Sports

Construction near completion: Red Hawks reach ‘B’ final in program’s fourth year

Like a building before it has been developed, High School For Construction’s basketball program began with nothing more than a foundation.

The roster was made up of just 10 players the first varsity season, six of whom – Kyle McQueen, Lakim Desir, Vladimir Perdomo, Troy Duncan, Jonathan Rodriguez, and Tariq Lewis – are still Red Hawks.

Those players, however, have remained to oversee the startlingly fast development.

The fifth-seeded Red Hawks raced out to an early lead and held off No. 1 Frederick Douglass Academy III, 55-47, in the PSAL Class B quarterfinals at Lehman College in The Bronx Sunday afternoon, earning themselves a trip to next Saturday title game. Construction will face No. 3 Queens HS of Teaching at 1 p.m. with a trip to Glens Falls at stake.

“I’m so happy for the seniors, to get to the championship is wonderful,” Construction coach Jason Salamanca said.

Said Duncan: “It means a whole lot. We grew up together. We did this for each other, we did this for coach.”

By comparison, the history-creating win was like a walk in the park. Construction needed furious fourth-quarter rallies to survive its previous two playoff contests. In fact, in seven playoffs games altogether since the program’s inception, this was the first time the Red Hawks led at halftime.

“It wasn’t boring to me,” Salamanca said.

Construction never trailed, out-working the quicker and taller Lions. They led 21-9 early in the second quarter and 35-21 by halftime.

Construction received balanced scoring, as was this group’s modus operandi all year. McQueen, the do-it-all forward, scored 14 points, junior John Galimi and sophomore Joe Sewsankar each had nine, Perdomo had eight and Duncan seven. Brito led FDA with 17 points and Kevin Douglas had 10.

“It’s hard to prepare for us,” Salamanca said. “We have five or six guys that can lead us in scoring.”

FDA (23-4) made several runs at the Red Hawks, but each one was soundly answered. After Josh Brito’s 3-pointer made it 38-28 midway through the third quarter, Desir, one of the six seniors, sank a runner and McQueen scored inside. Jamelle Mingo’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter made it 47-39, but sophomore Harry Eromoselle sank two free throws. The Lions got within 49-45 on an Ashley Garcia 3-point play with 1:25 left, but Duncan hit two at the line and Perdomo made all four of his attempts from the charity stripe.

“We had to play smart, pull the ball out, manage time,” McQueen said. “That was the key factor.”

During a pre-game meal, Salamanca asked his team their motivation, and the six seniors names were mentioned, a moment Duncan called “special.” The Red Hawks (24-3) now just one win from a city title.

“We can get to the championship game many more times, but there will never be another team like this,” Salamanca said. “I don’t know how a bunch can be tighter than this. There’ve been some tough times. They’ve been so great with the younger players. One of our goals was to be on the court the last day of the season and here we are.”

zbraziller@nypost.com