Maspeth comes up short; Construction heads to Queens Borough Chip
OZONE PARK, NY- In a game that on paper looked like the definition of a true David vs. Goliath matchup, H.S. for Construction played host to Maspeth in a PSAL Queens Borough semifinal on Thursday evening pitting a Class AA team that has been a longtime power in the Red Hawks against the Argonauts, a Class B program that before this past week had never played a Class AA PSAL school.
It was only on paper that it looked that way though as Maspeth came out and played determined basketball, especially late in the game as they rallied back from a 16 point deficit to get within 2 possession late, but they could get no closer as the Argonauts gave Construction a scare, but with 4 players in double figures the Red Hawks held on to advance to Saturday's PSAL Queens Borough title game, 71-67.
While some may have looked coming in at this game as a David vs. Goliath story one person who wasn't buying that mindset was H.S. for Construction head coach Cory Semper who said he didn't believe in that sort of stuff in the game of basketball.
"If you can play basketball you can play basketball, Chaminade beat Virginia, right?" Semper said referring to the stunning 77-72 win for Chaminade in 1982 over the Cavaliers. "It's all about playing the game."
Semper was worried about how his team would come out early on as he believes they need to fall behind to play hard, which is something that once again was on display on Thursday as it was a low scoring game for much of the first half with the Red Hawks settling time and time again for outside shots. It wasn't what Semper wanted against the Maspeth zone as he felt attacking the 2-3 would be more productive for Construction, and while it took the Argonauts a while they would take their first lead of the game off an Andrew Stacey '19 putback with 2:14 to go in the opening half.
The final two minutes of the half was more of what Semper wanted from his team though as Jasiah Wright '18 and Legacy Wallace '18 both drew contact and got to the charity stripe, doing what their coach asked of them to help H.S. for Construction take a 25-21 lead into the break.
Halftime wasn't a good time for the Red Hawks as Semper said he had to have a serious talk with his group saying that if they wanted to come out of Thursday's game with a win they had to use their ability to penetrate the defense instead of settling.
"We told the guys let's get to the basket and stop relying on the three ball because it's killing us more than it's helping us," Semper explained.
He was happy with his team's defensive effort as their pressure was creating a good amount of Maspeth mistakes, feeling as if his team could take firm control if they just made more of a conscious effort to attack more.
What Semper said clearly stuck to his players as they did a much better job of getting to the rim, which in turn opened better more open looks from long range that would be knocked down by the likes of Maurice Normil '18 and Ezra Burnett '19.
The lead for Construction grew to 11 after three and was up to as big as 63-47 with 3:18 left to play in the 4th quarter, but Maspeth is a never say die team that didn't die as Jaden Llano '18 was hitting perimeter shots from the start, but when Omar Jamaleddine '18 started to connect too, the offense for the Argonauts really began to click.
A once 16-point lead for Construction was slowly being chipped away as the Llano and Jamaleddine were knocking down three ball after three ball. Maspeth as a team only had 1 made three through the first three quarters but knocked down 7 in the 4th quarter alone to get them back once again within striking distance.
With 25.5 seconds to play Luca Tamer '18 would get fouled shooting a three and calmly sank all 3 FT's to make it a 69-65 game. Maspeth would foul Kareem Phillips '18 immediately to try and extend the game, and when the senior only made 1 of 2 the Argonauts had their chance. Jamaleddine missed his three attempt, and then 2 putback attempts missed as well before Burnett would corral the rebound and get fouled with 5 seconds to go.
It was a valiant attempt by the upstart Argonauts, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome as H.S for Construction held on despite the scare to advance with a 71-67 victory.
Normil had 20 points to lead the Red Hawks, but with Burnett adding 16, Wright chipping in with 15, and Wallace scoring 12, it was a balanced team effort for Construction who were able to do just enough to come away with the win.
Maspeth got great efforts from Jamaleddine who had a game high 24 points, while Llano added 23 points as the Argonauts more than proved their worth in what could only be described as an eye-opening performance from what should be the favorites in Class B in the PSAL.
Calling the Argonauts, a Class B school who could easily play and compete in Class AA, Semper came away thoroughly impressed with what Maspeth brought to the table, while Argonauts head coach Daniel Franchese said that he hopes all of New York City now understands that Maspeth basketball is for real.
"I hope so, I really hope we proved something today," Franchese said after his team's defeat.
For as well as Maspeth played it's still the Red Hawks that will be moving on to the Queens Borough Championship Game on Saturday at 5pm in a game to be played at Queens College. After a two-year absence from the game Semper says he is thrilled to be back competing for the coveted title, understanding how much it means to everyone associated with his school.
"I'm definitely excited to be back. It's a huge stage for us because people don't realize how small a school we are," Semper stated. "We have less than 1,000 students here and our kids work really hard to get where they are. This is something that we have missed, and we are very excited for the chance on Saturday."
