The Jets pose with their PSAL championship banner. (JOSEPH STASZEWSKI)
Confidence is something Kevin Charles never lacks.
“I felt confidence, a lot of confidence in my jump shot — every time we play I have confidence in my jump shot,” the Thelma Hamilton senior guard said.
Charles connected on four first-quarter 3-pointers. He then went quiet for nearly three periods, but his conviction never wavered. The Jets had defending champion Satellite Academy on the ropes when Charles delivered a dagger trey that helped his team build an eight-point lead with a little more than three minutes left to play.
“I knew I was going to knock it down,” Charles said. “When I have the ball in my hands I don’t feel like I’m going to miss.”
The Jets title hopes were never in doubt after that as they finished off a 55-49 win against Satellite in the PSAL Class A alternative boys basketball final at St. Francis College Wednesday night. Charles scored a game-high 23 points and Jerrell Burnett tallied 10 of his 14 in the second half. Derrick Cook added seven.
“He is one of the best shooters in the city,” Jets coach Glenn Ford said of Charles. … “He shoots it like that all the time.”
The title is a special one for the two-year-old Brooklyn school. Boys basketball is its only PSAL sport. A large numbers of supporters came for the game as well as its cheerleaders. Ford, who recently coached at Canarsie, has helped build the program quickly. Satellite, which Ford called as good as a Class AA team, went unbeaten on its way to its second crown in three seasons a year ago and Thelma Hamilton beat them twice this season.
“We have only been in this league for two years and we won it our second year,” Burnett said. “That’s the best feeling ever.”
The senior guard was one of the biggest reasons.
Thelma Hamilton (10-4) trailed 31-26 at the half, after Satellite (9-3) had multiple chances to pull away. At the break Ford told his star guard to be more aggressive and Burnett responded. He scored seven points during a 13-5 run that was capped by a right elbow jumper with three seconds left to give his team a 39-36 lead heading into the fourth. Abdel Peguero led Satellite with 14 points and Franklin Rodriguez had 10.
“Once he got on track that’s our team,” Ford said. “We want him to attack.”
His squad made it harder and harder for Satellite to get good shots of its own. They got out on the Lions shooter, Estalin Cespedes, and bottled up forwards Chris Hooper and Sherard McKinney. Satellite, which took tough shots and committed too many turnovers, did get within three points multiples times in the fourth quarter. But Daquawn Moore responded with a big floater on the last occasion to make it 44-39 with 4:28 left in the game before Charles connected on the big 3-pointer.
When the final seconds ticked off, the celebration was on. There wre a few teary eyes, plenty of hugs and alot of cheers. Burnett went over to the stands to slap hands with some of the fans.
“I finally smiled in like four months,” Charles said. “I didn’t smile in four months. [We had to] practice, work hard to come to this point and win the championship.”
West Side 81, Manhattan HS 61: Georgie Amalvert poured in 23 points for West Side (18-0) in the PSAL Class B alternative final. Racine Kane and Jose Serra each added 13. Dante Pension led Manhattan (12-6) with 26 points and Denzel Staton had 12.