Survive and advance! Psal quarter finals RECAP
Win or go HOME
The Quarterfinals at St John's was a great day of hoops in the city, featuring some classic games and dominant performances. Jefferson and South Shore won easily as expected, but the other two matchups were much more enticing. Here are top two story lines from Saturday.
Lincoln goes DOWN
Even with several players out with ineligibility, Lincoln came out balling and ready to compete. Leading most of the game, Jasiah Lewis struck early with a big three and a nice Rondo fake behind the back to a layup move that sent the crowd in a frenzy. Lincoln went into the half confident with the lead.
As fate would have it, the lights in the arena dimmed and a delay was caused because of it. When gameplay finally resumed, Curtis hit a second wind and slowly began to settle in. Malik Martin, who was largely held in check in the first half, began to attack, draw fouls and hit his free throws. The lead began to flip flop, and free throw shooting became the deciding the factor. Lincolns star guard Jasiah Lewis missed 5 of his six final free throws, and his squad found themselves up just one in the final seconds. Malik Martin barreled down the lane to try and take the lead and the Railsplitters had no choice but to foul him. While the Lincoln faithful argued that the refereeing was unfair, the officiating was equally horrible both ways. The only difference was, Malik Martin hit his free throws down the stretch and Lincoln did not, which is why Curtis survived and advanced. Martin finished with 18 points, 10 boards, 3 dimes and four blocks.
Dozo does it
Cardozo knows that the path to the city chip must go through Brooklyn and against all odds, they took another step towards that goal on Saturday. The judges were punched in the mouth early, as Boys and Girls High School's press stifled the guards early. Not to mention, the Kangaroos made every shot possible, from fallaway threes to tough runners in the lane. After being stuck on two points for what seemed like forever and falling behind by as many as 16 points, they finally began to chip away at the lead.
The third quarter proved to be a completely different Judges squad. Marcus Hammond and Dae Dae Utley played with that senior year urgency on defense, beginning to get deflections and convert on the other end. Suddenly Boys couldn't find the rim and Hammond was catching fire. The unsung hero though, was Collins Oneiyeke. The forward swatted everything that came his way in the paint, rebounded with reckless abandon and was the toughest on the floor. Needless to say, Dozo took the lead and didn't look back. Hammond and Utley led the way with 16 points a piece and Dozo will move on to face Jefferson in a rematch from earlier in the season. Jefferson won easily then, but it will be interesting to see them against a way more confident, battle tested team.Semi finals:Jefferson vs Cardozo 1 PMCurtis vs South Shore 3 PMSunday, March 11th. Be there!!