Archdiocese of NY Semifinals

BRONX, NY- It was a pair of heavyweight battles on Tuesday night at Mount St. Michael in the Archdiocese of New York semifinals as Stepinac took on Iona Prep in a rivalry game to open the evening, while the defending CHSAA champions Cardinal Hayes closed the night by squaring off against St. Peter's.

In front of a near sellout crowd in at Mount St. Michael both games lived up to the pregame hype, as with a berth in Saturday's Archdiocese Championship Game on the line each team brought their best to the court.

Excitement at its best it was a great night of basketball action, and with NYCHoops.net on hand for both contests let's see how things went as we recap the action.

When you shoot the ball as poorly as Cardinal Hayes shot it on Tuesday you would think for most teams they would lose. The Cardinals aren't your normal team though as they led for just 1.1 seconds of this one, but it was the final 1.1 seconds as Joe Toussaint '19 stepped up and hit 3 FT's after getting fouled just before the final buzzer to help seal the deal for a Cardinal Hayes come from behind 52-51 victory.

It wasn't the prettiest of all starts for Cardinal Hayes as they missed far more three balls than they took, settling for a good amount of long range attempts against the St. Peter's 3-2 zone, but with not much falling it led to a lot of empty trips.

The Eagles were able to somewhat take advantage as they also had a good amount of trouble from long range but Chris Ledlum '19 was aggressive in attacking the basket, and with Jordon Fox '18 able to connect on a pair of treys, including one late in the opening half, St. Peter's was able to maintain a decent sized lead.

Shooting 1-13 from behind the arc in the first half did nothing for Cardinal Hayes as they didn't take advantage of the looks they had and going into halftime it was St. Peter's who were leading in a low scoring affair, 22-18.

When you shoot the ball as poorly as Cardinal Hayes had for the first 16 minutes you would think most coaches would look to change things up in the second half, but that's not what Cardinals head coach Joe Lods did.

Lods says that he understands that his team is primarily a three-point shooting team and he wasn't going to change what they do and who they are because of a bad first 16-minute stretch on Tuesday.

"It's like you don't go to IHOP to get spaghetti and meatballs, you go to IHOP to get the pancakes," Lods explained. "We are a three-point shooting team, so I told our kids keep doing what you are doing, keep shooting the ball and if they go in we are going to celebrate, if we miss we will go home."

Not changing the game plan against the strong St. Peter's zone, the Cardinals continued to miss shots while the Eagles expanded their lead to as big as 32-18 with 4:40 left in the 3rd quarter. It wasn't what Hayes wanted, but they never got away from shooting the three and Toussaint and Tyrese Williams '18 each hit their first of the game to cut into the Eagles lead, gaining some momentum and going to the 4th trailing just 35-30.

There was no way his Hayes team should've even been in the game at this point, with Lods crediting assistant coach Tim Philp for his excellent defensive strategies to limit St. Peter's from breaking the game open any further.

"Coach Tim our defensive coordinator does a tremendous job because we had every reason to lose in a game where we shot maybe 20%, but we guarded," Lods stated.

They defended extremely well and limited pretty much everyone outside of Ledlum from getting any sort of offensive rhythm going. Fox had a strong opening half, but even he was controlled in the second half as the Cardinals defense really continued to shine.

Hayes kept the game close but never were able to get over the top and take the lead. Each time they would cut the deficit to a single possession it seemed Ledlum would come up with another big play. It was a 49-44 St. Peter's lead with 49.0 left when the Cardinals pressure caused a turnover, and off the turnover Jontai Williams '18 would drain a huge three from the right corner to get the deficit down to just 2.

Keeping up the defensive pressure, a double team by the Cardinals caused a travel by St. Peter's giving the ball back to Hayes down by 2 with 31.6 to go. It looked like Cardinal Hayes wouldn't be able to score after a pair of misses, but Terry Dawkins '18 would score on a third try, putting back a Toussaint miss to tie the game at 49.

St. Peter's would call a timeout with 13.2 to play and the ball was put into Ledlum's hands and as he attacked the rim he was fouled with 5.5 seconds to play. Calmly hitting his 2 FT's, Ledlum put the Eagles back up 51-49. Lods called a timeout to draw up a final play, drawing it up for none other than Toussaint.

"Joe was having a good game and it's kind of like you dance with the girl that brought you here," Lods said.

The ball was almost immediately put in Toussaint's hands and while the plan was to get to the rim and tie the game up, he read the defense and decided to go another way.

"I saw the defense backing up and I gave a pump fake and he slipped and grabbed my arm, so I just threw the ball up and I got fouled," Toussaint explained.

That's exactly what happened as the referees called a foul on Ledlum who fell to the floor with 1.1 seconds left. Down by two Toussaint stepped to the line and hit all three FT's, with all hitting nothing but net.

It may have been a pressure situation for some to go to the charity stripe for 3 FT;s down by two with 1.1 left, but Toussaint is a different breed and he said he was ready for the moment.

"No there was no pressure," Toussaint stated. "Every day in practice I won't leave until I hit 10 FT's in a row, and this is the reason I do that."

