Bowne demolishes Construction; Vazquez drops 48pt wrecking ball
FLUSHING, NY – It was Alejandro Vazquez’s world on Thursday evening. The rest of us were just in it for the ride. The sophomore sharpshooter displayed a super human amount of muscle memory, dropping eight three-pointers on High School for Construction’s head en route to an 83 – 73 win for the John Bowne Wildcats.
“I was in the zone,” said Vasquez who finished with more than half of the team’s total points. “I felt the heat. I was going in.”
Wildcats head coach John Tsapelas said that the Red Hawks tried to contain the sophomore. “They went box and one in the second half. They had no answer.”
Vasquez, who said he’s on a mission, understood the importance of the game and raised his level of play accordingly. “The game was important because we were playing for third place so we were trying to play hard.”
Bowne was already pulling ahead in the first quarter as Christian Hinckson ‘17 and Alpha Kabi Camara ’17 scored with Kareem Reid ‘19 securing rebounds and protecting the basket. Up 5 -zip, with about 5 minutes remaining in the quarter, Vasquez suddenly went viral, draining two 3-balls back-to-back which left the Red Hawks down 11 – 3.
Legacy Wallace ‘18, Ezra Burnett ‘19 and Jasiah Wright ‘18 countered with a 5 – 0 run that narrowed the gap to 3 points. Construction then fouled Vasquez while netting his third three-pointer. The sophomore pushed Bowne up by 7 with a floater. By the end of the first quarter, the Red Hawks were down by 10.
Scoring 27 points in the first half, Vasquez almost singlehandedly helped Bowne resist a surge by H.S. for Construction. The Wildcats' lead increased to 17 points before buckets by Caleb Goosby ‘17 and Wallace along with inside play from big man Kyle Blakeney ‘17 closed the gap to 46 – 34 at the half.
To start the second half, Vasquez took over where he left off in the first half and drained yet another trifecta from NBA range. He shot a heat-check three-pointer and even that went in. Five minutes remained in the third quarter and the Wildcats lead grew to 21 points.
In an attempt to put the icing on the cake, Vasquez drove down the lane and issued a magnificent slam dunk but what should have been a momentum builder had the opposite effect as the sophomore picked up a tech for taunting. Construction then mounted a comeback attempt. A three pointer by Wallace polished off a 16 – 2 Red Hawks run and with 1:19 left in the third, Bowne was only ahead 58 – 51.
It appeared that the momentum had shifted in favor of the H.S. for Construction but momentum is a fickle thing. A buzzer beating emphatic dunk by Reid at the buzzer would set Bowne’s home crowd off. Ahead by 11 points to start the fourth quarter, reverberation from that dunk from fans could still be heard as the final stanza got underway.
Construction tried to get their deficit down to single digits and were successful for a brief period as Wright and Cai El Smith ‘17 scored. The Red Hawk were suddenly only down by seven but a defensive play by Vasquez and offense from both he and Hinckson soon punted Bowne’s lead back to 15 with 4 minutes left to play.
The Red Hawks tried to push back but Vasquez would drop is seventh and eighth treys. A basket by Teequan Holley ‘19 and Bowne has its largest lead at 19 point with 3:35 left in regulation. Shortly thereafter Tsapelas subbed out 80% of his starters and Construction was able to narrow the loss to a respectable 10 points.
“He’s streaky,” said Coach Tsapelas describing Vasquez’s shooting prowess. ”When he’s on, just get out of the way. His quickness, his shot off the dribble and his range is a tough combination.”
Vasquez finished with an astounding 48 points & 6 rebounds with Hinckson adding a double-double (11 points & 11 rebounds) and Reed notching 11 rebounds and 6 blocks to go with his 6 points. Wallace was high man for High School for Construction with 17 points with Wright contributing 13 points.
Tied in the PSAL Queens "AA" league standings before the game, Bowne impoves to 11 -4 while H.S. for Construction falls to 10 - 5. Each team has one regular season game left to play before Borough Championship seeding takes place.
