Wings Clears Hurdle Into City Championship Game

BRONX, NY - Wings Academy coach Billy Turnage had tears coming out of his eyes. The tears were directly related to the scoreboard. They weren't tears of sadness, but they were tears of joy. Wings had just knocked off Thomas Jefferson 83-73 in the PSAL semifinals at Lehman College. They had cleared a hurdle that they had tripped over multiple times over the years. Now they were going to the Garden.

Turnage and his Wings teams have consistently fallen short of getting to the final game. He said he has been in this for 9 years and now he and his team are in a place they've haven't been before. He was asked how he felt finally winning and getting to the championship game.

"I knew if we couldn't get over this hurdle of the semifinals that the doubt would continue. And [the team] knew that, and they fought and they scrapped," Turnage said. "This is another step for us. We didn't come into this year saying we just want to advance past the semis, but we knew we had to get past this point to compete for the city title"

The main reason that Wings was able to knock off the #1 seed in the playoffs was 6'10" Jessie Govan. He made his presence felt as the game went on, especially in the fourth quarter when he dominated the paint. Govan finished with a game high 29 points and he played big. Eventually, his size was too much for Jefferson to overcome, and he took advantage of them. The most Jefferson could do against Govan was foul him.

Jefferson jumped out early and held a 16-6 lead early in the first quarter. Wings didn't get off to a good start and seemed a little nervous. However, they finally were able to settle down and just started to play. From that point on, they went on a 15-1 run to take the lead. Wings played with poised the rest of the way and despite being mostly a close game, they never let Jefferson get the lead back.

Senior guard Desure Buie scored 25 points and was the only other Wings player in double figures. He was elated after the game.

"It's the best feeling in my life so far" Buie said. "We kept our composure, and we came out and played the game the way we wanted to play"

Jaquan McKennon led Jefferson in scoring with 24 points. Shamorie Ponds was the next high scorer for the Orange Wave with 21 points, but he was quiet in the fourth quarter and never was able to get up any shots. Wings never let him out of their sight and left other kids open.

Wings will face off against the defending champions, Cardozo High School, next Saturday at Madison Square Garden.