Without a timeout left St. Peter's was forced to inbound down by 1 and a last second heave by Chris Clancy '19 fell short as Cardinal Hayes rallied in dramatic fashion to defeat St. Peter's, 52-51.

In the comeback from behind victory the Cardinals were led by the 22 points of Toussaint, 12 of which came in the all-important 4th quarter, while Dawkins also chipped in with 12 points for Cardinal Hayes in the win.

The Eagles were led by Ledlum who scored a game high 26 points, with Fox adding 14 points in the hard luck defeat.

Cardinal Hayes will now move on to play Stepinac for the Archdiocese of New York title game on Saturday afternoon, and while confidence in his team Toussaint isn't willing to make any guarantees other than those who come to watch will be in for a treat seeing two of the area's best square off in what should be another classic.

"It's always a good matchup with Stepinac. They are a good team, well coached, and I know it's gonna be a real good game."

Prior to last year it had been since 1986 that the Crusaders had made a CHSAA Archdiocese of New York Championship Game, but after Tuesday night it's now two years in a row as paced by R.J. Davis '20 and his 22 points, Stepinac was able to pull away and knock off their main rivals in Iona Prep, 75-58 in the other semifinal matchup.

Playing Iona Prep in the Archdiocese semifinals gave Stepinac the chance at redemption. They lost a double-digit lead to the Gaels the last time the two teams met in late January and Crusaders head coach Pat Massaroni admitted that the feeling of disappointment from that night had not yet left his team.

"We had in the back of our mind that feeling when we walked out of Iona College that Saturday night," Massaroni admitted. "We have wanted a chance at them again since then."

Tuesday provided them the opportunity they have been craving, and each Crusaders player said the capacity crowd at Mount St. Michael was pushing them from the start to prove they are the better team.

It was a slow start for both teams as the Crusaders and the Gaels each struggled in the opening 8 minutes from long range, with both teams settling a bit for perimeter jumpers. Iona Prep held an 11-10 lead after one, but the intensity was about to pick up early in the 2nd.

The first play of the 2nd quarter saw Massaroni argue a foul call on Xavier Wilson '18 that he did not agree with. Massaroni would throw off his suit jacket and getting called for a technical foul. It wasn't Massaroni's proudest moment, but even he couldn't deny feeling as if his Crusaders fed off his emotion in that spot.

"I haven't gotten t'ed up much in my career, but I didn't like the call. I do think though our team responded to that," Massaroni stated.

One player for Stepinac who really responded was Eddie Sanchez '19 who drained a pair of threes from the corner, while also driving along the baseline and finishing on a reverse while getting fouled. He had 9 points in the 2nd quarter alone to help push Stepinac to a lead as big as 5 before a big Bryce Wills '18 bucket just before the halftime buzzer cut the Crusaders lead to 34-32 at the half.

Feeling as if his team was in a good spot at the half, Massaroni said he implored his team to keep up the pressure and keep making smart decisions in the open court. They were playing at the tempo they wanted and just wanted the team to maintain their play going into the second half.

The star of the 3rd quarter for Stepinac proved to be Davis who was able to drive by his defender nearly at will, putting the Crusaders on his back and help continue to build up the lead. He finished with 10 points in the 3rd, but while he was able to do a lot on his own, he through the credit to his teammates for what they were doing for him.

"I just trusted my teammates and penetrated off the screens that my teammates were setting for me," Davis said. "They were making it easy for me."

Expanding the lead to 54-48 going to the 4th, Stepinac kept their foot on the gas and quickly would go on a 9-2 run, capped off by another Sanchez three to see the Crusaders lead balloon up to 63-50.

It was at this point that Davis first said he felt as if they were going to pull out the win, believing that the momentum was all on their side. Souleymane Koureissi '18 was scoring in the halfcourt for the Gaels off short jumpers from the elbows but each time down the court it seemed as if Stepinac had a response.

A.J. Griffin '21 would throw down a pair of dunks as he got into the mix late, and Iona Prep just couldn't contain all the offensive weapons that the Crusaders brought to the court on Tuesday. Five Stepinac players would finish in double figures as the Crusaders would pour it on late to ultimately pull away for an impressive 75-58 victory.

Davis led the way with his 22 points for Stepinac, but Sanchez and Alan Griffin '18 added 16, while Griffin's little brother A.J had 11.

A near perfect all around effort from Stepinac, Davis specifically pointed out Sanchez's performance noting that when the Crusaders need someone else to step up, Sanchez is usually the unsung hero ready to play his role.

"We have a lot of key role players like Eddie who are aggressive and can step up and play a major role, but Eddie tonight was huge," Davis explained.

Iona Prep got 19 points from Koureissi in the defeat, with Wills also chipping in with 13 points of his own in the loss.

The win for Stepinac now propels them into Saturday afternoon's CHSAA Archdiocese of New York title game for the second straight year, and while beating Iona Prep for the second time this season means a lot, getting another chance at winning the school's first ever Archdiocese championship means even more to a motivated Davis.

"We are coming to redeem ourselves for last year. The city championship is one of our main goals and this is the start of that."

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