First Look: L.I. Lutheran vs. Cardozo
BAYSIDE, NY -The EYAC Beacon 158 featured two of last year’s top teams on Friday. This year, both Long Island Lutheran and the players from Cardozo are in the process of reinventing themselves and it showed. After a first half slugfest, the LuHi Crusaders surged ahead the second half en route to a 68-37 beat down of Dozo.
“We have a little bit of a different team this year,” said LuHi head coach John Buck. “We’re more frontcourt oriented.”
In the opening half, the play was sloppy and unorganized on the part of both squads. The score remained close with Donatas Kupsas ’18 and Harry Warnock ‘18 providing offense for LuHi while Zion Stephens ’17 kept Cardozo in the hunt. The Judges where down and somewhat out without one of its starters, Dejavaugh Utley ‘18, who was away participating in the Hoop Group camp.
For the early potion of the first half, it was the Crusaders vs. Stephens and the senior was actually winning as he put forth a myriad of shots. Perimeter bucket from Warnock and senior point guard Brandon Jacobs ‘17 turned the tide and put L.I. Lutheran back in front with 11:09 remaining.
The lead changed hands until Chris Coalmon ’17 and Jacobs put LuHi up for good. The Crusaders’ lead improved to 6 points. With 3:30 left in the half Stephens, Collin Onyeike ‘18 and Josh Mitchem ‘18 tied the game at 25 apiece but Jacobs would drive to the hole, draw a foul and knock down free-throws.
Dozo trailed 30-27 but as LuHi was coming together as the Judges were starting to fall apart. The contrast between Jacobs veteran experience and Dozo’s young PG Marcus Hammond ‘19 became more an more evident. While Jacobs focused in on facilitating, Hammond got sucked into doing more shooting than passing.
“Brandon’s our point guard,” said Buck. “This year he has a heavy load but he’s ready for it.”
LuHi began to find its rhythm, offering a steady diet of long range shots along with inside play from Kupsas and big man Essan Mostafa ’18. The Crusader’s lead ballooned to 24 points with 6:48 left in regulation. When the lead approached 30 points, Buck subbed out his starters and coasted to the win.
Jacobs was high scorer for L.I. Lutheran with 13 points with Coalmon and Warnock contributing 12 points and 11 points respectively. Stephen scored a game high 17 points for Cardozo. No other Dozo player reached double digits.
Coach Buck said he was pleased with his team’s play in the second half. “We started to use our size and playing good defense. You can’t ask for more than that” Asked to rate LuHi’s performance, Buck gave them a B-.
Recruiting:
* Forward Donatas Kupsas ups his game
