M.T.G. Preseason Invt’l Quarterfinals

ASTORIA, NY- Queens was the place to be on Sunday afternoon as the More than a Game Preseason Invitational hit their quarterfinal round with four very intriguing matchups taking to the court at the Variety Boys & Girls Club.

All four contests pitted Public vs. Catholic schools meaning there was some bragging rights on the line with dates into next Saturday's semifinal round also to be had.

Three Public schools and one Catholic school advanced on the day that saw a lot of excitement and action. NYCHoops.net took in the play for each of the four games and here now is a recap of how everything went down.

It was the final game of the day but it was the one that packed the Boys & Girls Club as the two Queens rivals went head to head on the court for one of the rare times. It was a quarterfinal matchup with the winner living another day, but at the same time with the two schools going after many of the same players it was bragging rights that were even more importantly at stake.

This wasn't an extremely well-played contest on either side as there were a lot of turnovers and missed shots throughout most of the opening half, but Rodney Lewis '21 would hit a couple big triples late to help the Knights to a 25-21 lead.

While Cardozo wasn't playing all that well you never had a feeling they were out of the game by any stretch, though the Judges would never end up taking the lead in the second half at any point.

A number of times Cardozo got within a bucket like with 7:42 left in the second half when Andrew Laing '20 got up the court in transition to get the Judges within 41-39. On the ensuing Holy Cross possession though it was Ryan Hudson '22 who would drain a left-wing trey to push the Knights lead back up to five and stem any momentum that Cardozo may have been on the verge of gathering.

From that point on for the Knights it was all about what Tyler Chapman '20 could do. He wowed the crowd by dribbling his way through defenders and going up with his left hand around defenders for layups, and he made a huge assists on a corner three by Alan Rodriguez '20 to give Holy Cross their biggest lead of the game at 52-42 with 4:08 to play.

Errol White '20 was able to do damage down the stretch with his size and finishing ability on second chances down low to again get Cardozo within 4 with under a minute to play, but Chapman scored on a tough take down the lane to ultimately seal the deal and allow Holy Cross to come away with the 54-49 victory.

Chapman was the game’s high scorer as the Knights senior had 17 points with Rodriguez for Holy Cross adding 10 point as well in the win.

For the Judges in the loss they got 13 points from Aaron Miller '20.

It will be Eagle out of the Bronx who will take on Holy Cross in one of next weekend's semifinals as they were able to get big performances from both senior stars in DaMarco Watson '20 and Vernon Simmons '20 to fend off a very tough effort from the Terriers.

Out of the gate this was a back and forth contest with Simmons early on from the outside and in transition, while St. Francis Prep was finding unique ways to score as both Todd Rochelle '21 and Jaden Daughtry '22 were able to find the bank open on Sunday with three's off the glass.

Rochelle specifically put together a very strong opening half of play for the Terriers as he had 12 points, though his most important play may have been a beautiful entry feed inside to big man George Mejia '21 just before the halftime buzzer to give St. Francis Prep a 31-30 advantage.

Latiek Briscoe '22 and Chance Morrish '22 got into the scoring act for Prep early in the second half as well as they used their speed and ability to knock down midrange jumpers to the Terriers advantage. St. Francis Prep would take a lead of as big as 47-41 before Eagle, and Watson were able to get back on track.

Watson was starting to be more aggressive looking for his own shot, pushing the tempo and finding it easy to get up the floor and finish at the rim scoring 6 points during an Eagle Academy 8-0 to see the Bronx PSAL school retake the lead.

The game with 4 minutes left was still all deadlocked at 49 before finally Eagle made their move as Watson scored on back to back possessions, and then it was C.J. McCullum '22 who finished going right at the SFP defense with 2:20 to go to see Eagle's lead bumped up to 58-51.

St. Francis Prep connected on another three to get within four once again, but Edwin Santiago '21 answered with a three right back on the other end of his own cementing that this was Eagle's afternoon as led but Watson's 22 points and Simmons' 20 points it was Eagle leaving Queens with the 64-59 win.

On paper this matchup may have looked to be the one with the biggest true favorite coming in as Brooklyn Collegiate had a roster of many future Division 1 stars, but St. Edmund's didn't back down one inch giving the Lions all they could handle from start to finish.

If the Eagles wanted to hang in this one they were going to need to shoot the ball from the outside extremely well, which is exactly what they did early on in this one as Sean Edwards '20 confidently drained a pair of treys in the opening six minutes of play, while Shemar Latty '20 used his great handle to create a lot of good things for the Edmund's offense.

With 7 minutes to go in the opening half it was just a two-point Brooklyn Collegiate lead, with their size inside of Kevon Ferguson '20 and Jaylin Anderson '20 being the main reason they were in front at the start. The duo combined for 17 opening half points as the lead continued to grow for the Lions as the half went on.

It was a 35-25 halftime lead for Brooklyn Collegiate who only hit one first half trey but were controlling the glass against the smaller Eagles and were hurting Edmund's as well with a tough press that started to make a difference as the game continued.

Tahron Allen '21 hit on two wing three balls early in the second half as the lead grew for the Lions, with Majesty Johnson '20 proving to be able to connect from anywhere as he drained a stepback three ball with 6:44 to play to put the Lions up by 20 for the first time.

A bright spot in the second half for St. Edmund's was Cameron Shields '20 as the backcourt mate of Latty's was able to do a good job hitting from the wings and baselines as he would finish with a team high 13 points, but it wasn't enough as Brooklyn Collegiate's depth and size won out with four Lions finishing in double digits to help them to the victory.

The other semifinal next weekend will see Brooklyn Collegiate taking on John Bowne in a PSAL vs. PSAL matchup as the Wildcats got out quickly and never let the Flyers truly get within striking distance as Amadou Diallo '21 had 21 points to lead Bowne to the 15-point win.

Be it Diallo or Mouhamed Dioubate '22 or Tyshawn Trail '21, it really didn't matter who got their hands on the all for Bowne they seemed like they were scoring each time up the court. As a team the Wildcats connected on 7 made three's in the opening half which helped them gain a 37-17 lead over Chaminade with 6:12 to go in the first.

Joe Guterding '21 was someone who found it easier as the half went on to push and get open buckets in transition for Chaminade, while Kieran Dorney '20 started to find a rhythm from the outside as well.

With the upturn in play from the Flyers it was at the same time as a draught for John Bowne as a once 20-point lead was pushed all the way down at halftime to 41-34, giving Chaminade hope of pulling off the fantastic comeback.

It wasn't meant to be though as while Dorney continued his hot shooting touch, the rest of the Flyers found scoring opportunities tough to come by, and with Dioubate doing a solid job inside on second and third chances and Diallo continuing to have the hot touch from the perimeter, the Bowne lead was back up at 20 when they went up 60-40 with 8:27 left in the game.

Chaminade of course showed no quit but the deficit proved to just be too much to overcome as while Dorney led all scorers with 25 points, it was Diallo's aforementioned 21 points and Dioubate's 16 points that led the way to allow the Wildcats to move into the next Saturday's semifinals by defeating the Flyers, 67-52.