Beating a team three times in a season is never a cake walk. Especially when you're a four seed, the said team is a five seed and you've squared off within the last week.

Despite poor free throw shooting, the fourth seeded Campus Magnet Bulldogs thwarted early momentum from the fifth seeded Bayside Commodores en route to a wild and wooly 60-57 win in the first round of the Queens borough playoffs.

"We knew (playing them again) so soon would be hard", said Campus junior guard Sasha Clarida.

Bayside showed no inclination of being a team that lost to Campus by 16 points last week, as they got off to a 5-1 lead behind seniors Carlos Solano and Dwayne Brown. Campus would briefly tie it up when sophomore forward Jagger Freeman capitalized off of a careless Bayside turnover, but senior Davon Brown would key a 7-0 run to put Bayside up 12-5. The Commodores' smothering full court press frustrated Campus early, and set the scrappy tone of the game that would remain throughout. Bayside's 7 point lead would remain late in the first quarter, as Solano nailed a mid-range jumper off of a screen to put them up 18-11. Clarida, however, would answer at the other end to make it a five point game going into the second period.

Campus would continue to chip away at the Bayside lead, and a bucket from senior point guard Israel Vickers would cap a 6-0 run to have the Bulldogs within one, 18-17. Solano and Freeman would trade buckets to keep the game close, but when Bayside senior Evan Eisner nailed a three, the Commodores acquired a four point cushion that would remain throughout most of the quarter. The Bulldogs would still be down four, 31-27, at the start of the second half, but this time when they made a run it gave them the lead. Senior Tequan Grant's back to back baskets put Campus on top, 33-32, and gave them their first advantage of the game since leading 1-0. Clarida would follow with a lay-up to extend the lead to three, but Bayside junior Kevin Chang would cash in on a reverse lay-up to keep things tight, 35-34. An NBA range three from Eisner and a free throw from Brown would put the Commodores back on top by three, but a free throw and another bucket from Clarida would then even the game at 38. Chang would score again, but a pair of free throws from Campus big man Kelvin Lewis would tie it again at 40. Clarida would then nail a jumper over Bayside's 1-2-2 zone and give the Bulldogs a 42-40 lead.

"Everybody gets better and plays harder in the playoffs than they do mid-season", said Clarida. "So we knew that we had to step up and play a lot harder (than we had been) all game." The fourth quarter only got louder, nastier and more intense, as the deafening acoustics and playoff urgency matched the Campus Magnet gymnasium's reputation as a hot house. The final period also raised the level of brutality, in numerous ways. Intentional fouls, technical fouls and Campus' brutal performance from the free throw stripe in the fourth quarter all lent to an unbridled 8 minutes of action. The Bulldogs would manage to extend their lead to 48-41 behind a pair of Chad Coachman free throws, but Bayside would not go quietly, as Eisnser drained another three ball from pro range to cut Campus' lead to four. Free throws continued to be the bane of the Bulldogs, as their chance to build a comfortable lead slipped away. To make matters worse for Campus, impressive Bayside freshman LeBrent Walker began to heat up. A coast to coast lay in from Walker brought the Commodores within one, 51-50, but then the event most indicative of the fourth quarter's intensity came up...literally.

"When I took the charge, I threw up", said Lewis. "Me getting hit in the stomach didn't hurt me, but (the vomit) just came up. I just wanted to get back in the game as soon as possible and help my team win." Lewis would then re-enter the game -after a long hiatus was taken to clean up the floor- to muscle in a lay-up to put Campus up 53-50, but Walker would again answer the Bulldog's charge. Clarida, however, would then find Lewis in traffic with a pretty feed after Vickers nailed one of those elusive free throws and Campus was now back up by four, 56-52. The LeBrent Walker show was not ready to close curtain though. The talented freshman would nail a three pointer to bring Bayside within two, 57-55, but the free throw deficiency bug proved contagious as he missed a pair potentially game of tying free throws with 12.4 seconds left in the contest. Clarida, on the other hand, knew it was feast or famine if Campus intended to advance in the playoffs.

"(The free throw shooting) in the fourth quarter hurt us", Clarida said. "I felt a lot of pressure, but I just thought about what my father always told me about squaring up and focusing on the basket". Clarida nailing both free throws gave Campus a 59-55 lead, but Walker still had plans. He banked a 'Hail Mary' shot with 1.8 seconds left on the clock to cut it to 59-57, but it was too late. Grant then went 1 for 2 in the waning seconds of the game to seal the victory, despite capping a paltry 10 for 23 performance at the line for Campus in the fourth quarter.

Sasha Clarida led Campus Magnet and all scorers with 19 points. He also dished out 3 assists, while Kelvin Lewis added 8 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Jagger Freeman contributed 12 points and 8 rebounds. LeBrent Walker and Carlos Solano led Bayside with 12 points each, with 9 of Walker's 12 coming in the fourth quarter. Campus Magnet will travel to Cardozo on Thursday for the Queens borough semi-finals.

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