A gym with as much history as any in New York City provided the setting for a terrific season opening tilt. At the Tony Jackson Memorial Gym at Jefferson in Brooklyn's East New York section banners hang that honor not only its namesake, the great St. John's star, but other basketball luminaries such as former Laker and Knick Jim McMillian, who played college basketball at Columbia and former Trail Blazer and Laker Leroy Ellis, who also starred in college for St. John.
Though Christ the King, 2011-12's preseason favorite would eventually pull away for a 92-81 win make no mistake they were tested by a Jefferson squad that played with terrific energy and jumped on the two time defending CHSAA champions early, taking a 21-18 lead into the first intermission, and extending that margin to 7 points (34-27) late in the second quarter. The Orange Wave's effort was even more impressive than it looked to those in what was a packed house since they were missing perhaps their best player in talented 6'5" lefty senior Thaddeus Hall.
In Hall's absence junior guard Jaquan Lynch, who is perhaps the team's most experienced player in terms of minutes played picked up the slack. The player who earned significant varsity minutes as a freshman two years ago despite giving up pounds and inches to older players has now become a small (5'10") but sturdy guard whose scoring and playmaking not only gave Jefferson a terrific start but helped them stay in the game throughout. He finished with a game high 28 points while others such as Jermoine Faison and Richard Moody all provided the energy and defense that helped put the Royals on their heels early.
It took Christ the King a bit longer than half way through the second quarter to find its bearings. Facing that 34-27 deficit they closed the quarter with a 17-8 run to lift themselves to a 44-42 lead at halftone and followed that with a 22-9 third quarter to give themselves a 66-53 lead after three quarters. Junior guard Jon Severe who finished with 22 points was the Royals most consistent scorer from start to finish while senior leader Omar Calhoun finished with a team high 25 points combined with Isaiah Lewis to hold off Jefferson in the fourth quarter. Lewis, who struggled with decision making for much of the game was terrific in the last 8 minutes finding 6'8" soph reserve Adonis DeLaRosa and Calhoun for baskets after Jefferson trimmed the lead to single digits. And Calhoun took the air out of the Jefferson rally as he's done against many teams; with deadly precision shooting the ball both from beyond the arc and at the free throw line.
While CK's scoring came largely from their perimeter trio, the contributions of Jordan Fuchs cannot go unmentioned. The scoring and rebounding numbers, 10 and 11 respectively look modest, but throw in 6 assists, a few of them to Severe cutting down the wing and his importance in their press breaker and you see the makings of a terrific all-around game from a terrific all around player.
Christ the King found itself after the game's early moments and passed a tough early test while Jefferson demonstated that despite the loss of talented players like Edson Avila and Shamel Williams, plenty of talent remains for them to be a team the pre-season favorites in the PSAL cannot take lightly.
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