Federation Class AA Boys Semifinals

ALBANY, NY - The NYS Federation Tournament Boys Class "AA" Semifinals were held in front of a packed house at UAlbany on Friday night with a pair of teams moving on to Saturday's Championship. Both contests didn't have the offense that one would expect but neither game were decided until the very end.

Christ the King Takes LuHi Down, 50-44

Going down 15-0 to start, you would think that Christ the King would be in a lot of trouble, but you can never count out the Royals as behind the 19 points of Tyrone Cohen '16, CK took their first lead of the game with 4:04 to go in the 4th and they ended up pulling away for the win.

It looked like it was going to be at Long Island Lutheran as they jumped out to that quick 15-0 lead with guard Chris Atkinson '15 burying a long three and then a pair of baskets inside from forward Marvin Prochet '15, and while most teams might have gotten rattled in that spot, Christ the King is not your average team.

The two time defending Federation Tournament Champions, the Royals stayed with the plan. Head Coach Joe Arbitello did admit to some concern, but point guard Jose Alvarado '17 said that the talk that Arbitello gave the Royals was one that they have heard before to help settle them down.

"We have been down before so Coach Arbitello just kept saying keep your head up, keeping your head up, and play with your heart because that's all that matters," Alvarado said about the mindset after the slow CK start.

The Royals slowly crept out of there early funk as forward David Cole '16 broke the scoring drought with 1:37 to go in the first with a layup inside as the Royals scored the last 6 of the first to make it 15-6 after one.

Tyrone Cohen '16 was the man to step up when Christ the King really needed as with star wing Rawle Alkins '16 struggled to find his rhythm in the early going, Cohen was able to score along the baseline and then finished with a short jumper from the right wing as slowly but surely Christ the King kept making their charge.

Cohen scored 8 points in the first half and scored the final bucket just before the buzzer off a nice feed from Alkins to cut the CK deficit to 23-18 at the half.

Looking back on the game, LuHi head man John Buck felt that while his team got out to the fantastic start, it was the little things that hindered them from opening the lead that could've prevented the Royals from making the charge that they did to close the half.

"We shot too many quick ones at that point and it wasn't the time to do that," Buck said about his teams shot selection in the second quarter. "We were looking for homeruns which ended up costing us because I felt we could've broken away even more, but it didn't happen."

The start of the 3rd saw CK cut the deficit to just one, but then LuHI got 6 straight with Atkinson getting out in the open floor and finish around a pair of CK defenders, and then it was guard Devonte Green '16 who was able to score driving past Alkins and the lead for the Crusaders was bumped up again to 7 at 35-28.

A putback inside by Cohen while getting fouled made it 35-31 late in the 3rd and then a last second 60 foot heave by Alvarado amazingly went in, and it looked like it was just a 1 point game heading to the 4th, but the referees waved off the long trey, though Alvarado had a different view of it after the game.

"I thought it was in time, I really believe it was, but the referees saw it differently and that's all that matters," Alvarado explained.

Even though they were down by 4 with eight minutes to play, CK remained confident and after a pair of Cohen buckets the game was tied at 37 with 5:16 to play, but it wasn't until a big Alvarado three with 4:04 to play that the Royals took the lead for the first time in the game, going up 42-39.

It was a big moment, and seemingly a backbreaker as LuHi managed to hold onto the lead through all the runs that Christ the King made, but this seemed to be a big sting.

An Elijah Bailey '15 slash down the lane tied the game once again, this time at 44, but that's when off a beautiful feed from Alkins, Cole was there to finish inside and give CK the lead for good.

It was sweet for Arbitello too that it were guys like Cohen and Cole who were the ones stepping up, noting that they do sometimes fail to get the credit they may deserve because they play with such a star in Alkins, but it was truly there day.

Green missed a three from the wing, and Prochet then missed a putback inside on a shot that was altered by Cole, and the final 6 points of the game were scored by Christ the King as they came back from a 15-0 hole to defeat Long Island Lutheran for the 5th time in the past 3 years to advance to the Federation Championship Game on Saturday, 50-44.

