Kerwin Okoro wasn’t known for his 3-point shooting acumen as a sophomore this past winter at St. Raymond. The 6-foot-4 forward did most of his work in the lane, finishing strong around the basket. This summer, though, Okoro has worked diligently on his perimeter skills.
“I rarely go a day without shooting a basketball,” he said. “I literally mean that – every day. There’s a park right across the street of my house. I make sure I shoot every day.”
Count Friday as one of those. Okoro’s 3-pointer with 56 seconds left put The Bronx up for good in an eventual, 58-56 win against Brooklyn in the Nike World Basketball Festival’s Battle of the Boroughs semifinals at Rucker Park. He hit two earlier and finished with all of his 15 points in the second half.
“I had a horrible first half,” Okoro said. “I had to get myself going. So once I hit two of them, I wanted to touch the ball in crunch time. I knew I could make another one and get my team in the game.”
Added Bronx coach Bingo Cole: “Big-time 3. It helped us. It gave us a lift on the bench. Then, I guess after that we believed we could win that game.”
The Bronx, which meets either Manhattan or Queens in the championship next weekend at the Nike Tournament of Champions at Dyckman, had led most of the way, including a 26-23 advantage at halftime.
But Robeson rising senior Darrel Lucky had all 12 of his points in the second half to help Brooklyn get the lead back. After Okoro’s basket, With two defenders on him Mike Taylor of Boys & Girls drained a circus 3-pointer with 27 seconds left to get Brooklyn within 57-56, but the team didn’t score again.
“It means more than anything,” Okoro said. “If we would have taken the ‘L’ today, we would have felt horrible, because we’d have to hear Brooklyn’s mouth until next summer. Bragging rights were on the line.”
The Bronx squad took the game to heart. Late in the game, assistant coach Kenny Satterfield, the Rice HS legend, got into an argument with Brooklyn coach Mike Campbell, another streetball luminary, over the amount of timeouts Brooklyn had left. Cole and Satterfield were up, arguing with refs and shouting instructions all game. It sounded like the PSAL playoffs rather than a summer Friday afternoon.
“You gotta take the borough real serious,” said Cole, who is called “The Godfather of streetball” by famed emcee Joe Pope.
His players definitely were. Okoro’s St. Ray’s teammate Daniel Dingle also had 15 points, including three 3-pointers, FDA III rising senior Kevin Douglas had nine points and former All Hallows point guard Rashawn Stores added five.
“It’s been a long rivalry between Brooklyn [and The Bronx],” Douglas said. “They always talk trash. We seized the opportunity to shut them up.”