Amani Tatum was only doing what Apache Paschall told her to do.
“We had a lot of long talks about being a leader on the court,” the Archbishop Molloy junior said of her Exodus travel team coach.
Paschall, who also coached at Nazareth, died Tuesday of a heart attack at the age of 38 and Tatum turned in a second-half performance she felt was worthy of the iconic coach’s memory.
She scored 12 of her game-high 17 points in the second half to lead the Stanners to a 49-44 come-from-behind victory over visiting Mary Louis in CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens girls basketball Wednesday at Jack Curran Gymnasium.
“I decided I was going to take it upon myself and pull through with the win for my team because I know we needed it,” she said.
Tatum, who also played this summer with the NYC Lady Bulldogs, said Paschall used to text her randomly to see what she was doing. She talked to him on Christmas Eve and planning on seeing him one day this week after his radiation treatment for skin cancer – then it happen.
“It hit her hard,” said sophomore Nyasha Izizarry, who scored 13 points.
She heard the news of Paschall’s death at practice Tuesday and began crying hysterically. Tatum even went to the hospital later to see him one last time. She took the court for warmups wearing a black Exodus t-shirt and with Paschall in her heart.
“From what I hear from the girls he instilled in the girls, ‘Just play no matter what the circumstance,’” Molloy coach Scott Lagas said. “I think that she took that message that she learned from him and brought it out on the court today.”
Paschall wasn’t the only one the Stanners were playing in memory of and Tatum not the only one with a heavy heart. Lagas lost close friend Sanjoy (Mook) Mukherjee, who was paralyzed by an illness and died at the age of 36 from a blood clot in his lung three weeks before Lagas got the job in late September. He has been wearing his ties through the season in his memory. Wednesday was Mukherjee’s birthday and Lagas was missing a memorial for him to coach.
“Today was an emotional day for me, too,” the first-year coach said. “In life and in basketball you have to put those things aside and use it as positive instead of a negative and use it as an inspiration.”
Inspired was exactly the way his team played in the second half after Tatum provided a much-needed boost. Mary Louis (4-7, 0-4) led 20-15 at the half after George Mason-bound guard Reana Mohamed (eight points) turned a leaping steal into a coast-to-coast layup at the buzzer. Jasmine Nwajei had 16 points for the Hilltoppers.
TMLA, which was in search of its first league win, pushed the advantage to 32-24 on a bucket by Jordan Agustus (nine points) midway through the third, but never regained control of the game. Molloy (7-2, 2-1), which dealt with a foul-ridden Carolyn Gallagher, forced mistakes and a number of one-and-done possessions to spark a 10-2 run to end the third quarter. It started with one of Izizarry’s four 3-pointers and ended with Tatum beating the buzzer on a drive. The Stanners scored the first four points of the fourth to go up 40-33 with 5:39 left to play.
“It was a big shot,” Lagas said of Tatum’s make.
Molloy couldn’t seal the game at the free throw line. The Hilltoppers were not much better, shooting just 5-of-19, including two misses by Mohamed down just 46-43 with 54 seconds remaining in the game.
“It’s the same story,” Mary Louis coach Joe Lewinger said. “It’s the missed layups. It’s the missed free throws. It’s being more organized on offense.”
The Stanners came into the game with a single focus to beat their rivals for the ones they had lost. After an emotional night you could hear the release in the form of cheers and yells resonating from their locker room.
“Going into the game it wasn’t only about Apache, it was for my coach’s best friend,” Tatum said. “We played with these people in our hearts.”