BAYSIDE, NY- Going into Friday night's Beacon 158 Back 2 School Tournament title game, a confident John Bowne team looked to close out the preseason in style. They are among the best in the PSAL this season and wanted to cement themselves among the elite with a victory over a very talented St. Anthony's team.

It wasn't easy though as after taking a lead of as big as 15 in the second half the Wildcats had to hold on late after a strong Friars rally, but behind an MVP performance from guard Amadou Diallo '21 with 16 points it was John Bowne who left JHS 158 with the championship, downing St. Anthony's 45-37.

Both teams got off to rather slow starts with the defense's leading the charge for both the Wildcats and the Friars with just Bobby Kasporitis '20 knocking down a left wing three to tie the game at 8 with 9:05 left in the half.

Bowne led by a Diallo three ball and a pair of buckets in transition from Tyshawn Trail '21 went on a 9-2 run to take what looked to be a commanding lead. Andre Snoddy '20 was able to finish inside against the physical contact of the Wildcats interior forces, but even with his strong first 20 minutes of play it was the perimeter play of John Bowne that would allow them at the break to take a 24-16 lead.

Coming out to start the second half saw Mouhamed Dioubate '22 step out and knock down a three from the right side to give Bowne their first double digit lead of the game, and that momentum would only continue for the Wildcats as a couple of tough finishes driving to the rim from Diallo allowed them to take a 31-16 advantage with 15:20 to go in the game.

While it may have looked as if John Bowne was in cruise control mode the Friars were going away as Dakari Thomas '22 was able to connect on two straight runners in the lane, and with Louis Stallone '20 starting to impose his will down low with his 6'8" size, St. Anthony's began to chip away.

The once 15-point lead for Bowne was pushed all the way down to 4 at 37-33 with 4:04 to go. St. Anthony's deficit was bumped back up to 6 after a Trail pull-up jumper, but a nice Snoddy cut off a feed from Stallone got the Friars back in range to pull off the comeback.

Each time St. Anthony's needed a stop though in the closing couple of minutes it was Bowne who would make a big play as a late Dioubate save and throw up the court found the ball into the hands of Diallo who went in for the east late up to give the Wildcats an 8 point lead again with 29.8 seconds to go.

A couple of Friars misses would end things as a rebound from Cherif Diarra '20 ended the game as John Bowne jumped out to a quick lead and then held on late to take the Beacon 158 Back 2 School Tournament title by defeating a very game St. Anthony's team, 45-37.

Diallo was named MVP as he had 16 points for the Wildcats while Dioubate added 11 points with Trail chipping in with 8 for the winners.

St. Anthony's was paced by the 14 points from Snoddy, while Thomas also scored 8 for the Friars who after a run all the way to the championship game here look poised for a big NSCHSAA season.

It's John Bowne though who were able to navigate their way through strong competition to take the title back to their Flushing school. This performance on Friday just confirms what many have been saying, that they are a PSAL title contender, and a team to reckon with that will certainly be heard from and talked about all season long.