Brooklyn Collegiate produced its lowest scoring output of the playoffs. Its top gun, Ervin Mitchell, managed just nine points, close to a season-low. Yet the third-seeded Lions are headed to their first city championship game of any kind.
How, you ask?
Defense, rebounding, defense and more defense. Brooklyn Collegiate stymied No. 2 Long Island City’s potent offensive attack and manhandled the Bulldogs in the paint in Sunday’s PSAL Class A semifinal at CCNY in Harlem. Its offensive woes, as a result, were of little consequence in a 48-36 victory.
The Lions will face No. 1 Mott Haven, a 69-58 winner over No. 4 Bedford Academy, next Sunday at 5 p.m. back at CCNY.
In a rematch of LIC’s 63-61 victory in the PSAL Class A Showcase, Brooklyn Collegiate altered its game plan. Instead of playing a zone, which led to plenty of open 3-point attempts by LIC in the first matchup, the Lions resorted to man-to-man.
“We wanted to get revenge on them,” said Mitchell, who had 10 rebounds and three assists to go along with his nine points. “We just got better. It’s great. I can’t describe the feeling.”
It forced the Bulldogs to create off the dribble and score in the paint against bigger Brooklyn Collegiate (25-5). In the first meeting, for instance, LIC (26-4) guard Sadji Camara scored 22 points; he had just six on Sunday. Arthur Santanna and Xavier Jones each scored 10 points for the Bulldogs, who were out of sync the entire afternoon.
“We didn’t want them to get comfortable, we stayed in their jerseys,” BK Collegiate coach Jake Edwards said. “We took them out of their sets and kept pressure on them at all times.”
Said Mitchell: “We knew they couldn’t handle our man-to-man.
From turnovers to missed free throws – they blew the front-ends of three consecutive 1-and-1’s in the fourth quarter alone – and errant shots they typically sink, LIC could never find an offensive rhythm. Coach Harley Watstein credited Brooklyn Collegiate’s defense, but felt part of his team’s struggles were its own doing.
“We haven’t been playing well offensive pretty much the whole playoffs,” Watstein said. “Against a good team, you have to play your ‘A’ game.”
Watstein felt LIC’s defense was solid. It focused on Mitchell, forcing his teammates such as Rashaad John (11 points) and Adrian Williams (12) to beat them. While they did make big shots, the Bulldogs never lost contact. They just couldn’t ever generate a sustained run after falling behind by 13 points early in the third quarter.
“We couldn’t score,” Watstein lamented.
The Lions, meanwhile, will return to CCNY for Sunday’s championship, the first since Edwards started the program five years ago. For all the team’s success, Brooklyn Collegiate has suffered through difficult playoffs losses, from falling in the ‘B’ semifinals four years ago to last year’s quarterfinal defeat to eventual ‘A’ champion Midwood.
“We lost last year and we didn’t want to have that feeling again,” Williams said.
This young group is now one win from a title.
“It’s real big for the program, it’s real big for the kids,” Edwards said. “We have seven freshmen, we have three sophomores. It’s big for their confidence and to build for the future.”