SMARTBall Day One: PSAL Gets Sunburned

HARLEM, NY - It was hot fun in the summertime as the SMARTBall Classic got underway at Abraham Lincoln Park on Monday. The annual event gives a first look at the top New York City PSAL and CHSAA Class AA teams. While most people were worried about getting overexposed by the sun, two teams were busy getting exposed and dismissed from the single-game elimination tournament.

If anyone was concerned about whether or not St. Ray’s would be competitive without Sidney Wilson, who transferred to Brewster Academy (NH), just ask the South Shore Vikings who got crushed by the CHSAA school's run n' gun offense. “We have a lot of guards so we’re going to play at a high speed,” said Ravens assistant coach Joe Amelio.

The tandem of Isaiah Washington ’17 (14 points & 4 assists), Dallas Watson ‘18 (12 points & 3 assists) and Omar Silverio ‘18 (13 points & 2 assists) did just that and put the Ravens up by seven at the end of the first quarter and they never looked back.

St. Rays did receive some resistance from South Shore’s Femi Oda Kale and Mike Burnett on the boards but the Ravens tide kept rising. Washington and Watson continued busting up South Shore in transition and St. Raymond’s led 40-22 at the half.

In the second half, Ray’s received input from some of its younger players. “Two of the 2018 kids we have, Darius Lee (6 points & 7 rebounds) and Nicholas Rivera (6 points). They’re both high energy guys that can finish around the basket,” said Amelio.

Ahead by 27 points to start the fourth quarter, the Ravens enacted their own mercy rule and subbed out their starters, cruising to a 20-point win. Coach Amelio was pleased with his team’s performance and direction saying, “We wanna go back to the gritty style that we used to be so this is a great group to actually do that with.”

Monsignor Scanlon recently moved up for Class A to Class AA in the CHSAA. If their opening game against perennial PSAL powerhouse Benjamin Cardozo was any indication as to whether Scanlon belongs, that question has been answered.

While it wasn’t a straight shot blow out like the first game of the evening, Scanlon showed perseverance and poise as they came from behind to eliminate Cardozo from the tournament with a strong fourth quarter.

Scanlon took an early lead as Saquan Singleton ’17 (3 points & 7 assists) did a good job facilitating. Dejavaugh Utley ’18 (23 points & 3 assists) and Zion Stephens ‘17 (16 points & 13 rebounds) came alive late in the quarter for Dozo with clutch perimeter shots and key rebounds and the Judges were in front by 9 to start the second quarter.

Scanlon received a boost from 6’7” Victor Potter ‘18 (6 points, 9 rebounds & 3 blocks) at the top of the second with an alley-oop dunk but Utley kept the pressure on offensively and Cardozo took a 21-11 lead at the midway point of second quarter.

Scanlon began to make a move signal by another alley-oop slam dunk, this time by Gabe Bryan ’18 (24 points & 6 rebounds) that sparked a 15-4 turnaround with freshman point guard Dion Herrington ’19 (7 points & 3 assists). When the dust settled, Cardozo was sudden down 26-25 with less than a minute remaining in the half. The Judges would not go down quietly and took a 1-point advantage into the second half.

In the third quarter, Potter and Bryan did damage on the boards and Herrington along with 8th grader DJ Bailey ’20 (9 points, 2 assists & 3 steals) put Scanlon back up by 8 points going into the final quarter. Utley did his best Superman impersonation as he almost singlehandedly reduced Dozo’s deficit to 3 points with 17 seconds left in regulation. A strong defensive stand by Scanlon would ultimately stonewall Cardozo’s comeback attempt.

Even with Singleton hampered by a heel injury and without the services of high flying Jalen Lecque who’s out with an ACL injury, Scanlon prevailed. Assistant coach Rudy King promises an even stronger team come the fall. “We gotta 6’10” Italian kid coming in and maybe even more surprises.” Supremely confident in his squad, King believes that Scanlon could possibly lead the league during the upcoming CHSAA season.

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