Monday, October 31, 2011

Calhoun Comes up Big at Winning Time for Boros

              Christ the King's Omar Calhoun scored 27 of his game high 32 points in the second half and led the "Boros" past the "Burbs" 119-105 in the eighth annual Metro Classic at Archbishop Molloy yesterday.
              The 14-point final margin is a little bit deceptive because the Burbs were able to rally each time the Boros opened a significant margin.  The game was tied at 51 after the Mount Vernon perimeter duo of Randy Stephens and Isaiah Cousins combined for six consecutive points  to end the half. The Boros opened a margin again as tough inside players Leroy Fludd of Boys & Girls and Daniel Dingle were outstanding both around the basket rebounding and finishing  and facing up. Despite their good work and terrific production off the bench from Jefferson's  Thaddeus Hall and Pathways' Jordan Washington the 'Burbs  hung tough thanks to Stephens penetration, Cousins' shooting ability and tremendous work inside by high rising junior Kentan Facey of Long Island Lutheran, who finished with a team high 26 points for the 'Burbs without getting many touches in a game where guards dominated the ball. They trailed by just 93-89 with a shade over 8 minutes to go when Calhoun went to work and delivered what would be the decisive spurt.
              He scored all 9 of his team's points during a 9-2 run that bumped the 4 point advantage to 11 for the Boros. The rally began with consecutive three point baskets, the second a contested one from the right side. He followed that with a quick up fake and drive  to the basket and converted a conventional  three point play.
              From there Omar demonstrated what may well be the most under rated part of his game. He was money at the free throw line and it helped salt the game away for the Boros, who got 16 points from Fludd and 15 from Dingle who each added 9 rebounds. Hall also added 16 and was a factor in transition and in the passing lanes every time he entered the game..
              For the Burbs in addition to Facey's 26 points, Stephens and Cousins each added 20 while St. Mary's  senior Travis Whitfield played well off the bench as well.
              

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

New Johnnies Impress in Exhibition Debut

                                          
Junior College transfer God'sgift Achiuwa led six players in double figures and helped St. John's begin a new era with a 110-80 win over Division II C.W. Post in an exhibition game last night.
              With just one player, junior guard Malik Stith, remaining from last year's 21-12 NCAA tournament team, year two under head coach Steve Lavin marks a new beginning and despite a slow start and some struggles throughout  the game rebounding and defensively there were plenty of good moments as well.
              From a team standpoint the single best aspect of St. John's effort was the passing, a part of the game that Lavin and his coaching staff helped last year's group of seniors improve on markedly.  Apparently they have done yeoman work with this group of freshman as well.  Although time will tell whether these results continue against competition that will be much tougher the team finished with 24 assists while committing just 10 turnovers. Six different players handed out assists in the game while soph guard Nurideen Lindsay led the way with 7. The result of all that good ball movement was a sizzling shooting night (50-76) and a balanced attack.
              St. John's had a terrific transition game going early as the guards pushed the ball up and Achiuwa did a great job running from block to block creating easy post up situations. The Red Storm's perimeter game took a bit longer to get started but once it did a pair of freshmen, D'Angelo Harrison and Phil Greene led the way.
              Former St. John's assistant Chris Casey's Pioneers found offense from beyond the three point stripe early as D-II All-American and former Middletown (NY) standout Stefan Bonneau helped them answer Achiuwa's fast start.  They trailed by just 4 at 33-29 when Greene hit consecutive triples and Achiuwa made the last of his first 7 shots from the field. The Red Storm led by 11 at the break and put the game away for good in the opening moments of the second half. Achiuwa took team high scoring honors with 21 points while Harrison and Greene, who hit four three pointers, each added 20. Lindsay added 16 points to go with his assists and former Forrest Hills High star Moe Harkless had a double double with 14 points and 14 boards. For Post Bonneau hit for a game high 28 points while freshman and former St. Mary's High (LI) standout Charles McCann finished with 15 points. Assistant coach Mike Dunlap filled in as head coach tonight while Lavin continues to recuperate from prostate cancer surgery.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A Quick Hello And a Heartfelt Goodbye

                                                          
              I hope that as people in the New York basketball community find their way to this blog that they will remember me. Whether you do so by my given name (John Miciotta) my internet name (jpm114) or some other identifying aspect like my work years ago with Seton Hall, my work assisting young players and parents in choosing schools or even if I'm just "the guy in the wheelchair in the corner of gyms around the city" it's all good and I thank you. I have spent much of this summer away from basketball to deal with a specific aspect of my disability.  With the help of talented and caring doctors and therapist I have embarked upon a process that I hoped would help me manage pain more effectively and regain some of the strength I need to perform activities of daily living. So far it's working, the aches and pains which have at times kept me from games and from my keyboard have diminished and the things I need to do to get out in the world, are becoming manageable once again. The renewal I feel is being aided by the start of the basketball season. Despite the inanity of the adult basketball (aka the NBA) lockout, the start of the and high school and college seasons have me anxious to start seeing games, looking at players and writing again. But even as I start to smile more, take phone calls from coaches and friends, and look at schedules to plan my trips to the games, I can't help but think an essential part of all this is conspicuously absent and that basketball around here will still be great but not quite the same.

