RedHawks claw past Dozo, win M.T.G. chip

FRESH MEADOWS, NY – The high school basketball preseason was kinda sorta over on Saturday when the More Than a Game (M.T.G.) Back-to-School Invitational took place at JHS 216. Archbishop Molloy HS, one of the semifinalists, had to drop out because its practice season has begun.

The RedHawks, a team with players from HS for Construction, automatically advanced to the championship round and waited to play the winner of Dozo (Cardozo) and the Eagles (Robeson). Dozo B advanced to the chip with a ten-point win but lost in a shocker to a resilient RedHawks squad, 71 – 68.

Although the Dozo team displayed some promising talent, the RedHawks unleashed its new secret weapon, dynamic 5’8” point guard Darnell Childs ‘24. While Dozo took an early lead with impressive play from Jordin Walker ‘25 and Denym Leslie ‘23, the junior transfer from Holy Cross HS reined down 21 first half points. With additional RedHawks scoring coming from Jarius Dickson ‘24, Dozo went from leading by ten to trailing 49 – 30 at the half.

In addition to losing the battle of the buckets, Dozo was also losing the battles of defensive hustle points and of the 50/50 balls. In the second half, Dozo made some effective adjustments. First, they focused in on and completely shut Childs down offensively. Secondly, Dozo ramped up its intensity. Down 19 at the half, Dozo sliced its deficit to 1 point with 4:36 left to play.

For the remainder of the game, it would be a dogfight, but it was the RedHawks, whose dogs brought the biggest bite. Sebastian Bernard ‘23 and Dickson crashed the boards on both ends of the court and brought the pain to the Dozo's front court.

The RedHawks were ahead by six points with 48.7 seconds left in regulation but in the waning moments, Dozo inexplicably opted to try and trapped as opposed to trapping and quickly fouling as a plan B. Almost twenty seconds elapsed before Dozo fouled as a result. Leslie managed to drain two threes down the stretch, but the RedHawks countered and secured a three-point victory.

Childs was the leading scorer for the RedHawks with a game high 25 points with Dickson adding 11 points. Walker paced Dozo B with 20 points.