CHSAA Quarterfinal Thrillers & Upsets

BRONX, NY – St. Raymond high school was rockin’ on Sunday as the CHSAA Class “AA” New York Sectionals got underway. The four quarterfinal games featured eight seeded teams with each game exceeding the hype and two resulting in shocking upsets.

Anyone who said Staten Island basketball wasn’t competitive must’ve missed St. Peter’s play as #7 seeded Eagles gave Archbishop Stepinac all it could handle. After falling down into the #2 seed late, ironically many believed that playing against the S.I. school would be the path of least resistance into a Archdiocesan of New York championship round but Crusader’s head coach Pat Massaroni said he knew better.

“Not according to us. Not according to this league,” said Massaroni. “[St. Peter’s] is a really good team. They’ve won nine in a row. Charlie [Driscoll] is a really good coach. People kept telling me you gotta be careful and our kids knew that and they executed.”

Both team exchanged baskets early and the Eagles actually took an early 4-point lead behind scoring from 6’3” Jordan Fox ‘18 and 6’4” Chris Ledlum ‘19 who is also an all-star wide receiver for the school. Stepinac kept pace as 6’3” Jorden Means ‘17, R.J. Davis '20 and 6’5” Alan Griffin ‘18 got buckets.

St. Peter’s ran like a well-oiled machine with 6’0” point guard Liam Sanborn ‘17 running the show while 6’6” Kaleb Hicks ‘18 scored inside early and often. A late surge by the Eagles had Stepinac on its heels and down 35 -26 at the half.

The second half looked to mimic the first half as the two teams again began to exchange baskets but the Crusaders stepped their defense and behind Mean and 5'9" Makai Johnson '17 were starting to close the gap. A three-ball by Means followed soon after by free-throws from Johnson gave Stepinac its first lead with 3:06 left in the third quarter. Ledlum promptly regained the lead back from the White Plains high school.

Still down by a point as the final quarter began, Davis and 6'7" Xavier Wilson '18 turned up the heat and with 1:05 left to play, the Crusaders owned a 3-point advantage. St. Peter’s had a chance to close the distance to one-point but two missed free-throws and a steal by Means with 28.1 left on the clock killed their momentum and sealed the Eagles fate.

Johnson finished with 15 points for Stepinac with Wilson and Davis adding 14 points and 10 points respectively. Hicks led St. Peter’s with a game-high 19 points.

The gym filled to the rafters to watch the #6 seeded Monsignor Scanlan Crusaders go up against St. Raymond Ravens and their fearless Minnesota-bound leader Isaiah Washington ‘17. Without one of their starters, Gabe Bryan ‘17, out with a foot injury and in a cast, the uphill battle against the #6 seed appeared to be even more steep.

For 6’3” Jalen Lecque ’18, who had recently returned to the Crusaders lineup after suffering an ACL injury, going up against the Ravens wasn’t a wall but merely and obstacle to climb. In this case, the high flying guard grounded the Ravens but jumping over and shooting over them quite literally.

It remained a game of inches in the opening quarter with both Washington and Lecque trash talking each other but backing it up with production. St. Raymond took a four-point lead into the second quarter as Washington, in addition to his scoring prowess identified and delivered pinpoint passes to Omar Silverio ‘18 and 6’5” Darius Lee ‘18 for additional buckets.

Lecque countered for Scanlan in the second quarter while dishing to 6’7” Victor Potter ‘17 or receiving passes for PG Saquan Singleton ‘17. Leading by 3 points with 5 minutes left in the half, the Crusaders extended that lead to 26 -19 at the half through baskets by 6’6” Marc Trinidad ‘17 and punctuated by a dunk from Lecque.

In addition to getting the job done on offense, Lecque also did a good job containing Washington defense especially in the second half. Scanlan improved its lead to eight points midway through the third quarter but Lee slowly cut chunks out as he powered into the paint and scored.

The game became a battle of the boards as both squad dug their heels in. Scanlan only held a four-point lead to start final quarter but a 6 – 2 Ravens run ending with a 3-ball by Silverio put St. Ray’s in front 42 – 40 with 6:45 left in regulation.

The lead changed hands four times but on the fifth time Lecque changed the momentum as he dropped a monster slam dunk right on Lee’s head with 34.7 seconds remaining on the clock. Down by a point, Lee managed to draw a foul and knock down two free-throws to give the Ravens a one-point lead.

After two time-outs Scanlan botched a set play by missing a basket at the rim with 13.2 seconds. Silverio grabbed the rebound and was fouled by the Crusaders with 7.7 left. The junior shooting guard would hit the first but miss the second. With 2.1 ticks left in regulation and down by two, Lecque rose up and drained a game winning three-pointer for the upset.

“This might be the best win we’ve had all year,” said Lecque who finished with 22 points. “We lost to them twice in the regular season. The last time we played against them at home we lost by twenty so to win against them is a great accomplishment.”

