CHSAA Class "AA" Quarterfinals (Part 1)

BRONX, NY- Getting to Fordham University is a goal of every teams in the CHSAA which is why Sunday afternoon was such a big day for those teams taking the Rose Hill Gymnasium court as it was the Intersectional Quarterfinals with each team taking the court one step closer to a goal of bringing home the championship trophy.

The first two quarterfinals featured a pair of intriguing matchups with a lot of storylines mixed in. It proved to be a great couple of games, and here now is a recap of the action that took place from the Bronx.

Earlier this season it was the Clippers knocking off the Crusaders 72-54 in a game that didn't feature a Stepinac full squad because of a litany of injuries, but on Sunday with both teams at full strength it was a true matchup to see who would reign supreme and move forward into Thursday's semifinals.

While the start wasn't exactly what Stepinac was hoping for it was the finish that mattered most as after trailing by 6 going into halftime it was a dominating performance from the dynamic duo of R.J. Davis' 20 and A.J. Griffin '21 as the Crusaders were able to pull away late and advance with an 83-63 quarterfinal victory over Xaverian.

After what had to be considered a disappointing regular season for Stepinac there was no worry about of this Crusaders team. They missed Griffin for most of the regular season and without a full-strength team, head coach Pat Massaroni knew that once his team finally got on the court together that good things could happen.

"The team we have now is what we thought we would have November 3rd and our record doesn't indicate where we could be," Massaroni said of his team. "It was a rough go until the last couple weeks but now guys understand their role and we are trying to recapture that championship that we had and I keep using the motto it's not how you start it's how you finish and hopefully that comes true for us."

That feeling was proven with a strong Archdiocese of New York playoff run, but it was all about the Intersectional's for Massaroni and his Crusaders, and after downing St. Peter's 91-80 on Thursday they were ready for Sunday's game with Xaverian, looking show that as the defending champs they are ready for yet another deep run.

From the outset it was Xaverian who did a great job attacking the rim and going right at the Stepinac defenders with Zachary Hayes '19 scoring his 7 in the opening quarter as the Clippers got multiple offensive options involved in helping them get out to a quick lead.

The Crusaders settled a lot early on as they took 10 threes’ as a team in first quarter though because of the shooting of Griffin were able to stay close, eventually taking a 24-23 lead going into the second.

After going just 3-10 in the first from behind the arc, Stepinac became more focused of looking for spots to attack the Xaverian defense though with the length of Michael Graham '19 inside that proved to be a challenge. The Clippers were able to get out in transition a good amount as well as Isaiah Amazon '19 and Nick Folk '19 were able to finish at the rim to give Xaverian back the lead early in the quarter.

If not for Davis, who was doing all he could to carry the struggling Stepinac offense in the second quarter, it could have been a worse situation for the Crusaders though with Hayes leading the Clippers with 10 points it was Xaverian going up at the break 41-35.

Played at the tempo that Stepinac wanted, it was Xaverian who were up by 6 managing to hang in toe to toe with a potent Crusaders attack with the question being could the Clippers keep Griffin in check as Davis had 18 at the break.

Not long was the answer as after scoring just 6 points in the first half it was Griffin starting an 8-2 run knocking down a wing three along the way to tie the game up at 43, and when Luke Fizulich '20 drained a contested three from the right corner it gave Stepinac a 46-43 lead with just over 4 minutes to play in the third quarter.

The push by the Crusaders was punctuated with 1:22 to go in the third when Davis missed a left wing three, but it was Griffin going down the lane and flushing it back down with his left hand after coming down the lane. It was a dunk that got everyone out of their seats at Fordham, and even had Griffin impressed at least a little with what he was able to do.

"I knew it would come and I knew the ball would come out so I just waited for it and dunked it," Griffin said with a smile. "It was probably my best dunk ever."

Alongside of the dunk by Griffin it was Davis would come back in the final minute as well to knock down a pair of long threes’ to give Stepinac a 59-53 lead going into the final stanza, just 8 minutes away from yet another semifinal appearance.

Fizulich opened the fourth with a three of his own, his third of the game, and less than two minutes in the Crusaders had opened up a double-digit lead for the first time, finally taking control of the game and wearing down Xaverian with their offensive firepower from nearly all over the floor.

