Jefferson Runs Past LuHi In Federation T.O.C. Semis
ALBANY, NY – Winning a game is mostly about imposing ones will on their opponent. Friday evening’s second quarterfinal game between Thomas Jefferson and Long Island Lutheran was just that. The game quickly became a track meet which is exactly the way the Orange Wave planned it.
“We sped the game up and played fast, fast,” said Shamorie Ponds '16. “We pushed the ball up and down.” After a slow start, the St. John’s bound guard scorched L.I. Lutheran with 27 points en route to a 69-62 win over the Crusaders at the Times Union Center. The win advances Jefferson into a Federation Tournament of Champions Class AA finale against Aquinas Institute.
Lutheran was playing reactionary basketball against Jefferson from the onset and seemed surprised by how physical they were. “In the first half we played our zone, I thought really well, “said LuHi head Coach John Buck. “But then they were beating us on second chance points.”
Buck also applauded Ponds talents saying, “He’s so good from three levels. Deep three, mid-range game and then he also has finishing moves with both hands so he’s just a really gifted scorer.”
Launching salvos at each other in the opening quarter, Jefferson and the Crusaders went tit for tat early on. Devonte Green ’16 (18 points), however, got hot from the perimeter and a pass from Brandon Jacobs (5 points) to Donatas Kupsas ‘18 (11 points) help put the Crusaders ahead 13-4 with 2:30 left in the quarter.
The Orange Wave remained in attack mode and chopped the LuHi lead down to 4 points with Marques Watson ‘17 (11 points) laying down a thick coating of offense. “Marques stepped up for us,” Ponds said.
Ponds was offensively inactive during the first quarter but his teammates stepped up big. With Malachi Faison ‘17 (8 points) playing a bit gingerly due to a sprained ankle he suffered during the PSAL City Championship, it would take the tag team of he and Kerome Grant ‘16 (6 points) to do battle in the paint for Jefferson.
Charles Manning ’16 (11 points) and Kupsas did a decent job early at matching the Orange Waves' physicality along with assistance from Rojaye Campbell ’16 (5 points) inside and L.I. Lutheran only trailed 35-32 at the half. But this is where things began to go south for the Brookville, NY high school.
Jacobs nailed a trey at the top of the third quarter which briefly put LuHi on top and it appeared as if it was going to be a tight race throughout. That was until a dunk and a trey by Ponds with 5:37 left in the quarter rewrote the narrative and changed the momentum for the rest of the game.
Rasheem Dunn ‘16 (9 points) chimed in after Ponds scored a second dunk in transition and suddenly the Crusaders were in a 9-point hole which they were only able to shave off 2 points to start the fourth.
“We wanted to stay with our zone but then you go down seven or eight point you gotta pick up the pace a little bit,” said Buck. Picking up the pace played right into Jefferson strong suit.
The East New York school soon extended its lead to 12 points with 4:07 left to play. LuHi did manage to make a late run as Harrison Warnock ’18 (5 points) drained a trey and a deuce. While his last minute heroics closed the gap to 4 points with 1 minute left in regulation, the cumulative effect of poor shot selection coupled with an unprecedented amount of turnovers (15) and easy misses left the Crusaders running out of gas on a treadmill as time ran out.
Two years ago Long Island Lutheran won back to back Federation T.O.C. Class A Championships but since moving up to Class AA have come home empty handed both times.
