CHSAA vs. PSAL @ Apparel Challenge

MIDDLE VILLAGE, NY - Aside from the two faux pas that happened to Queens PSAL teams during the Apparel Challenge, there were two CHSAA vs. PSAL games that ended up being tight around the collar as well.

In the end, it would be the Battle of the Jose’s as both Jose Perez '17 and Jose Alvarado '17 put on a show for their respective teams exuding and not on my watch attitude when it came to losing this highly-contested game. Unfortunately, there are no ties in basketball so one team had to prevail.

In a game that was close throughout, Alvarado raised his game one step higher than it already was to stag three critical steals in the fourth quarter to push Christ the King across the finish line first. “I didn’t want to lose,” said Alvarado whose 17 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals literally willed his team to victory while scoring his 1000th point as a Royal. “He’s always gonna do something to make us win,” said Royals head coach Joe Arbitello.

Wings Academy took an early lead as Perez got hot from the perimeter. Although Christ the King was a bigger and taller team, the Bronx PSAL school was outrebounding them. What started out as an 8 – 0 Wings run ended with a 5 – 2 Alvarado run but the Royals were still down by five points to start the second quarter.

Although Kofi Cockburn ‘19 was on the court, the 6’10” center was MIA for the first half and Wings Academy tried capitalized on the Royals absenteeism. Perez and Boubacar Kammisoko ‘17 continued to pour on the offense. but Alvarado tried to counter but it would be the offensive assistance by Jaylen Davis ‘19 that finally closed the gap for Christ the King. Three three-ball by the sophomore and a free-throw from Adam Elgammel ‘19 gave the Royals its first lead with 14.1 second left in the half. Unfortunately for the Royals, that was more than enough time for Kamissoko to shake n’ bake Joshua Hodges ‘18 to his knees and score the midrange, sending Wings into the locker room at the half with a 27-26 advantage.

As the third quarter ensued it was obvious that Arbitello made some tactical adjustments. "Putting in Jaylen Davis. I thought that really got us going so that we could pick up the pace a little bit,” said Coach Arbitello. “Then we put Jose on Jose and I thought that’s what got us back in the game.”

In addition, the Royal began to get production from Cockburn as be began to absorb rebounds and score inside. With 3:45 left in the third quarter a three-ball from Tyson Walker ‘18 put the Royals up 42 – 37 at the end of three quarters.

Perez was not done. Neither was Kammisoko. The two seniors tied the game at 50 with 2:43 left to play and now it came down to who wanted it more.

After a rim rattling power by Cockburn stopped everyone in their tracks, Alvarado began a spree of pilfering and scoring that eventually put Christ the King on top by 7 points with 1:11 left in regulation. Davis got fouled with 28.7 remaining and pushed the Royals lead to 8 points. Alvarado would close the show by performing his last steal on Perez as time ran out.

Davis finished with 16 points and 7 rebounds while Cockburn added 9 points and 7 rebounds. Perez was high man for Wings with a game high 29 points.

Arbitello said he was pleased with both his team’s performance and its progression. “It’s a building block. We need to keep getting better and better. We held the fort defensively, gave up 10 points in the first quarter and we kept plugging away.” He also credited his team for not folding up after the lost to Archbishop Molloy the game before. “We haven’t lost back-to-back games yet and that’s big.”

Just like the dreaded Tsunami, first there’s a period of calm before all hell breaks loose. Such was the case for the Thomas Jefferson Orange Wave as Loughlin unleashed a big hurt on the Brooklyn PSAL en route to a 94-76 loss.

Down by 13 points at half, Jefferson had no answer for the tandem of Markquis Nowell ‘18 (24 points) and Keith Williams ‘17 (16 points) along with a solid effort from Tyrese Gaffney ‘17 (13 points).

Kyle Harding ‘17 led Jefferson with 18 points.

Queens PSAL Worn Out @ Apparel Challenge