Before he went home to blow out the candles on his cake, Krystian Foriest celebrated his 18th birthday in style, taking home the MVP award as the Wings forward scored a game-high 18 points to lead Wings Academy to an 87-63 win against Peekskill in the Big Apple Invitational at Baruch College Saturday afternoon.
“Just to get the ‘W’ means a lot to me, especially today being my birthday,” the 6-foot-5 senior said after the Wings’ ninth straight victory. “I’m quite happy right now. I’m not gonna lie.”
Wings (13-3) led 29-28 at the half, but broke the game open with a 25-4 run in the third quarter and led by 22 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I started really feeling it,” Foriest said. “The first half my shot was off, but I didn’t want to get down on myself so I had to come out with a lot of confidence and display it on the court.”
Wings coach Billy Turnage credited James Blue’s defensive work against Peekskill standout Daquan Stackhouse (17 points) as a big reason for the third quarter turnaround.
“In the second half I thought James Blue’s defense was outstanding,” he said. “He just took him completely out of the game in the third quarter. Del Lewis cleaned up every other miss they had.”
Jordan Aaron had 14 points, Blue and Ian Vasquez scored 10 points apiece for Wings, which has won eight straight games. Foriest said his team’s anger over a perceived lack of respect from the media is taken out on the court.
“We focus on a lot of the media and they always down talk us saying that Kennedy is the best team in The Bronx,” he said. “We go into every practice and every game thinking about that. I think for the past eight games that would explain that anger on our opponents.”
While Foriest has drawn interest from Division I schools Holy Cross, Manhattan, Niagara and St. Joseph’s, Turnage is shocked most of his other players aren’t getting college looks.
“I’ve got a bunch of seniors who are being under recruited severely so they’re all playing with chips on their shoulder,” Turnage said. “I don’t know what these local colleges are doing, but they need to come out and check my guys out because they’re scholarship players.”
Boys and Girls 53, Long Island Lutheran 40: Antoine Slaughter had 15 points and eight assists and Leroy Isler added 12 points and 11 rebounds for Boys & Girls (13-4), which has won three straight games and five of its last six.