Jayvaughn Pinkston had just gone toe-to-toe with Tobias Harris in a heavyweight battle of two of the best players in New York State.
And even after Bishop Loughlin dropped a 75-72 overtime decision to Half Hallows Hills West in a scintillating game played in front of a capacity crowd at Baruch College Monday night, Pinkston was still throwing punches.
His team might have just lost, but Pinkston, The Post’s Preseason Player of the Year, said he clearly won the highly anticipated clash with Harris.
“Ya’ll see what happened at the end of the day. He had five fouls and I was still on the court,” Pinkston said. “Hands down, nobody is better than me.”
That especially means Harris, the 6-foot-9 senior forward who is the No. 2 ranked power forward in the nation by Scout.com. Pinkston is ranked seventh.
“No, no way, I proved tonight who the better player is,” Pinkston said. “He’s alright, but I see myself being the best player… I don’t think he can move his feet that well.”
Pinkston didn’t disappoint, scoring a game-high 34 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. The 6-foot-6 hulking senior buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key with one second left in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime.
“I think Jay is a much better all-around player,” Bishop Loughlin coach Ed Gonzalez said. “But it’s not about him, it’s not about Tobias, it’s about the team.”
Pinkston may have had nearly double the points and rebounds as Harris, who had 19 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 2:45 left in overtime, but the final score is how Harris rates who played better.
“We won the game, that answers the question,” Harris said. “We won the game, refs against us, we still won the game. It’s who wins the game, who’s 7-0.”
Gonzalez wasn’t pleased with the officiating either, especially since it appeared Harris had fouled out with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter when Pinkston was fouled on a drive to the basket.
The official scorebook listed Harris with five fouls, but the Half Hallows Hills West book had Harris with four. After several tense moments, the officials overruled the official book and let Harris remain in the game.
“I don’t control that,” Gonzalez said. “There must have been some foul up. My guy had something else and then the officials had something else. Our guys are really good with the books, they’ve been doing it a long time. I thought that he had five.”
Pinkston and Harris have been linked and compared to each other since several of the same Division I schools recruited them, particularly Tennessee.
It was believed Pinkston favored the Vols when he scheduled a press conference Nov. 18, but scrapped those plans when Harris made an 11th-hour visit to Tennessee after a trip to Georgia Tech.
Harris committed to the SEC powerhouse and Pinkston chose Villanova Dec. 4, though he declined to say if Harris’ decision influenced his own.
“I’m not going to answer that,” Pinkston said.
Whatever the case, the first matchup between the two players since their college choices is what brought a capacity crowd to Baruch on Monday night. The game lived up to the hype with the crowd hanging on every one-on-one battle.
Harris, who struggled in the first half, buried a 3-pointer over Pinkston, pounded his chest and gave Half Hallows Hills West (7-0) its largest lead of the game at 62-49 with 5:46 left in the fourth quarter.
But Pinkston scored nine points in the final 2:31 of regulation, including the 3-pointer to force overtime. That sent the crowd into hysterics and led to some tension near the baseline. Security had to be called over and play was halted until cooler heads prevailed. Even legendary broadcaster Spencer Ross, serving as the public address announcer, got involved, screaming “Sit down!”
It seemed Loughlin (11-3) had the momentum heading into overtime, especially when Anthony Givens drew a charge on Harris, who fouled out with 2:45 left.
Pinkston immediately gave the Lions a 71-70 lead with a basket inside the paint and went 1-of-2 from the line to tie the game at 72 with 38.5 seconds left.
Point guard Tavon Sledge, who had 21 points and seven assists and was named the game’s MVP, raced down the court and scored a layup to put HHH West in front, 74-72. He’d add a free throw with 11 seconds remaining.
Despite a distinct advantage inside with Harris out of the game, Pinkston didn’t touch the ball on the Lions final two possessions. Instead, Rasi Jenkins missed a jumper in the lane and Kareem Canty’s potential tying 3-pointer from the top of the key rimmed out with two seconds left.
“I don’t know what they saw,” Gonzalez said. “We talked about it a little bit and we’ll talk about it the next couple of days. We’ll adjust and make sure in the end of game situations that doesn’t happen again…He should have had the ball in his hands.”
Branden Frazier had 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting, while Tyler Harris, Tobias’ younger brother, led HHH West with 24 points and eight rebounds. Even Tyler might have outshined his older brother, but it’s all about the win.
“I don’t care about rankings or me versus Jayvaughn,” Tobias said. “It’s about winning. It’s a team thing. I could care less about that.”