LuHi-Lite Beats Westinghouse @ Beacon 158

BAYSIDE, NY - Long Island Lutheran came to the Beacon 158 Back-to-School Tournament on Saturday morning severely undermanned.

Because of the SAT's and players playing football, the Crusaders brought a young team consisting almost entirely of freshman and sophomores to take on a fully loaded George Westinghouse squad. Combine the youth with the fact that LuHi only took 11 free throws in the game compared to Westinghouse's 46 and you could consider it an upset that the Crusaders were the ones that held on for the 67-66 victory.

The game started out with both teams starting out slow. Richard Knowlin '15 scored the first 7 for the Warriors, 5 of which came from the charity stripe as the lead guard who recently transferred from Grady was able to take his defender off the dribble and attack getting to the rim.

Long Island Lutheran answered back with strong perimeter play. They weren't as strong in the paint, but Losini Kamara '17 knocked down a long jumper early on, and guards Jordan Walker '17 and Nkosi Cooper '18 each buried long balls, and midway through the opening half, the Crusaders ability to push in transition and knock down shots from the outside started to help them pull away.

Westinghouse was making their living from the FT line with 17 of their 21 first half points coming from there as they had trouble finishing once they made their way inside, while LuHi, and especially Walker were proficient from the outside, not necessarily from behind the arc, but with their midrange game, and Kamara punctuated it with a nice slash down the right side in the clasping seconds, the Crusaders had a comfortable 34-21 lead at the half.

Slowly but surely at the start of the second half though, Westinghouse started to chip away. Sharpshooting wing Justin Bogle '15 came alive knocking down 4 threes in a 5 minute span, Jaheem Page '15 started to finish stronger using both hands around the rim, and Gerald Williams '16 maintained an efficiency at getting to the FT line, and with just under 8 minutes to go it was a 53-52 LuHi lead, as the Warriors started applying pressure and seemed to be taking control.

Walker connected on a big three from the left side to up the Crusaders lead to 4 momentarily as the teams began to trade baskets going up and down the floor. Eventually it was 4 straight from the line by Williams to give Westinghouse their first lead since early in the opening half at 59-58 with 2:42 to go and it looked as if the veteran play of the PSAL Brooklyn power would take over.

Kamara came back on the other end and scored cutting to the rim off a beautiful pass from Jayson Robinson '18 to give them back the lead for a short time before Page put Westinghouse back on top with a spin in the lane. It was 63-62 Westinghouse with 51.8 left in the game when the game changing play of the game occurred.

LuHi had the ball and Walker started to take it down the lane, but he kicked it out to an open Cooper instead of going all the way, and the young freshman calmly sank the three from the right wing to give the Crusaders the 65-63 lead.

A turnover by Westinghouse gave Long Island Lutheran back the ball and Walker went to the line with 16.7 to go for 2 FT's. The sophomore stepped up and made the pair to see LuHi take a 67-63 lead.

Knowlin was fouled on a drive, and after making the first, he missed the second, but after the ball being tapped around after the miss, the ball went out off the Crusaders giving Westinghouse a chance to tie with just under 6 seconds to play.

Bogle missed a three off the inbounds, and while Page got the rebound, instead of kicking it back out, he went inside for the uncontested layup as time expired, giving the young group of LuHi Crusaders the 67-66 win.

Walker showed he will be a big part of LuHi's future scoring 25 points and running the offense near flawlessly. Kamara added 18, while forward Tariq Sadu '16 added 6 for the Crusaders in the win.

George Westinghouse connected on 36 of their 46 FT's compared to LuHi's 9 of 11, but it wasn't enough for the Warriors to grab the win. Williams led Westinghouse with 18 points, 14 of which came from the charity stripe, with Page and Bogle adding 17 and 12 respectively in the tough loss.

Wings Academy Tops Archbishop Molloy 54-47

From Friday night, Wings Academy, who were coming off a win on Monday at the Beacon 158 Tournament against defending PSAL champions Cardozo, came out a little flat and struggled with perimeter defense, but held on for the 7 point win against an improving Stanners squad.

Jason Camus '15 and D'Ante Warren '15 combined to hit on 9 threes in the game for Molloy, as the Stanners were within 6 at the half, and had a chance to cut it to a 2 point deficit with just over 3 minutes left in the game. They missed the pair though and Desure Buie '15 connected on a momentum shifting three off a pass from Randy Corporan '15 to make it a 7 points lead in sad if it almost being just two.

While Molloy did all they could with Isaac Grant '16 stepping out and knocking down a pair of jumpers late, it was just too much Jessie Govan '15 for Wings Academy as the Georgetown bound big man threw down 5 dunks in the game, and he hit on some big FT's down the stretch as well to fend off any other Molloy run, and even though they weren't at their best, Wings Academy continued their undefeated run at Beacon 158 with the 54-47 victory.

Govan led Wings with 19 points, with Meliek Thomas '16, a transfer from St. Raymond's, doing a nice job from the outside and adding in 13 for the winners.

For Molloy in the loss, Camus had 5 threes and led the way with 17 points, while Warren added 15 as the Stanners showed that with their perimeter shooting threats, they can and should compete against whoever is put in front of them this season.