Holy Crosses Off Brooklyn Law & Tech

CONEY ISLAND, NY- With both teams angling for what would be a big win, Brooklyn Law & Tech faced off against Holy Cross in the opening game of the Martin Luther King Jr. Showcase at Abraham Lincoln H.S. on Sunday afternoon.

It was a strong first three quarters for the Knights as they ran up a lead of as many as 13 points late in the 3rd, but a strong trapping defense by the Jets got them back into the game late, though a big three by Elijah Perry '19 was a dagger down the stretch to allow Holy Cross to pull out the 55-52 victory.

Having lost on Friday night in league play to Archbishop Molloy 91-60, Holy Cross was looking to rebound in a major way as playing what many consider to be the best Class "A" school in New York City provided them an opportunity to get them back in the win column in the eyes of Jonas Cooper '17.

"The mindset we had coming in was that we have to worker harder than them because we didn't want to lose two in a row," Cooper stated.

They wanted to show that regardless of Friday's result, they are still a team that can compete and thrive with anyone in New York City.

It looked like it was going to be an easy afternoon for the Knights early on as Cooper was able to have his way in the paint as Holy Cross took a 12-4 lead out of the gate. Law & Tech didn't get started until 5 minutes in but when they did they had good explosiveness in the open floor and with Walter Pitt '17 connecting from deep, and Prince Spivey '17 knocking down a midrange jumper, the Jets took a 15-14 lead.

The Knights knew that with Hassan Diarra '19 banging up with lingering injuries to his knee and ankle that he may not be at optimum performance needing others to step up, and Holy Cross head coach Terry Tarpey knew just who he was going to have to count on.

"I'd say the last 4 or 5 games we have gotten really solid play out of Shemar Franklin '19 and Anthony Sylvester '17," Tarpey stated. "Both have been playing well and they have stepped up and become big decision makers this year."

Both came up big again as the half wound to an end as Franklin was able to fight his way to the rim on back to back times down the floor to give Holy Cross back the lead, and with Brooklyn Law and Tech struggling to finish down low, and not able to connect from long range, the Knights were able to take a 24-19 lead into halftime.

The fact that Franklin, Diarra, Perry, and Zayquan Warren '19 are all sophomores playing major roles on this Holy Cross team isn't lost on Tarpey as he knows that all 4 are needing to come up big game in and game out for the Knights, but he also says at this time in the season there is no such thing as a sophomore anymore.

"It's halfway through some of these guy’s sophomore years and they have experience so they aren't sophomores to me anymore, they are seniors now and we are treating them like seniors," Tarpey stated.

He has no issue relying on them for major contributions, and each were rising to the challenge as the lead continued to grow, pushing up to 35-22 midway through the 3rd after a junior in Sahdique Watkins '18 was able to pull up and connect with a jumper from the elbow.

Something needed to change for Law and Tech if they wanted to get back into this game so Jets head coach Kenny Pretlow instilled a full court press to start the 4th quarter, a press that immediately caused Holy Cross a lot of issues.

The Knights were struggling to break the trap, and when they did they settled for poor shots. Victor Ogbo '18 on the offensive end for Law & Tech was able to come up big as he started to dominate the paint as the game wore on and the game was once again in the balance in the closing minutes.

A once 13-point lead was dwindled down to 4 with 2:48 to play, but Perry hit a monster 3 ball from the right corner to push the Holy Cross lead back to 7, and even though it seemed like a comfortable lead for the Knights once again, Tarpey was far from happy with his team's late game showing.

"The press has been a common weakness of ours, not getting into our spots and it just doesn't seem to be sinking in," Tarpey explained. "They are pressing after a make so get to your spots so we can bust it. Unintelligent play infuriates me and we saw a lot of that today."

He may have seen a lot of mistakes from his group in the 4th quarter, but Tarpey's group was able to hang on as Watkins was solid from the charity stripe late, and with the Jets shooting an extremely poor percentage from the FT line themselves, it allowed the Knights to stay in front and hold on.

Larry Moreno '18 was able to hit a three ball at the final buzzer but it made no difference in the end result as Holy Cross were able to persevere and take the 55-52 win.

Cooper was named Game MVP as he led Holy Cross with 15 points, while Watkins added 10 points, with Franklin chipping in with a big 8 points.

Ogbo was the games high man overall as the 6'5" forward had 22 points to pace Law and Tech, as Moreno also added 11 points as well in the loss, just Law and Tech's second defeat of the season.

For Holy Cross though it's a chance to get back to the winning ways after Friday's defeat as they once again hope to prove that they can compete with anyone in NYC, and Cooper hopes that wins from earlier this season, including a win over Long Island Lutheran, along with Sunday's win, proves to those who doubt them that this season's Knights are for real.

"I feel like we have a chance to compete with all of these teams. We showed against LuHi what we can do so it’s all about working hard and doing whatever we need to do to win the games. Something I believe we can do."