ALBANY — Isaiah Cousins recently cut his list of colleges down to five – Xavier, Oklahoma, UConn, Dayton and Virginia Tech made the cut – and on Saturday, Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino said the star senior would pick a school by mid April.
Cousins, who along with his Mount Vernon teammates take on Boys & Girls Sunday at 2 p.m. in the New York State Federation Class AA final, will take official visits to all five. He will visit Oklahoma on Monday; the other four visits haven’t been scheduled yet.
“I’m trying to go to the school with the right fit and my style of play,” said the electric 6-foot-3 guard known for his defensive prowess.
Cimmino said new Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley reached out to him about Cousins, but the standout doesn’t want to add any schools to his final five. Cousins said all five schools are even, but he would like to go away to school and distance himself from the “obstacles of living in Mount Vernon.” He also said the uncertainty at UConn, which may not be eligible for postseason play next year, could factor into the decision.
Cimmino said Oklahoma and Virginia Tech have been putting on “full-court pressure,” and UConn with assistant Kevin Ollie has been right there as well. Xavier head Chris Mack is expected to be in attendance on Sunday along with coaches from Dayton and Oklahoma.
Whatever school Cousins choose, his future seems bright. His recruitment has been somewhat odd. In the summer, he only had low-to-mid major offers.
“I never had a player who became such a hot commodity,” Cimmino said. “Usually it’s a gradual rise. It started in the fall when Tom Konchalski rated him as a Big East player, then he played like one. He’s correctly valued now.”
Ray’s run ends to Boys High in ‘AA’ semis: St. Raymond senior Daniel Dingle’s career as a Raven may have ended one game prematurely, as the Ravens fell to Boys and Girls 66-54 in the New York State Federation Class AA semifinals Saturday, but he can’t help but smile about his spectacular high school tenure.
“I’m alright emotionally, but I’m upset this is my last game in a St. Ray’s uniform,” Dingle said. “You never want to lose obviously, but I look back at my time at St. Ray’s as a success both on the basketball court and in the classroom.”
Despite winning the CHSAA Class AA intersectional championship for the first time since 2004, coming up to Albany to play PSAL Class AA city champion Boys and Girls proved too much for the Ravens. The suffocating Boys & Girls defense forced St. Ray’s into committing a surprising 21 turnovers and the Ravens shot a mere 2-for-10 from three point range, two things that St. Ray’s coach Oliver Antigua said were the difference between advancing to Sunday’s championship game and driving back to The Bronx earlier than anticipated.
“Their pressure defense sped us up quicker than we would have liked and they forced us into committing turnovers,” Antigua said. “We should have been ready for the press considering we practiced for 13 days before coming here. We also took 10 3-pointers, which is way too many and not our game plan.”
Contributing to the ineffectiveness from long range was an ankle injury to 3-point shooter Larry Graves, suffered earlier in the week, which kept him out of the game.
“We played one man short out there without him, Graves is our go-to guy,” Dingle said. “They hit their 3s when they needed to, but it’s a different game if we hit our shots.”
Class A, B all-tournament selections: Long Island Lutheran Anthony Pate was named ‘A’ MVP after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in the Crusaders’ dramatic 62-61 victory. Teammates K.J. Lee and Ryan DeNicola were named to the first team, along with Ervin Mitchell of Brooklyn Collegiate, Brandon Williams of Iona Prep and John Patron of Harborfields.
Collegiate’s Ryan Frankel was the ‘B’ MVP after scoring 19 points and dishing out six assists in the Dutchmen’s 62-52 victory Bishop Ludden. Connor Huff and Willie Gwathmey were on the first team. So was Jordan Washington of Pathways, Samson Usilo of Nazareth and Ben Hackett of Bishop Ludden.