Deonte Houston hopes to guide No. 4 Wings Academy past No. 2 Boys & Girls, the defending city champion. (Christina Santucci)
PSAL boys basketball writer Zach Braziller breaks down Wednesday’s Class AA semifinals at CCNY’s Nat Holman Gymnasium in Harlem. To follow all the action on our interactive live blog, click here.
SCHEDULE
5 p.m. – No. 2 Boys & Girls vs. No. 3 Wings Academy
7 p.m. – No. 1 Lincoln vs. No. 4 Cardozo
No. 2 Boys & Girls Kangaroos
Head coach: Ruth Lovelace
Record: 22-6
Player to watch: Mike Taylor
No. 3 Wings Academy Wings
Head coach: Billy Turnage
Record: 25-3
Player to watch: Amdy Fall
Outlook: Before Boys & Girls had even punched its ticket to the semifinals, Wings Academy was talking about the rematch. The Wings have waited an entire year to see the Kangaroos again after last March’s 24-point loss in which they trailed by 23 points by halftime.
“We’re not gonna lose Wednesday to Boys & Girls, definitely not,” senior point guard Deonte Houston promised after Wings’ hard-fought 47-44 victory over No. 6 Wadleigh. “We didn’t look past Curtis, we didn’t look past Wadleigh. But this was the game we were looking for.”
This team is difference; it’s far better dffensively thanks to the presence of shutdown defender Yosimar Bernardez and shot-blocking specialist Amdy Fall. Wings isn’t as reliant on perimeter shooting, though LIU-bound Gerrell Martin and sixth man Justin Jenkins are potent from beyond the arc, and thus feels it is better equipped to handle the Brooklyn dynamo.
“This is my fifth year at Wings and this is the third time we’ve been to the final four,” Wings Academy coach Billy Turnage said. “We want to get past this point. We know what it takes.”
Boys & Girls was close to not even getting to CCNY. It trailed seventh-seeded South Shore by 10 points in Sunday’s quarterfinal with five minutes remaining before point guard Antione Slaughter led the furious comeback, scoring all 12 of his points in the final quarter in the 57-54 victory at Carnesecca Arena.
“That could’ve been my last game, at St. John’s University,” the pint-sized guard said. “I’d rather my last game be at the Garden.”
After the dramatic victory, coach Ruth Lovelace announced star Mike Taylor – last March’s hero who led The High to its first city title in 31 years – would return after a six-game suspension for failing his first-period class. Without Taylor, Boys & Girls went 4-2, but sorely missed the Rutgers recruit who scored over 1,000 points in three sterling varsity seasons.
“All Mike can do is help,” Lovelace said.
No. 1 Lincoln Railsplitters
Head coach: Dwayne (Tiny) Morton
Record: 27-2
Player to watch: Shaquille Stokes
No. 4 Cardozo Judges
Head coach: Ron Naclerio
Record: 28-2
Player to watch: Shelton Mickell
Outlook: Cardozo has beaten two Brooklyn teams and hopes to have two more left. The reloaded Judges spent the regular season arguing that their gaudy record was not the result of a soft schedule. They’ve proved it in the playoffs, rolling to a second straight Queens crown and beaing Brooklyn AA’s Thomas Jefferson, seeded fifth, and No. 23 Transit Tech by a combined 33 points.
“We look at them like Jefferson — all their jerseys say Brooklyn to us,” said Shelton Mickell, Cardozo’s leading scorer. “You got to run through Brooklyn to get to the Garden. I love to play Lincoln. This is where we belong. This is the biggest stage.”
Of course, Lincoln is far superior to either club, Mickell allowed. The Railsplitters are ranked 21st in the country by USA Today, have arguably the best guard (Shaquille Stokes), big man (Kamari Murphy) and freshman (Isaiah Whitehead) in the city. They beat Boys & Girls twice and cruised to the Brooklyn borough crown.
Coach Dwayne (Tiny) Morton was disappointed by his team’s effort in a 50-42 victory over No. 8 Forest Hills in the quarterfinals, saying the performance lacked “energy.” Even so, when the Rangers were within one midway through the fourth quarter, Lincoln answered with seven straight points – two free throws from Stokes, a 3-pointer from Whitehead and basket from Murphy – to quiet the partisan crowd.
“I hope we know we can’t play like that, we gotta be high energy,” Morton said. “The message is we got to come [out] more hungry than the other team.”
Remarkably, the is the first postseason matchup between these two superpowers since Lincoln, led by Sebastian Telfair, topped Cardozo for the city championship at Madison Square Garden in 2004. Lincoln has won four crowns since then while the Judges got back to the Garden last March, only to fall five shorts shy against Boys & Girls.
“It’s a rivalry, Lincoln and Cardozo,” Mickell said. “It feels good to part of that.”
It would feel even better to advance.