              To be sure the impact of the basketball program at Rice High School, will be felt for a while longer even though it closed its doors this past June. Players like Melvin Johnson (now at St. Benedict's in New Jersey) Dayshon Smith (now at Putnam Science) and others will continue to make an impact at the prep level. Others, like Durand Scott (at Miami) and Chris Fouch (at Drexel) will be college upperclassmen firmly established as college players. Still more, like Jermaine Saunders (at Cincinnati) and Manny Andujar ( at Manhattan) and others will begin their college careers in a short time. And they will take with them lessons taught by the last two coaches at Rice Maurice Hicks and Dwayne Mitchell, and perhaps most important they will bring to their new programs and coaches an expectation that was established at the school on West 124th Street and in Gauchos Gym where the young and talented Raiders practiced and played. Kemba Walker took t those lessons and lifted his University of Connecticut  to a national title. During the Huskies improbable NCAA run  Walker gave the nation a brief glimpse of what Rice basketball was about; tough defense, fearlessness, the willingness to take big shots and make plays and simply do whatever it takes to win. Although speed and transition basketball were essential to the success of Hicks' Rice teams, so was a controlled flex offense that allowed them to win even as teams tried to slow their tempo 

              .  Hicks of course will continue to have an impact on New York basketball as he  helps rebuild St. John's into a national power.  But long before there was a USA Today top 25 poll for high school basketball Hicks had been a tough minded clutch shooting leader for fine Raiders' teams before graduating in 1981, and before that, in the mid-60's Dean Meminger and Charlie Yelverton (Class of 1967) made Rice a local powerhouse before starring in college at the national level.  At Marquette "Dean The Dream" was a blur at point guard and ran a team that despite the dominance of UCLA made me love college basketball because of its connections to New York (with Al McGuire, Meminger and former St. Francis Prep Star Hugh McMahon) and the high school game I enjoyed so much. Meminger's time with the Knicks was highlighted by the 1973 Eastern Conference Finals game seven against the Celtics where his speed gave the Celtics fits on offense and locked up high scoring guard Jojo White on defense. It helped the Knicks hand the C's their first loss ever in a game seven at the Boston Garden and helped bring the Walt Frazier and Willis Reed-era Knicks to their second championship.
              Yelverton, a high riser who essentially played forward at about 6'3" stayed local at Fordham but achieved national  prominence when he led the Rams to a sweet 16 in l971. That team brought Fordham Basketball to heights it hasn't  approached since and made the career of one Richard "Digger" Phelps. And after a year in the NBA he enjoyed a long career in European pro basketball.
              Players like former Pittsburgh star Jerry McCullough, who came back after a long stint in Europe to help Dwayne Mitchell coach the Raiders to a runner up finish in the CHSAA last year, and Felipe Lopez helped Rice stay strong in the 80's. and 90's. Lopez helped coach Lou Demillo  win a title in 1994 on the way to becoming a McDonald's All-American. Hicks arrived shortly thereafter for the start of the 1994-95 season and Mitchell, who had previously coached with Ted Gustus at Brooklyn's Nazereth High School came shortly thereafter.  The school remained a national power until its closing, Hicks won six city titles produced many a division one prospect including Walker, who blossomed into a pro.  Fans of local basketball will remember many different things about what was an unprecedented  run of success in an extraordinarily tough CHSAA. They'll remember Walker's speed, Keydren Clarke's deep range, Anthony Glover's toughness, Kenny Satterfield's clutch game that helped them beat a Christ the King team that featured Erick Barkley, Lamar Odom and Speedy Claxton and 7'2" Shagari Alleyne's 12-12 shooting performance in the city finals against neighboring rival All Hallows. Not every kid who became part of the program was able to stay there but those who did were better players and people for having done so.  High School basketball in New York will survive just as it did when Power Memorial and Tolentine closed, but Rice, a special school in a special place that brought great kids and teachers together will be missed and while the basketball community should mourn the loss, what Rice and the people who made it what it was, gave us should never be forgotten. As I start to see games again and write again I know  basketball will always be special but it won't be the same because the school that set the standard for others to aspire to is gone forever. Farewell to the Green and Gold Raiders, you will be missed but remembered always