Brooklyn vs. Queens in CHSAA B/Q Quarters
BROOKLYN, NY - Monday's final quarterfinal matchups featured 2 teams from Brooklyn against 2 teams from Queens. With Xaverian HS as the host site.
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The first game featured Bishop Loughlin and Archbishop Molloy followed up by Xaverian verses St. Francis Prep.
Loughlin Lions Roar Past Molloy, 61-51
C.J. Davis (15 points) put the Molloy Stanners up 2-zip but Loughlin's sophomore trio of 6'4" Elisha Boone, 6'3" Khadeen Carrington (16 points) and 6'1" Michael Williams (17 points) would take over from there. Down seven points to start the second quarter the 6'4" junior forward Marko Kozul would do a yeoman's job on the boards as well as offensively. It would not be enough as the Briarwood, NY team would fall behind 31-22 at the half.
The Stanners would compete in the third quarter as 6'2" senior forward Darden Ostrozubi (6 points)came off the bench to spark the squad. A put-back with 1:15 left in the quarter pulled Molloy to within 2 points but Williams and Carrington ended the 11-6 and re-extended the Lions lead back to 6 point to end the quarter.
With 5'11" point guard George Davis (7 points) running the point, Molloy made a hard push to cut into the Lions lead but the young squad from Brooklyn utilized good ball movement and effective transition points, getting the ball upcourt quickly.
Boone who led all scorers with 23 point was instrumental in extending the Lions lead to 12 points with about 3 minutes left to play but Kozul who led Molly with 19 point managed to close the gap to seven with 48 seconds left in regulation.
Coach Ed Gonzalez would instruct his young Lions to spread the floor and ended up winning by 10.
Ending the regular season as a 5th seed with a 3-9 record, Carrington said in the playoffs, it's a clean slate. "Everybody is zero-zero and now we're one 1-0," he said. "We gotta keep on winning if we wanna get to the championship."
We feel like we're most definitely the underdog because most of our team is sophomores with two seniors and couple of juniors so everybody don't expect us to go far in the season," said Boone.
Next up for Bishop Loughlin is #1 seeded Christ the King in the semifinals on Wednesday. Carrington believes that the key to another upset is simple. "Defense, swing the ball, play together and be a family."
Xaverian put Terriers on a, 62-51, leash
With only one win throughout the regular season, the St. Francis Terriers were not expected to do well and other than the first half, they spent their time chasing the Xaverian Clippers. Impressive play by 5'9" sophomore Michael Fields (16 points) and 5'10" senior Gabriel Gonzalez (11 points) gave the Terriers sporadic two point leads but buckets by C.W. Post-bound PG Dillon Burns (13 points) and Brian Bernardi (25 points) would give always leave the Clippers ahead at the end of each quarter.
Down 26-24 to start the third quarter, a trey by Bernardi would set up a 13-4 Xaverian run that would leave the Terriers in an even deeper hole.
The Clippers would enjoy an 8 point lead to begin the fourth quarter and treys rained down on St. Francis throughout the quarter.
Baskets by Fields and 6'3" senior forward Andrew Winter (9 points) for the Terriers would keep their deficit below double digits for the majority of the quarter until a Bernardi's fifth and final three-pointer with 1:30 would leave the Clippers lead stuck at 11 points.
Xaverian will play the #2 seed Holy Cross in the semifinals on Wednesday.
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