LuHi Invitational: Downstate vs. Upstate
BROOKVILLE, NY- The Championship Game of the LuHi Invitational pitted two of the best teams in New York State as Long Island Lutheran played host to Albany Academy. Both teams will automatically head up to the NYS Federation Tournament coming up in late March, but both will have 27 day breaks after Saturday, meaning that ending the regular season on a high note and getting a win held even more importance.
From the start though LuHi put their stamp on the game going up 14-1 in nearly the blink of an eye, and while the Cadets made a run to get as close as 59-53 in the fourth quarter, the Crusaders were able to pull away again late to finish the season on a strong note, taking down Albany Academy, 68-57.
Something that nearly everyone from Long Island Lutheran talked about was confidence. To a man, they all knew that heading into March with a win in their final game before the Federation was huge, and they wanted to set a tone early on to make sure they got it.
Doing that wasn't going to be easy against Albany Academy, a team that LuHi head coach John Buck and his squad knew was extremely talented by their win earlier in the month at Cardinal Hayes, and forward Chris Coalmon '17 said that Buck's motto all season was going to be extremely important if they wanted to come out with the victory on Saturday.
"Usually Coach Buck says to punch them first and give them no hope at all, and that's what we were wanting to do," Coalmon explained.
That is pretty much what they did as well as Coalmon scored 6 quick points in the first 90 seconds of the game, and with threes from both Brandon Jacobs '17 and Donatas Kupsas '18, LuHi broke up to a 14-1 lead with 2:33 to go in the opening quarter.
Knowing how the Cadets got out on Cardinal Hayes early on when those two teams met, and how tough it was for Hayes to come back, Buck was happy with the fact that his team was able to make a statement early on and not allow Albany Academy grab any momentum, as they did a strong job in containing Hameir Wright '17 in the opening half and limiting his ability to get going in the open floor.
Will Bennett '17 was able to help Albany Academy fight back a bit as the Cadets made a run midway through the second quarter getting the deficit down to just 8 at one point, but another three ball by Jacobs, and then back to back buckets by Harrison Warnock '18 pushed the lead for Long Island Lutheran back up to a comfortable double margin.
It was a 10-point lead at the half for the Crusaders, and while they were still seemingly in control, Jacobs knew that the defensive intensity needed to get raised back up to where it was in the first quarter to put the game away.
"We relaxed a bit on defense, but we picked it back up," Jacobs stated. "We just can't have that happen going forward."
They did pick it back up as Jacobs stated as the lead was pushed back up to 53-38 after three quarters with Essam Mostafa '19 starting to impose his will in the paint and score with an array of impressive finishes around the rim.
Wright did get going as the game wore on, and the Cadets were able to get as close again as 59-53 in the fourth after 7 straight points from Bennett was able to close the gap, but Jacobs began to attack the driving lanes, getting himself to the FT line, and then Mostafa was able to connect on a lefty short hook in the paint to put the game away with just under 2 minutes to play.
Nearly everything that Long Island Lutheran could've wanted happened on Saturday as they were able to face an extremely tough opponent, and lead from start to finish, ending the regular season on a high note for the Crusaders as they were able to cruise down the stretch to take a 68-57 victory over Albany Academy.
The duo of Coalmon and Mostafa paced the way for Long Island Lutheran in the win with 18 points apiece, while Jacobs added 15 points as well in the victory for the Crusaders.
Bennett was the high man for Albany Academy as he had a game high 21 points for the Cadets, with Wright chipping in with 12 points in the defeat.
It's now a lot of practices and a few scrimmages for Long Island Lutheran as they are off until March 24th when they play the winner of the NYSPHSAA in the NYS Federation Class "AA" Tournament at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
A long wait for sure, but it's been a long wait for LuHi to bring home the Class "AA" Federation Championship as well. After winning in Class "A" in 2012, Buck and his Athletic Director made the decision to go up to Class "AA" and play the best of the best. That challenge has led to a small drought, but it's not for a lack of trying with the Crusaders having close several times over the past 4 tries.
No one from this Long Island Lutheran team has won a Federation Championship, but Coalmon believes this is the team that can finally get the job done noting that this is a true and fully committed team ready to exorcise the demons and put another banner up on the walls at the Brookville school.
"This year it's really, really important to us because we have worked so hard in practice and because this is the most team we have had so it's really important to us as a team to get this for LuHi."
