Robeson Downs H.S. for Construction

It wasn't the best 24 hour period for the Paul Robeson H.S. basketball team. They struggled on Saturday at the BYSC Brooklyn Bridge Holiday Classic in losing to Poly Prep 56-55, but on Sunday they were back on the floor against another formidable foe in H.S. of Construction, looking to rebound against one of the top teams out of Queens.

The fact that Robeson had lost on Saturday raised the stakes of this game immensely. Both are fighting to be contenders in the PSAL this season, with each team having hopes of going very far this season, but the Eagles especially needed to raise their game up to another level when not going against the top of the Brooklyn "AA" according to their head coach Todd Myles.

"In practice I always tell these guys that every possession you have to play hard. We got talent but if it's not Lincoln or Jefferson or Boys and Girls, we aren't playing hard all the time," Myles said.

That was a big reason why he felt his team lost to Poly Prep, and he needed them to come out of it if they wanted to down Construction, a team Myles called the best shooting team in the PSAL.

It wasn't always pretty, but with a balanced scoring attack led by senior big man Isaac Kante '16 and his 15 points, Robeson was able to withstanding a late charge and some poor FT shooting to hold on and rebound from Saturday's loss with a 62-59 win over the the Red Hawks.

Early on it seemed to all be going Robeson's way as Keith Swinton '16 connected on a long three ball from the right side, and with Kante and Israel Farrington '16 controlling the paint, the Eagles took an 18-9 lead late in the opening stanza.

Micaiah Goosby '16 came up huge for Construction though with a trey from the left side just before the buzzer sounded to cut the deficit to 18-12 after one.

That bucket seemed to propel the Red Hawks into the 2nd quarter, as while they continued to struggle on the glass against a bigger and more physical Robeson team, they were able to get out in transition, and led by Wesley Nelson '16, who scored 6 points during a 13-4 run, Construction was able to tie the game at 22 with 3:02 to play in the half.

It seemed like whenever Construction made a run, Robeson came right back with an answer, and that was the case once again here. Rikky Degale '17 connected with a jumper off the glass, and then Kante posted up and scored around two defenders while getting fouled.

Robeson closed the quarter strong, and after it looked like Construction was going to be right back into the game, the Eagles ended up taking a 31-25 lead into the locker room.

The 3rd saw more of the same as Construction was able to cut the deficit to 2 on a pair of occasions, but as soon as they did, Swinton would be there to hit a three pointer, or Kante would finish in the post. The Red Hawks were down, and it didn't look good for them, but even trailing by 8 going into the 4th, they still had one more charge left in them.

The charge was led by guard Marcus St. Furcy '16 as the transfer from Lawrence H.S. proved to be the spark that H.S. of Construction needed. He knocked down back to back threes, and when Joseph Nicolas '16 connected on a pull up elbow jumper with 5:23 to go in the game, the Red Hawks had their first lead since early in the first quarter at 51-49.

Aquarn Bulter '18 tied the game up with a nice drive threw the lane, and from that point on it would be a back and forth contest to the finish.

J.J. Murray '16 would be big from the FT line late as he had all 8 of his points in the game in the final quarter, with all coming from the charity stripe, but even as Murray was strong from the line, the rest of the Robeson team was not, shooting less than 50% from the line in the 4th, and essentially keeping Construction alive late.

With 17.5 seconds left in the game, Robeson was up 60-59 and Murray had a chance with a pair of FT's to make it a three point game. He missed both though and off a Bryshon Bryant '16 rebound, Nelson got the ball and attacked the rim. Instead of using the backboard though, he went for a finger roll down the lane and the ball rolled off the rim and into the hands of Kante who was immediately fouled with 5.5 second to play.

He made the first FT but missed the second, something Kante said immediately had him worried that it could've cost his team the game.

"I missed that big free throw but I tried not to worry about it, and when it rolled off I knew my teammates would pick me up," Kante said.

That's exactly what happened though as Murray outfought a pair of Red Hawks for the rebound and he had to be immediately fouled with 3.4 seconds left in the game

Murray went on to go 1 of 2 from the FT line, and Construction this time was able to corral the rebound and call timeout as head coach Cory Semper went on to try and ser up a final play.

The ball was inbounded to Nelson who took a dribble and threw up a heave from halfcourt that nearly went in, hitting off the front of the rim before falling to the floor as the final buzzer sounded, allowing Robeson to rebound from Saturday's defeat and take a much needed 62-59 victory over H.S. of Construction.

It was a fairly balanced scoring attack for Robeson as Kante led the way with 15 points, but Swinton, Degale, and Farrington each had 10 points a piece to help the Eagles to the win.

For Construction, they were paced by St. Furcy's 17 points, with Nelson adding 16 of his own in the tough defeat.

It wasn't pretty, but as Myles said after the game, an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, and that is truly how this game looked to the Eagles afterwards. They didn't play especially well, with the coach saying he wasn't enamored but much of anything he saw, but after being concerned about how his team would rebound from Saturday's loss, he was happy to come out with a victory.

Myles wants to see Kante dominate more, feeling his highly recruited forward is in what he called "A Christmas Fog", and he hopes that he and the rest of the team snaps out of it sooner than later.

The coach still has faith in his team, and the team has faith as well, and Kante knows that with this win now under their belts, and with league play about to step back into the forefront soon, that the Eagles should, and will be a team to reckon with the rest of the way.

"Our coach believes in us, we believe in ourselves, and we believe we can compete for a city championship this season."

Poly Prep Stops W.H.E.E.L.S., 60-57

Most people didn't really look at Poly Prep as a team to really focus on at the Brooklyn Bridge Holiday Classic, but they surprised everyone with a 2-0 weekend and became the talk of the tournament with there strong play.

First there was a win over Robeson on Saturday, and then it was another impressive victory over a solid Wolves team on Sunday, this time nearly leading from start to finish to down WHEELS by 3.

It was a strong game for Najee Taylor '16 as the interior force from Poly Prep dominated for long stretches of the game as he had a game high 21 points, along with 14 rebounds to help lead his squad to the impressive win.

W.H.E.E.L.S. made a couple of late runs, but each time it was either Taylor, fellow big man David Dixon '16, or crafty guard J.D. Levine '16 who took charge and made big buckets to hold off the leaders of the PSAL Manhattan "AA".

Marlon Moreta '17 had 16 points, while Kevin Greene '18 had 15 points, but with Taylor scoring 21, and Dixon adding 15, Poly had just enough to come away with the win, and in Taylor's eyes, hopefully make a statement for everyone watching in NYC.

"It's two pretty good wins for us. Everyone was expecting us to lose to Paul Robeson and to W.H.E.E.L.S. A lot of people counted us out but we did what we had to do, got the job done, and hopefully opened some eyes and proved that we can compete with anyone."