Credit to Xaverian for hanging in proving themselves to be a worthy foe, but a now healthy and motivated Stepinac proved to be too much as the Crusaders are clicking on all cylinders at this point of the season and moving onto Thursday's semifinals behind the 31 points of Davis and 28 points and 14 rebounds of Griffin, pulling away and blowing the game open late for a 83-63 victory.

Along with the efforts of Davis and Griffin the Crusaders also got 13 points from Fizulich to help Stepinac keep their season going.

In a losing but still solid effort it was 12 points from Amazon, while Hayes and Folk each added 11 for a Xaverian team that brings a solid core back next year and should without question be a team to reckon with in the years to come.

Moving into the semifinals now and taking a ton of momentum with them will be the Crusaders who are playing their best basketball of the season now that they are back at full health, and Davis says ready to make a lot of noise in the Final Four and the rest of the way.

"Obviously we started off the season terrible, it was an abysmal season but now we are in a good position, we have gained confidence and are ready to prove the doubters wrong who didn't think we would be here," Davis said.

The second of four CHSAA Intersectional Quarterfinals pitted a pair of Bronx rivals who split a pair of matchups during the regular season, and while it was close for the majority of the first half it was a late spurt from the Cardinals that gave them momentum heading into halftime, enabling them to control the game the rest of the way in a 57-42 win.

Understanding how dangerous the Mountaineers are after defeating them earlier in the season at home, Cardinal Hayes head coach Joe Lods said his team's primary and only focus was the Mount coming into Sunday understanding that while the Cardinals are among the favorites to finish out the season with the title none of that talk would matter if they didn't do their business on this day.

"I'm not interested in revenge I'm focused on today, what's in the past is in the past but we knew if we wanted to beat Mount we would have to come out and play our game and play our best because they are a great defensive team," Lods explained.

That mindset wasn't just spoken by Lods it was also talked about from his senior leader in Joe Toussaint' 19 who said the goal of a City Championship for him started today.

Both teams got off to a bit of a slow start with the Cardinals not connecting on good looks from the outside in the first quarter, though Hayes did do a solid job early in containing Mountaineers star Mike Green '19 from making his impact on the game.

Green did have a better second quarter as he finished the opening half with 12 points as Mount St. Michael took a brief lead midway through the stanza, but the outside shooting for Cardinal Hayes started to come together in a better way as Jaylen Murray '20 went 3-4 from behind the arc in the opening half, and when Toussaint found Shemani Fuller '20 for an alley oop slam at the halftime buzzer it was the Cardinals taking a 30-22 lead into the break, their largest lead of the game to date.

Mount didn't go away early in the third though as Green knocked down his third triple of the game to get the Mountaineers as close as 32-30 as they got off to a quick second half start, but once Toussaint and Murray started pressuring the ball more in the backcourt mistakes by Mount St. Michael were made as the Hayes lead was once again bumped up to 9 after a 7-0 run late in the quarter

For the first time.early in the 4th it was a double digit lead for Cardinal Hayes as back to back tip in's by Fuller and Adam Cisse '19 made it 42-30 for the Cardinals as it wasn't just the guards putting in a good days work, the size and strength advantage for Hayes began to come into play as well.

There wasn't a dominant scoring performance per say for Cardinal Hayes as it was truly the definition of a balanced attack across the board, but with 5 players scoring 8 or more points led by the 15 points from Toussaint, it was a total team effort as the Cardinals are heading off to play Stepinac in Thursday's semifinals after a lower scoring 57-42 victory.

While Toussaint and Murray had 15 and 13 points respectively for the Cardinals, Mount got a great effort in his final high school game from Green who had a game high 21 points to lead the Mountaineers in what was a tough defeat to end their season.

With Cardinal Hayes now moving on to play Stepinac in Thursday's semifinals which will be played again at Fordham University. It's going to be a tough matchup of CHSAA powerhouses with the Crusaders much healthier and playing much better than overall compared to their two previous meetings this season, but it's a game that the senior leader in Toussaint says he is ready for as he hopes to make his senior season one to truly remember forever.

"This is all you can ask for," Toussaint said after the Cardinals win. "It doesn't get better than this. Final Four on Thursday and we are looking forward to that and having a good three days of practice and making sure we are ready to do what we need to do."

CHSAA QUARTERFINALS (PART TWO)

CHSAA QUARTERFINAL TOP PERFORMERS