LuHi turns Loughlin Lions into Steak
GARDEN CITY, NY - A stunning 67-52 loss to Bishop Loughlin last season at the Gauchos Gym stuck in the craw of Long Island Lutheran but especially in the craw of Crusaders’ senior point guard Brandon Jacobs ‘17. “We were up by 11 at half time and then Markquis Nowell ‘18 went crazy,” said LuHi head coach John Buck. “I mean like Rucker Park crazy. He was hitting shots from everything. Markquis got the better of [Jacobs].”
Adding insult to injury, it was Jacobs’ first varsity start so to lose like that was particularly painful. “It didn’t go well,” confessed Jacobs. “I definitely wanted to show that I grew a lot this year.” Playing a rematch against the Lions and Nowell at Adelphi University during Sunday’s finale of the Empire Invitational provided a platform of redemption for both the Brookville, NY team as well as for Jacobs who is now one the top ranked New York players in his class as is Nowell.
LuHi did more than avenge their loss. They decimated the Brooklyn Catholic high school, 79 - 53 paced by an MVP performance from Jacobs who had a double-double with 10 points and 13 assists. This time, he was the better point guard. “He took the challenge,” said Buck. “He did a great job offensively and defensively running the show.”
LuHi’s strategy in the rematch, according to Coach Buck, was to go with what seems to be working. “Seeing some other teams have some success taking away their known scorers as best as possible so trying to do that.” The Crusaders implemented the plan to perfection, smothering Keith Williams ‘17 and Nowell defensively and forcing Loughlin’s role players to step to the plate. Back-to-back three-balls from 6’5” Adrien Nunez ‘17 along with additional firepower from 6’3” Tyrese Gaffney ‘17 seemed to signal that the Lions were up to that task but they were not able to sustain that offensive consistency.
6’5” Harry Warnock ‘18 caught fire for the Crusaders and Loughlin’s eight-point lead soon evaporated when 5’11” Brian Kenyon ‘19 tied the game at 12 with a trifecta. Warnock soon gave LuHi its first lead. Williams finally found daylight for Loughlin to knot the game at 12 and again at 14 but 6’9” Esam Mostafa ‘19 and Jacobs put the Crusaders out front by a deuce to end the warm-up quarter.
Buckets by Warnock, 6’7” Messiah Swinson ‘18 and three-pointer by Jacobs with 6:54 left in the half thrust the Crusaders ahead by nine points and the Lions never saw the lead again. Donatas Kupsas ‘18 and Mostafa dominated the boards while Chris Coalmon ‘17 started to pile on points. Williams and Nowell tried to counter but points from the duo were few, far between and always under duress. At one point, Williams, a Cincinnati-bound shooting guard, hit a contested shot which was negated when he as he picked up a tech out of frustration for not getting the and-1. It was just that kind of afternoon.
The Lions were down 45 – 32 to start the third quarter but were losing the battle on the boards on both ends of the court. Mostafa, only a sophomore, was relentless scoring inside while Jacobs was a maestro at the one-position, getting the ball to teammates Kupsas and Warnock in transition.
The Crusaders' lead ballooned to 27 points as the final quarter began. When it hovered there throughout the majority of the fourth, Coach Buck mercifully pulled the plug and subbed out with a couple of minutes left on the clock. Lions Head Coach Ed Gonzalez reciprocated shortly thereafter.
Warnock paced L.I. Lutheran with 15 points with Mostafa and Kupsas contributing 14 points each and 8 rebounds and 16 points respectively. Coalmon added 10 points. Williams was high man for Bishop Loughlin with 11 points with Nowell and Gaffney adding 10 points each.
In other action:
Baldwin takes down H.S. for Construction, 59-49
MVP 6’2” Elijah Bovell ‘17 led Baldwin with 16 points. 5’9” Jasiah Wright ‘18 scored 15 points for Construction
