It was a practice that seemed to never end.
The day after Wadleigh’s third loss in five games, to West 50th Street Campus, Mike Crump locked up all the basketballs. He put the Tigers through three hours of hell – sprints, stair running, push-ups, pull-ups. As they furiously sweated, the sixth-year coach barked out “overrated” to them.
“It’s hard to forget,” senior guard Dominique Nanton said.
That day, the Tigers say, in addition to Crump moving star forward Karim Rowson to the bench as a sixth man and the coach paying closer attention to detail, was a turning point to the season.
Wadleigh has won five in a row since, the latest victory a 71-59 win over Archbishop Molloy in the sixth annual Big Apple Basketball Challenge at Baruch College.
“In order for them to buy in, they have to work, and they have,” Crump said of the adjustments.
Wadleigh led by 23 points late in the first half and never looked back. Tyrie Orosco scored 16 of his team-high 20 points in the first quarter, helping the Tigers build an eight-point lead. Malik Thomas added 16 points, Rowson had 14, Nanton notched 10 and Trivante Bloodman nine.
“We’re playing from beginning to end,” Orosco said. “We’re rebounding, playing hard defense. The loss to [West 50th Street Campus] was a wakeup call for us.”
Ernest Rouse led Molloy (2-2) with 24 points and Chris Dorgler chipped in 18. With point guard Steven Foertsch sidelined because of a wrist injury, guard Duke Stanojevic nursing a sore thumb and forward Chris Garcia making his return from an ankle injury, the Stanners are like the walking wounded these days. Even healthy, they would’ve had trouble matching Wadleigh’s athleticism and speed.
“They were so quick and what we were surprised by was how well they shot from the perimeter,” legendary Molloy coach Jack Curran said.
In that lengthy practice, Wadleigh (6-3) rededicated itself on the defensive end. The Harlem powerhouse has plenty of offensive weapons – Thomas and Rowson in the frontcourt and Nanton, Bloodman, junior point guard David Burgos and sophomore guard Basil Harley in the backcourt – but it was lacking intensity and accountability on defense. In the five wins since the loss to West 50th Street Campus, the Tigers haven’t allowed the opposition to break 60.
“That’s how we’re winning games now,” Nanton said.
Wadleigh has also grown accustomed to one another. The team is fairly new, only Thomas and Rowson saw significant minutes last season. Harley was called up from the JV, Burgos transferred from Princeton Day Academy while Nanton and Bloodman didn’t see much playing time. Crump, too, has made personal adjustments, rewarding players based on production and not class rank.
“It’s a little bit of stability,” Crump said. “A lot of these kids are first-year varsity players even if they are juniors or seniors. I think we are jelling together. When they made a run, we adjusted.”
Indeed, Molloy played a better second half, outscoring the Tigers 43-34. The Stanners got to within 62-50 early in the fourth quarter on a pair of Rouse free throws, but Wadleigh responded with six straight points.
“They played hard, we got back into the game,” Curran said. “Another shot or two, we’d be right back in it.”