Tru-Ballaz Pre-H.S. Classic Pool Play

BRONX, NY – It’s becoming evident that many of the PSAL and CHSAA are becoming more cohesive and competitive as the regular season approaches. It is equally apparent that other teams have quite a bit of work to do. On Tuesday, at FDA III high school, we saw all of the above.

Although Eagle Academy was without its starting point guard, the players from the public school still managed to play a competitive game against Stepinac, a team that knows a bit about the absence of players. While Eagle was just missing its PG for a game, Stepinac lost its stars Jordan Tucker ‘17 and Aundre Hyatt ‘18 to transfer.

The White Plains, NY Catholic school seems to have recouped nicely with players like 6’5” Alan Griffin ‘18 and Xavier Wilson '18 stepping up to fill the void. Demarley Smith ‘17 and Andre Marshall ’17 kept Eagle Academy within striking range but Stepinac still took a 26-23 lead into the locker room.

Eagle Academy fought tooth and nail with Stepinac throughout the second half and with 37.2 seconds left to play, the Bronx, NY high school was only down by a point. Stepinac then gave Eagle Academy a chance to pull off the upset as Griffin turned over the ball with 25.1 seconds left to play but instead of taking a high percentage shot, Smith elected to shoot an ill-advised fade away three-pointer.

The shot fell short as did Eagle Academy's chances of winning when Stepinac closed the show with an additional bucket to add insult to injury.

Griffin did however pace Stepinac with 19 points with Wilson adding 8 points. Smith was high man for Eagle Academy with 12 points.

The players from Wings Academy had its hands full against a much improved and senior-heavy Mt. Saint Michael squad. Wings leaped out front with 7-0 run with Jose Perez ‘17 and Boubacar Kamissoto ‘18 tag teaming the Mountaineers.

Last year’s Mt. Saint Michael’s would have folded early but this season’s team came to play. Once Elijah Buchanan ‘17 ended the Mountaineer’s drought with a well-placed perimeter shot, the Catholic school would go on a 14-5 run to take a two-point lead.

Seniors Joseph Bull ‘17 and Jacob Rodriguez ‘17 were instrumental for comeback. Mt. Saint Michael held onto the momentum for the vast majority of the quarter until Perez scored a buzzer beating trey bomb to knot the game at 19 to begin the second quarter.

The Mountaineers took over where they left off in the second quarter as Buchannan fed Wings Academy a steady diet of perimeter shots. Two minutes remained in the half and Wings Academy found themselves in a five-point hole. Perez made a dent in his team’s deficit but the Bronx PSAL power was down 28-26 at the half.

Kamissoto began to turn the tide when he nailed the 3-ball at the top of the fourth quarter but the lead swayed back and fourth as sophomore point guard Mike Green ‘19 and Buchannan countered. Brian Mitchell '18 came up clutch for Wings and gave them a slight advantage to start the final stanza.

A fierce battle ensued throughout the fourth quarter with both teams eying the finish line. An athletic put back dunk by Rodriguez had the packed house oohing and ahhing but was match with an and-1 bucket by Perez.

54.4 second remained in regulation and Wings Academy had a five-point lead but a resilient Mt. Saint Michael made it interesting when Buchannan nailed a 3-ball at the 20.7 mark. Successful at playing keep away, Wings Academy escaped with a two-point win.

Perez led all scorers with 22 points with Kamissoto and Mitchell contributing 16 points and 12 points respectively. Buchannan paced Mt. Saint Michael with 21 points.

* Monroe man handles Morris, 50-34

* St. Raymond’s spanks New Rochelle, 82-59