Ray Voelkel schedules a holiday tournament in Florida every December as preparation for the league season. The longtime Collegiate boys basketball coach hopes the experience against top competition leads to March glory.
It led to a December championship Tuesday afternoon. The Dutchmen edged Father Carr of Toronto, 41-38, in the Kreul Classic Publix Challenge final, their third win in four days in the Coral Springs, Fla., tournament.
“It was quite a win,” said Voelkel, who has guided the Manhattan private school to four straight NYSAISAA and New York State Class B Federation crowns. “It kind of reminded me of the Salesian game last year [in the Federation finals]. Except this team was much stronger than Salesian physically, a lot of guys playing above the rim. It was a heck of a win.”
Senior Connor Huff and Ryan Frankel led the way, as they did in each victory, scoring 18 and 11 points, respectively.
Huff, who averaged 20 points per game in the tournament, was the MVP while Frankel was named to the all-tournament team. The MIT-bound point guard sank a go-ahead 3-pointer late and iced the game with two free throws.
“They played great,” Voelkel said. “Ryan handled the ball well and did so many things for us; his rebounding has improved, he made big shots.”
Collegiate (5-0) received contributions from virtually its entire roster during the tournament. Henry Frye sank two big 3-pointers in the win over Father Carr and senior guard Willie Gwathmey averaged 10 rebounds per contest and scored 21 points in a 59-54 semifinal win over Columbus (Fla.).
Voelkel felt his team caught a break in its opener, against South Broward (Fla.), because the team’s top three players weren’t available because of disciplinary reasons, he was told. Without them, Collegiate cruised to a 63-39 victory behind 22 points from Huff and 19 from Frankel.
“In this tournament, I felt like getting a win would not have been a bad thing,” the coach said. “That first game would’ve been really, really tough.”
Collegiate now heads into the holidays riding high, a confident team entering league play. The Dutchmen are off until Jan. 2, when they meet PSAL Class A powerhouse Brooklyn Collegiate in the New Heights Holiday Hoop Festival.
“This has got to help us,” Voelkel said. “It was a great experience. We’re really happy.”