CHSAA Class “AA” Playoffs: 2nd Round (Part 1)

FRESH MEADOWS, NY – The second round of the CHSAA Intersectional Playoffs got underway at St. Francis Prep H.S. with two of the four teams advancing to the Sunday’s quarterfinals at Fordham University. Here are recaps of the two games.

Sparked by their possibility of making to their first quarterfinal game since moving up the Class AA division, Monsignor Scanlan blistered the Royals with a 15 – 2 avalanche of points led by 6’5” sharpshooter Koby Brea ‘20. Christ the King finally began to make inroads as 6’11” Moussa Cisse ‘21 started to dominate in the paint and the Crusaders only led by 4 points at the ends of the first quarter.

Scanlan relinquished its lead in the second quarter as 5’11” Nicholas Molina ‘20 got hot from three-point range and Cisse’s midrange game was on point. Buckets by 5’9” Kesean Tracey ‘21 kept Christ the Kings advantage at a slight, 31 – 30.

Started at virtually zero-zero as the second half got underway it was anyone’s game to win. 6’3” Joe Munden ‘20 was firing on all cylinders in the third quarter for the Crusaders but Cisse was unstoppable in as well as defending the paint.

The fourth quarter commenced with both squad knotted at 46. Timely shots by 6’4” Nate Curry ‘19 along with transition baskets from 5’10” Sterling Jones ‘21 pushed the Royals ahead by seven points midway through the quarter but a 12 – 0 Scanlan run quickly tuned the tide in the Crusaders favor with 2:43 left in regulation.

Down the stretch, Molina’s perimeter shooting down the stretch regained the lead for Christ the King. Brea upset the apple cart with a clutch runner that gave Scanlan a 1-point lead with under a minute on the clock. A Ryan Myers ‘20 jumper permanently flipped the script back in favor of the Royals.

Cisse scored 22 points for Christ the King with Molina adding 19 points that included five three-pointers. Munden was high man for Scanlan with 19 points.

The start of this game had blowout written all over it as the Mountaineers took a 14 – 0 lead over Holy Cross. The Knights would not score a point until there was only 1:52 left in the warm-up quarter. 5’11” Mike Green ‘19 and 6’1” Malik Pringle ‘20 were leading the charge as Mt. Saint Michael simply dominated the quarter. Holy Cross did show signs of a pulse as 6’0” Tyler Chapman ‘20 sparely found the basket but his team trailed by 11 points at the end of the opening quarter.

The Mountaineers continued to prevail in the second quarter as point guard Green stepped up into the shoes of fearless leader. Chapman once again kept Holy Cross relevant offensively by his team still trailed 29 – 15 with blowout potential still looming.

In the second half, reinforcements showed up for the Knights as Mt. Saint Michael’s defense began to focus on Chapman. Points from 6’0” Anthony Walters ‘20, 6’4” Aaron Worley ‘19 and 6’2” Shemar Franklin ‘19 made a dent in Holy Cross’s deficit and at the end of the third quarter, the Knights were suddenly only down by eight-points.

To their credit, the Knights closed the gap even further with the duo of Walters and Worley doing their thing. With 43.9 second on the clock, the Mountaineers held onto a 46 – 40 point spread but Green did a great job of managing the clock while not allowing Holy Cross to get any closer.

Green scored 24 points for Mt. Saint Michael with Walters scoring 15 points for Holy Cross.

5:30 pm BQ #5 St. Francis vs. NY #4 Iona Prep

7:30 pm NY #7 St. Peter's vs. NY #3 Stepinac

Quarterfinals: 3/3/Sun @ Fordham University

1:00 pm Winner Stepinac/St. Peter's vs. BQ #2 Xaverian

2:45 pm NY #5 Mount St. Michael vs. NY #1 Cardinal Hayes

4:30 pm BQ #3 Christ the King vs. NY #2 St. Raymond

6:15 pm Winner Iona Prep/St. Francis vs. BQ #1 Bishop Loughlin