Cardozo Judges The Bronx @ 158

BAYSIDE, NY- It was a Cardozo vs. The Bronx Friday at the Beacon 158 Back to School Tournament as the Judges played two games, facing off against the cream of the crop in the Bronx PSAL in Wings Academy and Eagle Academy.

Both were competitive contests throughout as each of the three teams looked to make statements heading into what looks to be a wide open PSAL this season.

With a solid crowd on hand in Queens to catch the action, here now is a recap for those who couldn't make it to JHS 158 of the play from Friday in Bayside.

This was a game that saw Wings take control early, Cardozo take over late, only to see OT needed to decide it. The Judges got off to a quick start in the overtime session though and led throughout in the extra three minutes of play to pull out a 3-point victory over a shorthanded Wings team.

A pair of threes from the wings by Derrick Crothers '19 would put Wings on top with 7:45 to go in the opening half, and from there the Bronx squad looked to take control. Equan Dayson '18 was able to back his way inside and score around the rim, while Mahamadou Nimaga '19 was a strong defensive presence in creating Cardozo mistakes, enabling Wings to take a lead as big as 7 late in the half.

It looked like it would be a 7-point lead going into the half for Wings, but Marcus Hammond '18 was able to sneak inside and put back a miss just before the buzzer sounded, cutting the deficit to 29-24 going into the break.

Immediately into the 2nd half Cardozo began to play with more fire and intensity against a Wings team that was missing their go to scorer in Moe Fofana '18. Hammond and Dejavaughn Utley '18 were both able to use their length in the backcourt and quick first steps to get to the basket, beating Wings defenders off the dribble, with an Utley transition finish giving Cardozo the lead at 31-30 with 13:40 to play.

Peter Pavlidis '18 was a valuable weapon with his size and length down low, and with Javen Soto '18 also playing strong in the paint the Judges were able to build up the lead. The Cardozo lead grew to as big as 7 when Hammond was able to connect from the FT line on four straight, with the Judges seemingly in control with just over a minute to play.

Wings began to pressure the ball more in the backcourt hoping to create Cardozo mistakes to get back into things, and with Brian Mitchell '18 able to finish each time he got his hands on the ball good things began to happen. Cardozo was still up by 4 with 18.6 to play in regulation, but Mitchell was soon able to cut it to 2, and then after pressuring Hammond, the Judges guard turned it over with 8.9 to play.

Mitchell drove into the lane looking for a basket to tie, and even though his shot was long, Nimaga was there for the putback just before time expired, tying the game up at 48 and sending this one to OT.

Off the OT tap, Utley got the ball and went right to the rim where he hit and was fouled. That set the tone for the Cardozo overtime session as they took the quick lead and never trailed again. Wings did fight as a wing Nimaga three ball got them to within 1 with 56 seconds to go, but Utley again went right through the Wings defense for an easy two.

Down by 3 in the closing seconds, Nimaga got a good look at a three from the right wing, but the iron wasn't kind as the final buzzer sounded giving Cardozo the 59-56 victory.

Hammond would lead Cardozo with 19 points in the win, with Utley adding 15 points and Pavlidis chipping in with 10.

For Wings they were able to get 11 points from Mitchell and 10 points from Nimaga in the defeat sending them back to the Bronx 0-2 so far in this Beacon 158 season.

It looked as if coming right back and playing 10 minutes later wasn't going to be an issue for Cardozo against Eagle Academy as they came out with fire and intensity in jumping out to a quick 10-0 lead.

Eagle though slowly chipped away and got within 27-23 at the half and had the belief that even with a rough start they were right there and capable of coming back and taking control of the game.

That's exactly what happened as the relentless ball pressure applied by Eagle started to wear down the Judges as with 10:45 to go the Eagles took their first lead off a putback by Nelson Samuels '18 and it was off to the races from there for a determines Eagle team.

Creating steals on nearly every possession for an 8-minute span, Eagle would go on a 15-0 run as Jahmir Appleton '18 was a force down low as he scored on short hooks and putbacks around the rim, while the perimeter play of Kendall McInnis '18 and Julian Avila'19 was terrific as there was never a moment where they weren't trying to create a Cardozo mistake.

From top to bottom Eagle came out and made a statement that they were going to be a team that will not quick for 32 minutes. Offensively they were able to score in a variety of ways on Friday, and defensive they wore down the Judges in the second half, not allowing them to score for over 9 minutes in this one.

Soto scored off a nice feed from Hammond to break up the long Eagle Academy run that lasted nearly 10 minutes in the second half, putting their stamp on the game in taking a 55-40 win.

Nearly every Eagle Academy player made an impact with Appleton scoring 15 points to lead the way, while Samuels added 11 in what was a strong overall performance from the entire Bronx PSAL team.

Hammond was the lone Cardozo player in double figures as in the defeat he paced the way with a game high 16 points.

While playing their bench after going up 22-4 in the early going, Law and Tech found themselves in a game as the starters for Edison took it to the Jets role players in finishing the half on a 20-2 run to tie things up at 24 at the break.

The Law and Tech starters though came back in to start the second half and quickly Victor Ogbo '18 took control as he had 18 points in the second half alone, nearly outscoring the entire Inventors team in the final 20 minutes of play, dominating the game en route to what ended up being a 26-point victory.

Ogbo would finish the game with 25 points in the win, with Larry Moreno '18 scoring 20 points as well for the Jets.

Tashon Taylor '18 was the high man for Edison as he looked strong in defeat in finishing with 16 points for the Inventors.