Wings Cooks Dozo; Wins Beacon 158 Chip

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BAYSIDE, NY -It was championship day on Saturday at the Beacon 158 Back-to-School Tournament in Queens and the matchup that most people wanted to see happened as Wings Academy took on Cardozo for the title. To get to the title game Cardozo took down Holy Trinity in the semifinals 81-49, while Wings won in a forfeit over St. Francis Prep who elected not to play.

The championship was the game that everyone wanted to see featuring two of the best in the PSAL, and much like the first time these two teams met in the Beacon 158 tournament, Wings Academy showed they were just too much to handle as they took the 70-58 victory.

Coming into these preseason tournaments, Wings Academy head coach Billy Turnage said that more than anything else he is looking for one thing from his team.

"As long as we play hard and compete on both ends of the floor, I'm good," Turnage said. "Especially at this time of year."

Beacon 158 and the other H.S. preseason tournaments like it gives teams a chance to bond and grow chemistry before the main season begins, and the way Wings played on Saturday, they look locked in and ready to go.

Jessie Govan '15, Wings big 6'10' Georgetown bound center who has been sidelined the past couple of weeks due to an ankle injury was back in the lineup for the championship, having convinced Turnage to let him play in what was a highly anticipated matchup for the preseason.

Govan asserted his will on the game right away as Wings guard Desure Buie '15 and Randy Corporan '15 made a concerted effort to dump the ball inside and let Govan post up and finish against the smaller Cardozo frontline. The big man scored the first 10 points of the game for Wings as he, along with underrated guard R.J. Frazier '15, were able to do damage in the paint and before you knew it Wings was taking an 18-8 lead early in the half.

Armando Dunn '15 was a bright spot early on for Cardozo as he used his speed inside to maneuver his way around the size of Wings for a pair of buckets, and Aaron Walker '16 would knock down a couple of threes, but Wings had things going there way for the most part.

Outside of a 2 minutes stretch in the opening half where he scored 6 quick points, the Bronx PSAL power did a nice job containing Judges star guard Rashond Salnave '16 early on and taking him out of his rhythm, and with Govan doing a big time job on the inside with strong finishes around the rim, Wings took a comfortable 36-24 lead into the half.

Salnave came out and knocked down a three to open the 2nd half scoring, but soon after the physical play that had been going on for most of the game ended up hurting Cardozo when Salnave was called for a technical foul. Defending his player, Judges head coach Ron Naclerio who was watching the game from the baseline, got hit with a technical for yelling at the officials as well, and Buie stepped up for Wings and hit 3 of the 4 technical foul FT's, and then clearly frazzled, Cardozo turned the ball over in the backcourt on back to back possessions with Buie taking advantage and scoring off of both mistakes, and with 15:25 to go in the game Wings took a commanding 50-29 lead.

The Judges showed some fight and heart after they got down by 21 and ended up reeling off 8 straight points with Walker driving baseline and finishing on reverse, and Salnave hitting another three ball to cut the deficit down to just 13, but Buie, the Hofstra bound star guard, kept asserting his will scoring on a pair of pull up jump shots to up the lead up to 54-37 again and take back away the little momentum Cardozo had seemed to grab.

Unwilling to quit, Cardozo kept applying pressure in the backcourt and it did lead to some sloppy Wings Academy turnovers, and the Judges did eventually begin to chip away. Elijah McNeely '15 scored on a runner down the left side, and Tareq Coburn '16 drilled a trey from the right wing, and Wings who were cruising and once up by 21 saw their lead shrink to as little as 8 at 62-54 with 1:51 to go.

Boubacar Kamissoko '17 then streaked up the court off an inbounds and took it all the way in for a layup to push the lead back up to double digits, but a pair of buckets soon after by Walker made it 64-58, and the pressure was once again on Wings to make something happen with 1:14 left in the game.

Govan got the ball inside on the other end and he was soon fouled, sending him to the line for 2 FT's. The big man showed a soft touch knocking down both in a big spot, and then after a turnover by Cardozo in the backcourt, Buie tipped back in a Kamissoko miss to up the lead back to 10 with under 30 seconds to play.

A missed three by Cardozo led to a Buie rebound, and he was immediately fouled with 24 seconds to go. He connected on both, and it ended there as the buzzer sounded soon after with Wings Academy claiming their first ever Beacon 158 Back to School Tournament championship, taking down the defending PSAL champions Cardozo, 70-58.

Buie was named Championship Game MVP as he led Wings Academy with 26 points in the title game victory, while Govan, showing no signs of his previous injury, had a very strong game finishing with 16 points, with Frazier adding in 12 points of his own as well.

For Cardozo, Walker was named MVP for the Judges scoring 16 points in the championship game, with Salnave also adding 16 points in the defeat.

It's the 2nd championship of the preseason now for Wings Academy after taking home the Tru-Ballaz Pre-HS Tournament title as well, and while Turnage says he doesn't put much stock into these preseason tournaments, he did acknowledge that winning them is awfully nice.

"It early in the year but anytime you win a championship you feel good."