Cohen led the way for Christ the King with 19 points, while Alvarado added 13. Alkins, while only scoring 6 points, did leave his stamp on the game in other aspects as the wing man had 11 big rebounds in the winning effort.

For LuHi, Green was the only scorer in double figures as the junior guard had 13 to go along with 8 rebounds, while Atkinson in his final game in a Long Island Lutheran uniform had 4 points, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 4 rebounds.

It was a disappointing defeat for LuHi and Buck, especially noting that his seniors were extremely hurt by the loss, but he noted after the loss of how proud he was of his seniors, and how much this group means to him.

"I love these kids to death," Buck said. "They are such great kids and they are the ones I really feel bad for."

It's truly a tough way to go out for LuHi, once again falling at the hands of Christ the King as it's now the Royals who will move on to Saturday to take on Wings Academy for the Federation Class "AA" Championship on Saturday at 9pm, and while Arbitello knows that with Georgetown and Hofstra commits they will be very tough, he is believes his team is ready to try and get a 3rd straight Federation Title.

"I think they are clearly pretty tough so we will go out there tomorrow and play it."

Wings Academy Hands Shenendehowa 1st Defeat, 44-35

It was not the prettiest effort offensively for either team, but with guard Desure Buie '15 coming up big and netting 25 points, he was able to lead Wings past Shen in front of a near sellout crowd, helping them pull out the 9 point victory.

"There are two parts of the game, an offensive side and a defensive side, and you can have a bad offensive night, but you can never let up on defense."

Those were the words that Wings head coach Billy Turnage preached about his team as early on the struggles of star big man Jessie Govan '15 kept Shenendehowa in the game, but it was Buie who every team the Plainsmen got the game to within a one possession contest, he would knock a big shot, and Buie noted how big and important it was for the guards to step up in this one.

"They packed it in and made it tough for Jessie so it was up to us guards to step up," Buie said.

With Govan held to a season low 3 points it was Buie who stepped up along with Randy Corporan '15 who stepped up defensively taking Shenendehowa star guard Kevin Huerter '16 out of the game through three quarters keeping him scoreless through the first 24 minutes.

Shen were able to cut the deficit to just 33-31 with 3:58 to go in the game, but Buie got his way to the FT line where he connected on a pair, and then after a Plainsmen turnover it was forward Jose Perez '17 who finished strong inside as that was the start of 6 straight for Wings to really put the game away.

It was an impressive win for Wings to come up to Albany and beat the hometown team in Shenendehowa, but also because they did it without a monster effort from Govan, but with Buie taking over all ended up well for them anyway though Turnage said he was a little bit taken aback by how generous the Plainsmen were defensively on his star lead guard.

"I thought they were disrespecting him a bit because I couldn't believe how open he was," Turnage exclaimed.

It was ok by Buie though as the Hofstra bound guard said that he didn't care if they laid back on him noting that if they did he would make them pay, which he certainly did.

Thomas Huerter '15 had a three point attempt that could've made it a 4 point game with just under a minute to go, but that fell short and Perez got the rebound and FT's towards the end ran up the score a bit more as it was Wings Academy representing the PSAL to come away with the 44-35 victory.

Buie led the way with a game high 25 points, including 5 made threes, for Wings, while Perez added 6 points and 6 rebounds as well in the victorious effort.

The elder Huerter paced Shen in defeat with 13, while the younger Huerter had all 9 of his points in the 4th quarter but it proved to not be enough.

It was a great game for Wings in front of what Turnage called a college type atmosphere at UAlbany on Friday night, and now they will set their sights on Christ the King in Saturday's Class "AA" Championship in an all NYC showdown and Corporan knows they will have to be at their best to get it done but he believes the boys from the Bronx are ready.

"It's a great opportunity for us to come here and represent the PSAL and New York City and we just want to come out and play as hard, if not harder, than we did today to give us the best shot at winning the title."