Vikings Break Law & Tech in Beacon 158 Chip
BAYSIDE, NY – Ironically, it was an all-Brooklyn championship in Queens on Monday at the Beacon 158 Back-to-School Classic 2K17. The Class AA South Shore Vikings took on Class A Brooklyn Law & Tech, the squad with a rep for slaying double-A teams with regularity. In a battle of Class warfare, this time the slayers became the slayed as the Vikings grounded the Jets, 78 – 61.
South Shore, who’s looking to make a splash this season, made a lot of noise in the preseason, capping it off with the impressive win over Brooklyn Law & Tech who themselves recently won the M.T.G Back2School Invitational. “Last year was an imbalanced team,” said Vikings Coach Laverne Goulbourne. “We had a lot of youth. This year, a lot of that youth has matured.”
For Brooklyn Law & Tech, on this day, the problem throughout the game was size as the Vikings massively outrebounded the Jets, especially on the offensive boards. That led to second, third and even fourth chance shot opportunities by Feme Odukale ‘19, Queen College -bound Sekou Sylla ’18 and Kadary Richmond ‘19 who took full advantage.
Victor Ogbo ‘18 seemed at times to be singlehandedly battling on the boards against the entire Vikings team. The senior occasionally won but a slow start by St, Francis College (Brooklyn)-bound Larry Moreno ’18, who only poured in four first half points, put the Jets in an uphill battle.
South Shore was up by 10 points early in the half and extended it to a 35 – 19 lead at the end of the opening half.
Good inside-out ball movement by South Shore, with PG Kareem May ‘19 running the show, was the hallmark of their success in the first half but turnovers and some miscues gave Brooklyn Law & Tech some crucial openings. An offensive revival by Moreno along with scoring from David Grady ‘18, the Jets finally began to keep pace with the Vikings and with 12 minutes left to play, got their deficit down to 10 points.
Unfortunately for the Jets, they would not be able to fully plug the leaks on the defensive end and ended up merely exchanging baskets with the Vikings. That strategy ended up be akin to plugging up a hole with tissue paper. Eventually the dam will break.
In the final five minutes, breakaway back-to-back dunks by Sylla in transition emptied the wind from Brooklyn Law & Tech’s sails. Soon, a 16-point halftime leak turn into a 20-point flood. With about 3 minutes left to play, Brooklyn Law & Tech Coach Kenny Pretlow tossed out the proverbial white flag, emptying his bench en route to a 17-point loss.
Sylla was high man for South Shore netting 24 points with Odukule and Richmond adding 15 points each. Moreno led Brooklyn Law & Tech with 24 points with Ogbo contributing 10 points.
