Brooklyn celebrates its Battle of the Borough’s championship. (Joseph Staszewski)
PSAL Brooklyn AA’s members championed the fierce division as one of the best in the country over the winter. It certainly was the best in the city — this weekend proved that point.
Brooklyn won the Battle of the Boroughs tournament this weekend, rallying past Harlem, 87-84, on Sunday at Rivington Court on the Lower East Side, and former or current Brooklyn AA stars were the difference.
Lincoln’s Isaiah Whitehead, named the event’s MVP, scored 18 points and sank the go-ahead free throw with 4.3 seconds remaining. Former Boys & Girls star Leroy (Truck) Fludd, The Post’s reigning All-City Player of the Year, scored a game-high 19 points on a mix of jump shots and eye-catching alley-oop dunks, and Jefferson forward Jermoine (Flirt) Faison came off the bench to score 15 big points.
“Last year we lost in the first round to Harlem,” Whitehead said. “Everybody came out here for revenge.”
It was a wild contest, Brooklyn racing out to a 27-19 lead much they did in blowing out The Bronx in the semifinals on Saturday. Only, with Curtis forward Hassan Martin (game-high 26 points) and Satellite’s Larry Beckett patrolling the paint, Harlem had an answer. It trailed 55-49 at halftime, but quickly went ahead in the third quarter behind 12 points from Martin.
The margin was 82-77 after two Tyler Wilson free throws before Brooklyn made a final push. Whitehead sank a free throw and Fludd got to his miss and scored. Faison, active all afternoon on the glass, followed with a tip-in and after two Josh James free throws, Lynch hit two of his own from the charity stripe.
When Harlem turned it over, with 29.1 seconds left, it set the stage for a Whitehead clear-out. Wilson, the dogged Cardinal Hayes point guard, stayed with him, cut off his drive, but was whistled for a questionable foul with 4.3 seconds left.
Whitehead said Wilson grabbed him on his move, after he threw up a pump fake; Wilson didn’t remember making contact at all.
“It was a pro move,” Brooklyn coach Ashley Ambrose said. “[The foul] was a no-brainer. It was a good call.”
Whitehead sank the first, missed the second, but the carom came right to Fludd who scored as time expired, abruptly ending what had all the makings of a classic finish.
“I know it was [a bad call], but we messed up anyway,” Wilson said.