-league, impressive considering the schedule Lovelace and assistant Elmer Anderson compiled. It has included victories of nationally ranked foes such as Winter Park (Fla.), Academy of the New Church (Pa.), Imhotep Charter School (Pa.), Prestonwood (Texas), and Greater Atlanta Christian (Ga.).
St. Anthony was the greatest test and, for a while, the Kangaroos seemed to be flying through the exam without breaking a sweat. Though they fell short, Lovelace left LIU feeling her players sent yet another message to the rest of the country about what kind of team they have.
“We’re definitely higher than 22 [in the country],” she said. “Tell me one team in front of us that’s beaten five or six nationally ranked teams?”