Kimani Young was looking for a few things in particular in the second half. The New York City high school all-star team coach saw his team trailing at the break after an up and down first period. He told them that the players committed to defense, rebounding and running would find themselves on the floor to determine the finish.
He quickly found the combination, led by big men Derrick Randall, Daniel Dingle, Ryan Rhoomes and Sidiki Johnson and New York City looked like a different team. They turned a three-point halftime deficit into a lopsided, 73-56 win over a game United China team during the World Basketball Festival at Rucker Park on Friday. It was the unit’s first game together in preparation for a trip to Turkey from Aug. 28 to Sept. 3 to compete in exhibition games with youth national teams from other countries.
“The coach talked to us and told us to suck it up and be competitive,” South Kent forward Derrick Randall said. “We just forgot about being tired and everything and just rebounded and scored.”
The Brooklyn native was a beast on the boards with his second efforts and tip-ins. The Rutgers-bound Randall scored a team-high 20 points in impressive fashion. Boys & Girls star Mike Taylor poured in 14, including nine in the second half. Johnson of Oak Hill, Rice’s Jermaine Sanders and Cardozo’s Rhoomes each added 10 points.
“It was a good win,” Young said. “China, I think, surprised us. They came out the gate ready to play. They weren’t intimidated. They were well coached.”
United China built a 28-21 lead with 37.3 seconds left in the first half behind star forward Ren Icai (13 points), who threw down a few dunks and was blocking shots. New York City looked a step slow, settled for jumpers, struggled to finish and was getting beat on the boards. The fans at Rucker Park were teetering on turning on the hometown team.
The city got some life going into the break as Kareem Canty, formerly of Bishop Loughlin, fed Randall for a layup and hit him again for two off a steal over the final 30 seconds to end the frame. NYC pulled away with an 18-4 second-half run sparked by Taylor and Randall. Taylor connected on a 3-pointer, Randall scored four straight points and Rhoomes converted a put back that gave the team a 63-49 lead with 5:00 left to play. They never looked back from there.
“At the end, we played on pride,” St. Raymond forward Daniel Dingle said. “In the beginning we were losing and we heard the crowd and we don’t like to hear that. This is our city.”