Beacon 158 EYAC Back 2 School Semifinals

BAYSIDE, NY- It was win or go home time on Wednesday at the Beacon 158 EYAC Back 2 School Tournament with the two semifinals taking place. One matchup was an all NSCHSAA affair, with the other an all PSAL contest as each of the four teams remaining did all they could to move to Friday's championship game.

Both games proved to be well played with everything left on the court by everyone. It was a great pair of contests and with NYCHoops.net in the building here is how the action went with a recap of the play from JHS 158 in Queens.

From the outset in this one it was the Wildcats who instilled their will, especially on the glass and around the rim, and gave fits to the interior play of Banneker. Cherif Diarra '20 was a major weapon on second and third chances with his size and strength advantage over most of the Warriors, while Aguibou Balde '21 was another imposing force who also stepped out from behind the three point arc to give Bowne an early 17-5 lead.

Banneker tried to claw back into this one but it was proving to be difficult as Gabriel Holley '21 was able to get free in the left corner for an open three, and Nathanyiel Pericles '20 was able to do a better job later in the half with 6 points all around the rim with good back to the basket moves, but it was still all Wildcats.

Amadou Diallo '21 pulled up for a long three ball from the right side, and with the interior duo of Balde and Diarra really controlling the paint and give Bowne multiple chances each time down the floor it was the Wildcats who held a 29-16 lead at the half.

It was more of the same at the start of the second half as well as the inside weapons for Bowne were grabbing rebounds and kicking the ball out to the shooters of Diallo and Tyshawn Trail '21 who would connect as the lead for the Wildcats grew to as many as 18 with 13:26 to play.

Credit has to go to Banneker for not laying down and just giving up in this one as eventually their pressure would begin to wear down on Bowne a bit with Tyreek Barlow '20 hitting on back to back three's, and with Roderick Terry '20 creating a lot of issues for the Wildcat guards he was able to create opportunities that allowed the deficit with under 3 minutes to go to get down to as little as 7 at 46-39.

Momentum was shifting but a big pull up jumper by Diallo at that point seemed to stop any thoughts of a Warriors comeback, and with Mouhamed Dioubate '22 putting back a miss on the next possession to up the lead back to double digits with 1:44 to play that was really all she wrote in this one.

A pretty balanced offensive effort from Bowne as a team saw Diarra lead the way with 15 points, Diallo added 13, while Trail chipped in with 12 as the Wildcats moved to Friday's title game when the final buzzer sounded in defeating a game Benjamin Banneker team, 57-45.

For the Warriors it was Tajuan Simpkins '21 who had a solid second half to finish with 12 points in the loss for Banneker who more than proved themselves throughout the tournament as a team who will be a major force in the PSAL Class A Division this season.

At the end of the day though it was too much size, too much strength, and too much shooting touch as well from Bowne as it's the Wildcats who will be one of the two teams in the gym on Friday playing for the championship.

QUARTERFINAL TOP PERFORMERS

The other team who will be meeting the Wildcats will be St. Anthony's as it wasn't always pretty at times, and they were trailing at the half, but Andre Snoddy '20 was just too much in the second half as he took over by scoring 14 of his game high 15 points late to help the Friars to the 44-38 victory.

St. Anthony's did get off to a good start as Daniel Hackett '20 was able to get going from long range early scoring 6 of the Friars first 7 points to put them up 7-4, but with Ben Toussaint '21 and Khalil London '22 coming back for St. Dominic with back to back three's the Bayhawks quickly took the lead back and ran out a bit from there.

Maybe it was the fact they were settling a bit for outside shots too much, or maybe you just have to credit St. Dom's for being tough on the defensive side of the floor, but the Friars were sloppy and didn't look like the team that had gotten to this point.

A couple of late stops enabled St. Dominic to take a 19-16 lead at the half as they were playing the gritty and tough defense that most had become accustomed to seeing from them.

Needing to step up and be more aggressive in the second half the Friars turned to Snoddy who took more responsibilities on and as the game went along you saw the ball in his hands a lot more from the start. With his size and skill on the outside it presented more of a mismatch issue that St. Anthony's were more than happy to take advantage of.

Snoddy by himself scored the first 8 points of the half to give the Friars the lead back, and when he wasn't scoring the rest of the way he was looking for his teammates as Hackett connected on his second three ball of the American, with Louis Stallone '21 also getting an excellent feed on a give and go to finish inside.

The Bayhawks hung tough though with Kobe Thomas '20 putting together a solid effort as he stuck a number of midrange jumpers in this one while Willy Ford '20 was aggressive as always off the dribble, but on this day it just seemed as if Snoddy wasn't going to allow his Friars to lose.

Putting together a great second half it was Snoddy's 15 points that helped carry the way as after trailing by 3 at the break it was the senior who pushed his team in front to stay as the Friars came from behind for the 44-38 win.

No one was in double figures scoring for St. Dominic as they got 9 apiece from Ford and Toussaint, with Thomas scoring 8 for the Bayhawks as well but it wasn't enough as it is Snoddy and the Friars advancing to take on John Bowne on Friday in the winner take all Beacon 158 EYAC Back 2 School Championship Game.