BAYSIDE, NY – In high school basketball, it’s never too early to prepare for the up coming season. On Thursday, two such teams faced off in the playoffs of the Beacon 158 Spring 2K18 tournament at Marie Currie Middle School.

In the first quarterfinal game, the Holy Cross Knights of Queens battled players from Wings Academy in the Bronx. The Knights got off to a good start under new head coach Ray Cullinan, but things quickly went south for the Flushing squad as Wings clamped down en route to a 69 – 56 nail biting victory.

Early in the first half, Wings surpassed the Knights with offense from Tommy Thomas ‘19 and Jose Cuello ‘20. Four 3-balls from sharpshooter Elijah Perry ‘19 kept Holy Cross within striking distance but they still trailed 32 – 28 at the half.

In the second half, Cross went on an 8 -0 run sparked by Tyler Chapman ‘20, Robert Bland ‘19 along with Perry and briefly took a 4-point lead but the tandem of Thomas and Cuello once again cancelled the Knights' advantage. With 5:20 left to play, Wings not only regained the lead but extended it to 13 points.

Exchanging baskets with Wings for the latter potion of the half, Holy Cross was unable to close the gap and fell prey to the Public-school players. Cuello paced the Wings players with 23 points with Thomas adding 19 points. Chapman was high man for Holy Cross with 16 points while Bland contributed 15 points.