Wings Jefferson Handle PSAL Qtrs Business

BRONX, NY - Desure Buie and Wings Academy came into their game against H.S. For Construction expecting the PSAL Quarters to be a tough game. Sometimes what you expect to happen doesn't exactly happen the way you thought it was. Buie didn't know that Wings would break the game open in the first half and they would never be threatened.

Using logic, Buie probably wasn't thinking that he was going to make 7 three pointers in the first half and end up with 42 points in the game. But that's exactly what happened as Buie and his teammates cruised to an easy 85-58 win over Construction.

Buie was asked if he consciously was trying to keep scoring. He answered the way you almost expect to hear any basketball player say.

"I didn't look forward to it, but I was hot so I kept it going," Buie said on the court after the game.

How was he able to get to 42? Especially since a high school game is only 32 minutes long.

"Staying aggressive, that's all it was," Buie said. "They went under screens, I let it go. We ran plays for me to get open shots and I knocked them down"

The game was only close in the first quarter shortly after tipoff. Once Wings got the lead, they never had to look back over their shoulder. The only suspense was watching to see if Buie would continue to scorch the net. He wasn't as prolific as he was in the first half, but he still scored 15 points in the half.

Jessie Govan scored 20 points for Wings. It's a good day when Wings 6'10" big man is more of an afterthought than the name on the marquee. That's basically what happened when everybody observed that Buie had 42 points in the win.

The only player to score in double digits for Construction was Justin Wright-Foreman who scored 19 points.

Wings will tip off against Jefferson next week in the PSAL semifinals.

Jefferson Stops W.H.E.E.L.S. from Rolling

The last game of the PSAL Boys Basketball quarterfinals was truly a game of runs, where both teams went through a range of emotions. Thomas Jefferson was the team that was able to finish on a high note, but not before surviving a furious W.H.E.E.L.S. comeback late in the fourth quarter.

Jefferson almost gave up a 17 point fourth quarter lead. The Orange Wave were ahead 62-45 when W.H.E.E.L.S. came out determined and went on a 24-10 run get as close as 3 points with a little under two minutes left in the game. The saying is "pressure busts pipes", but Jefferson was able to hold off W.H.E.E.L.S. and advance to the semifinals with an 82-71 win.

W.H.E.E.L.S. jumped out to a quick 18-4 lead in the first quarter, but Jefferson was able to withstand it and quickly turned it around, scoring the last 10 points of the quarter to get back into the game. The score after the first period was 18-14.

The second quarter was more back and forth as it seemed to balance out. Jefferson was getting more comfortable playing the game as time passed and it showed in the way they were shooting. They put on an impressive display as the Orange Wave passed W.H.E.E.L.S. on the scoreboard.

Junior Curtis Smith started a string of five consecutive three pointers made by Jefferson when he hit a three from the right corner to give Jefferson their first lead of the game. After a W.H.E.E.L.S. timeout, fellow junior Shamorie Ponds hit a pull-up three to give Jefferson a 26-21 lead. Both teams were now trading baskets, except Jefferson were knocking them down from deep.

Ponds and Smith (8 points) each hit one more three, and then senior guard Jaquan McKennon added and made the fifth one from straightaway to break a 29-29 tie.

After W.H.E.E.L.S. senior guard Emile Hill drained a three from the left wing to make it 35-32 near the end of the first half, Jefferson went on a mini run to seize control of the game. Jefferson answered by getting the ball inside for a score to make it 37-32. W.H.E.E.L.S. could take the last shot and go into the break with no worse than a five point deficit.

However they turned the ball over twice after inbounding the ball, both times to McKennon, who was also able to convert both baskets. W.H.E.E.L.S. turned it over again to Ponds, who calmly found Akeem Adams in the corner. Adams nailed the three and made it 44-32.

Jefferson basically cruised throughout the whole third quarter, and W.H.E.E.L.S. never made a serious push to get back in the game. Just by reading the body language of the team at that point, it looked like they didn't want to be there. Still, they regained their composure and made a furious rally to get back into the game. The highlight of the rally by W.H.E.E.L.S. was an athletic put back dunk by Judah Woney. Of course, it excited the crowd but was just two points that couldn't help W.H.E.E.L.S. pull off the upset.

Jefferson was able to avoid the embarrassment of getting knocked out in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs while being the top seed. McKennon was the top scorer for the Orange Wave with 24 points. Ponds finished with the second highest total in the game with 17 points.

W.H.E.E.L.S. was led by Hill, who scored a game high 26 points. Sophomore guard Morissanna Camara scored 18, while Woney chipped in with 15 points.

The next game for Jefferson is next Saturday when they face off against Wings.