Lee paced St. Ray’s with 21 points with Silverio adding 19 points.

The third quarterfinal of the day pit #5 seeded Iona Prep against #4 seeded Mount St. Michael and the game lived up to the billing of a pick ‘em game. The difference maker would be the shooting skills of 6’2” senior SG Elijah Buchanan ‘17 who came up big when needed.

“I felt like this was my last year,” said Buchanan who finished up with 21 points. “I didn’t want to lose so I had to take those shots.”

After falling behind, the Gaels eventually pulled ahead behind back-to-back three-pointers from 6’4” Nick Brennan ‘17 and scoring from Bryce Wills ‘17. Mount St. Michael responded as Buchanan and point guard 5’10” Mike Green ‘19 bombarded the New Rochelle school with buckets and took a slim one-point lead into the second quarter.

6’4” freshman Ibrahim Wattere ‘20 came up big in the second quarter along with Buchanan, increasing the Mountaineers advantage to 30 -21 at the half.

Buchanan began the third quarter with basket but 6’1” Romar Reid ‘18 and Brennan countered spearheading a 14 – 3 Iona Prep round capped off by a put back by Josh Alexander ‘18 that knotted the score at 35 with 34.4 second left in the quarter. Green drew a last second foul that put the Mountaineers out front by a deuce.

The tandem of Buchanan and Green gave Iona Prep fits in the fourth quarter, squelching each uprising by Iona Prep. Down by a point with a couple of seconds left, Wills missed a potential game winner from the top of key which was promptly rebounded by Green for the win.

While Buchanan led Mount St. Michael, Brennan paced Iona Prep with 15 points

The last game of the evening featured the #8 seeded All Hallows, a team who supposedly had the worst luck of the draw, forced to player the #1 seeded Cardinal Hayes Cardinals who supposedly had the best luck of the draw as the top seed. The moral of this story kids is be careful what you wish for. In what was now a half-filled gym, the Gaels pulled off the unlikeliest of upsets with a one-point win against their Bronx top seeded rival.

According to 6’2” Nicholas Johnson ‘19 who took the game winning shot, the win was for his senior teammate. “It was huge getting my teammate Kieffer Punter ‘17 his first playoff win,” he said.

Gaels Head Coach Marvin McCullough concurred adding, “All Hallows has been struggling for quite some time so Kieffer’s been through a lot of those struggles. This is our first playoff win since we played in the single A. I think that was 2013.”

As expected, Hayes blasted out the gate to an 8 -1 lead as Joe Toussaint ‘19 and 6’2” Tyrese Williams ‘18 tried to make short work of All Hallows. Trailing by nine-point as the second quarter got underway, Hayes appear close to switching to auto-pilot as 6’5” Terry Dawkins ‘18 joined to boost the Cardinals lead.

All Hallows was down but not out. 5’9” Joel Simpson began to get off as did 6’5” Alejandro Castellanos ‘18 and 5’10” Donald Hartley ‘18. With 1:53 left in the half and nine-point deficit had been cut to 3 points behind a 12 – 5 Gaels run. Toussaint and Dawkins finished up strong giving Hayes a 28 – 21 cushion at the half.

The Cardinals sobered up in the third quarter and a trey by Toussaint signaled a concerted effort by the Cardinals to try to put All Hallows away quick, fast and in a hurry. Baskets by 6’0” Terrence Reaves ‘18 and 6’3” Mark Jackson ‘17 soon had Hayes out front by 9 points as the fourth quarter got underway.

Early in the final quarter, Punter drew a foul while attempting a three-pointer. Although the senior went 0 – 3, the effort sparked a flame in the underdog team. Johnson stepped up big as did Castellanos and with 1:27 left to play, All Hallows was miraculously only down 49 -47.

Both team battled down the stretch and with 42.7 Toussaint got fouled but only went 1 of 2. Castellanos countered with a basket inside and Hayes was holding on to a one point lead by its fingernails. After a no-call on Williams who carried, Hayes called a timeout to regroup.

All Hallows fouled Toussaint again for the 1 and 1 and the sophomore came up short on the free-throw. 24.3 second were left and the Gaels had the ball and tried to get that one bucket for the win. Johnson would come through in the clutch, scoring inside for the win.

“I saw [Hartley] coming through the lane and I thought I was going to slip to the basket and he dumped it to me and I went up and it went in, thankfully,” Johnson explained.

Johnson led All Hallows with 13 points with Punter and Castellanos adding 10 apiece. Toussaint led Cardinal Hayes with 18 points.

Varsity Archdiocesan Tournament Semi-Finals

Tuesday 2/21 @ Mount St. Michael's

6:00 pm #6 Msgr. Scanlan vs. #2 Stepinac

7:45 pm #8 All Hallows vs. #4 Mount St. Michael