BRIARWOOD, NY – It was three bracket games in the making for both the Monsignor Scanlan Crusaders and the Archbishop Stanners when they met in the Jack Curran Gym on Saturday for the CHSAA Class AA Freshmen Championship. Throughout the quarters and the semis, the Stanners sliced through the competition with a succession of 20 point plus wins. The championship turned out to be more of the same as Molloy simply flattened the Crusaders, 67 -45.
The first quarter set the tone of the game as big man Emmanuel Ikioda battered Scanlan in the paint. Additional buckets by Joshua DeCody and Mekhi Blamoville along with a Stanners smothering defense and the Bronx squad found themselves down by 16 points with zero points scored.
The Crusaders were unable to score a single point until Jaiden Hill drew a foul and went 1 – 2 from the charity stripe with 6:57 left in the half. Hill and Kenny Fields netted baskets and Scanlan appeared to be getting its second wind. Jabari Phillips added points on the board from the arc but Molloy still maintained a 32 – 16 advantage entering the locker room at the half.
Molloy’s success was centered around the play of point guard Jack Guevara and the inside play of Ikioda so Scanlan made some defensive adjustments. With Ikioda drawing double teams and Guevara fight through traps, the Crusaders hoped to make some third quarter inroads. Scanlan’s efforts resulted in a partial payoff as the duo’s offense was blunted but Molloy believed its outer armor would hold.
“Scanlan made some really nice adjustments in the second half, “ said Stanners head coach Chris DeSarno. “We felt comfortable with the lead, that if we just played out game we’d hold their run.”
The Crusaders pulled to within 11 points with 2:43 remaining in the third but Ikioda and Guevara broke free in the final two minutes of the quarter to score clutch baskets from the free-throw line. Molloy remained ahead by 14 as the fourth quarter got underway.
At the end of the day, the Stanners had too much fire power with bigs Ikioda and DeCody and superior floor generalship from Guevara. “Jack had a great game,” said DeSarno. “He was the high scorer in the first [playoff] game. The second game, in the semifinals, he had 21 [points]. He’s such a calming influence.”
Phillips flexed in the fourth quarter for Scanlan but it was too little too late. The Molloy lead increased as Guevara swished two dagger-three-balls left the Crusaders in a 23 point hole with 2:55 left in regulation. With no ground covered and the separation unchanged, both teams subbed out for the remainder of the game.
Ikioda paced Molloy notching a game high 19 points with Guevara and Blamoville contributing 17 points and 10 points respectively. Phillips was Scanlan’s high scorer with 16 points. Hill added 8 points.
