Scanlan Unwraps Mt. St. Michaels

BRONX, NY – In its last home game before the holidays, the Mountaineers hosted Monsignor Scanlan on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately for Mount St. Michaels, the Crusaders were not in the gift giving mood, giving them a 66 – 57 loss instead.

Scanlan head coach Dwayne Mitchell said that the win was pivotal for his team at this juncture as they prepare for an out-of-state event. “It was definitely an important . They get a little bit of a break but then we go to North Carolina and we have some big games there.”

Recently ranked #10 in the NYCHoops.net NYC Trop Ten, Scanlan took an early lead perimeter scoring from 5’8” Rodney Bailey ‘20 and 6’5” Koby Brea ‘20. The duo of 5’11” Bryant-bound point guard Mike Green ‘19 and 6’5” athletic specimen Ibrahim Wattara ‘20 kept the Mountaineer in the hunt but trailing by a trey at the top of the second quarter.

Mt. St. Michaels did manage to shave a point off its deficit but midway through the quarter, the Crusaders countered with a blistering 14 – 2 run facilitated by perimeter bombs by 6’3” David DaCosta ‘19. At the half, Scanlan took a commanding 35 – 21 advantage.

The Crusaders strategy was simple according to Coach Mitchell. “We know [Green] is their best player and Ibrahim is gonna make plays. We tried not to let them play to their strengths.” Scanlan’s plan began to unravel a bit in the third quarter.

Wattara became more aggressive offensively with added help for Malik Pringle ‘20 and Noah Best ‘22. Down by a deuce to start the fourth, a three-pointer by Green gave the Crusaders its first lead early in the quarter. The second half of quarter was a crap shoot as the lead seesawed back and forth.

6’8” Matt Mayers became the difference maker down the stretch for Scanlan as the senior pounded the paint while being solid from the foul line. Pulling ahead by one with 6 minutes left in regulation, the Crusaders extended its advantage to 9 before time ran out.

Mitchell said he hopes games like this along with upcoming games in N.C. will result in a team that’s better equipped for the second half of league play after the holidays. Lessons learned even in winning. “We gotta work on being a smarter team- being a team that wins with a certain amount of intelligence," he said

Bailey paced Scanlan with 20 points with Mayers added 13 points. Wattara led Mt. Saint Michael with a game high 23 points.