Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio instructs his team. (Damion Reid)
The city championship may not go through Brooklyn this year.
At least that was the message Queens powerhouse Cardozo sent Sunday evening in a battle of division leaders.
The Judges dispatched Boys & Girls, 57-49, in the PSAL Mid-Winter Classic at LIU. When the Brooklyn foe punched, Cardozo punched back, beating the Kangaroos in their own backyard.
“This tells the rest of the city we’re good – be scared of us,” forward Ryan Rhoomes said. “We think nobody can stop us.”
Senior Reynaldo (Junior) Walters led Cardozo with 19 points and four assists. Rhoomes, who was a focal point in the paint, had 11 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots, Chris Gayot, Walters’ backcourt mate, had 10 points and five assists, and Malcolm Brooks also had 10.
Mike Taylor paced Boys & Girls (10-4) with 16 points and Leroy Isler had 14.
Cardozo (9-2) raced out to a 13-3 lead, behind six points from Walters. After the Kangaroos, who have reached the city semifinals the last three years, briefly went ahead with a 9-0 run to start the third quarter, the Judges finished the stanza with a 12-3 run to regain control. Walters was in the middle of the spurt, drilling a deep 3-pointer and a driving layup in traffic.
“That was a momentum change to get my team back where it needed to be,” Walters said.
Boys & Girls got within five early in the fourth quarter, but Rhoomes answered with consecutive baskets with offensive rebounds and follows.
The Kangaroos didn’t help their own cause, missing 16 free throws altogether, including four in a row at one point in the fourth quarter. Cardozo was whistled for two technical fouls – one on assistant coach Bruno Comatuccio and another for having six players on the court – but Boys & Girls couldn’t convert any of those blunders into points, either.
“It was a combination of turnovers, poor free throw shooting and missed shots that cost us,” Boys & Girls coach Ruth Lovelace said.
The larger Judges – notably Rhoomes, Brunson and Marquis Barnett, a trio of 6-foot-7 or bigger forwards – owned the paint, scoring on put backs, getting second and third-chance opportunities, blocking shots (12, four by Barnett) and controlling the glass, to the tune of 41-28. They held the foul-plagued Taylor under wraps, doubling-teaming the highly-recruited sharp-shooter frequently, handled the Brooklyn’s school’s renowned press with aplomb and answered every run with an even bigger one.
“We have as much talent as any team Cardozo has had, from one through 12,” Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio said.
The Judges didn’t even play their ‘A’ game. Brooks and junior Shelton Mickell, their two sharp-shooters, repeatedly misfired from the perimeter. Dwayne Brunson, an explosive forward, managed just three points, two on an emphatic tip dunk. They were again inconsistent from the free throw line, missing eight in the fourth quarter and going 18-for-39 in all.
“This team is growing, but we got to keep getting better,” Naclerio said. “I think they know they’re pretty good, but they got to want to be great.”
It was quite the weekend for Cardozo. The Bayside school held off Forest Hills in overtime on Friday, exacting revenge against the team that took the Queens crown from them last year. And on Sunday, against Boys & Girls in Brooklyn, the Judges proved they just might have what it takes to be the last team standing come March.
Said Rhoomes: “We’re not gonna stop, we’re not satisfied. We want to do way more.”