Woodall Helps Pitt Past St. John's 63-47

          Brooklyn native and former St. Anthony's (NJ) star Trayvon Woodall scored 25 points to help Pittsburgh win its final Big East regular season game at Madison Square Garden 63-47 Sunday afternoon.

          Woodall, was nearly flawless as he helped Pittsburgh maintain a small advantage against a St. John's team that played well in the first 20 minutes.  They ;played Pitt even under the basket, rebounding effectively and matching them point for point in the paint (24 points each for the game) Jakarr Sampson finished with a team high 14 points for the Johnnies while they got more paint production from Phil Greene, who finished with 11 points as he took the ball in against the Panthers' aggressive front line.

          Their good work in the first half meant that they trailed by just 30-27 at the half despite leading scorer D'angelo Harrison's shooting struggles. They took the lead briefly twice in the second half the last time at 33-32 on two Sir ^Dominick Pointer free throws with 17:25 left. Woodall  responded moments later with a pull up jumper and Pitt quickly  extended the lead to 7 with baskets from another New Yorker J.J. Moore, and Lamar Patterson. Pittsburgh lead by as many as 7 points when Sampson, Sir*Dominic Pointer Pointer and Chris Obekpa  sparked a rally that trimmed the 42-30 with 12:11 left. Following two made free throws from Obekpa a rally that began when Woodall made a steal and fed Patterson for a basket, and ended when Woodall connected on a long three pointer that gave Pitt a double digit margin, the game was pretty much decided.  Steve Lavin said that the Panthers' trademark defense was the key to the rally but admitted his team  ".... could've been mare patient and had better shot selection."

          With the win Pittsburgh broke both a two game losing streak and a tie with St. John's for 7th place in the league. They also sent St. John's to their third straight loss.

Severe And CK Beat Loughlin for Diocesan Title 80-65

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            Player of the year Jon Severe scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half as he and his Christ the King Royals beat Bishop Loughlin for the third time this season and took the Brooklyn-Queens Diocesan title 80-65 at Christ the King last night.

            Don't be mislead by the margin of victory. For three quarters this game mirrored the previous two that saw Christ the King win by two points. In fact, Loughlin used a late rally that included a deep three pointer from Mike Williams and a tough off balance jumper from Kadeem Carrington to take a 41-37 lead into halftime. As he always does Williams provided great scoring (11 points in the first half) and intensity. And thanks partially to Williams good work on defense Severe was held to just 7 first half points.

            While Loughlin's defensive effort delayed Severe's big scoring night other Royals stepped up and played great. Junior guard Andre Walker finished with 16 points for the game and junior center Adonis Delarosa had 12 points 10 rebounds and one beautiful post pass assist to Walker for a key basket. The Royals also got a key contribution from freshman forward Rawle Atkins, who added six points and a needed physical presence inside.

            For Lions' star Kadeem Carrington the aforementioned tough jumper was an indication of a great game.  He finished with 21 points of his own while Loughlin's own improving junior center Anthony Vernon finished with 16. Severe made a terrific adjustment to begin the second half driving the ball to the basket. It's worth noting here that in addition to his 26 points he added 10 rebounds. Several of those were tough "in traffic" rebounds that demonstrated not only his great athleticism, but his determination as well.

            Even though Christ the King came out with better energy in the second half, the Lions still lead 47-45 with 2:18 left in the third quarter when Williams fell hard trying for an offensive rebound. He was down for a few minutes but luckily it was just a cramp.  With Williams out of the game Severe took advantage, curling off a screen for a deep three pointer that gave CK the lead for good. Williams re-entered the game to start the final quarter after Severe and the Royals extended their margin  The cramps flared up again with 4:48 left in the game and he'd finish with just two points in the second half. Carrington and the Lions kept fighting but the Royals were just a bit better and secured the top seed on the Brooklyn-Queens side of the bracket for the intersectional playoffs. Loughlin earned the 2nd seed and both teams will begin the intersectional playoffs in the quarter finals.

            Cardinal Hayes and St. Ray's who will meet today to determine the Archdiocese of New York champion will have the other two top seeds. These 4 teams along with teams like Molloy and Stepinac who are capable of  scoring upsets set the stage for what should be another great post season in the CHSAA "AA" Division.

Holy Cross and Loughlin Advance to Diocesan Semis

          Holy Cross and Bishop Loughlin each posted convincing wins in opening round Brooklyn-Queens Diocesan playoff games at Molloy last night.  Loughlin will take on second seeded Molloy while Holy Cross takes on top seeded Christ the King in semi final action Wednesday at Christ the King.  Here are recaps of the games.

          Bishop Loughlin 64 St. Francis Prep 48 With long time assistant Frank Fontanetta subbing as coach for Tim Leary, who was attending to a family matter, the Terriers did a terrific job hanging with Loughlin for a half.  Speedy junior guard Michael Fields led the Prep with 20 points as their patience and three point shooting kept them close.  Michael Williams, who finished with a game high 26 for Loughlin kept his team ahead slightly until his teammates picked things up in the second half. Kadeem Carrington added 15 points with St. John's assistant Tony Childs in the audience, while improving 6'8" junior Anthony Vernon was a factor on the boards as well

Holy Cross 60 Xaverian 40 Xaverian had a three point advantage at halftime but even as they took a lead there were ominous signs for the Clippers. Holy Cross' dominance on the boards eventually caught up with Xaverian as Ryan Wilson and Josh Wallace controlled the paint for the Clippers. Wallace finished with 14 points while Woods added a game high 18 for the Knights. Lamel Faison finished with 16 for the Clippers in a losing cause.

Marquise Moore Commits to Hofstra

          Marquise Moore, who whose smooth shooting and heady play helped Holy Cross High to a birth in the CHSAA "AA" finals last year has verbally committed to play at Hofstra University next season.

          The 6'2" combo guard  is currently finishing a post graduate year at St. Thomas Moore (CT) Prep where he played for former Molloy standout Jere Quinn.  It should be noted that Marquise's decision to enter prep school was motivated in part by the fact that he completed his high school education at 16 and while there was limited division one interest last season the post grad year gave him time to develop physically and paid off in the form of scholarship offers from Cleveland State, Fairfield, Rider and his school of choice Hofstra. Under Holy Cross coach Paul GIlvary Moore had become one of New York City's most versatile scorers and developed a terrific middle distance game. He took the post grad year even though he was already academically qualified to accept a division one scholarship.

          Moore is an important recruit for coach Mo Cassera and the Pride as they begin to rebuild following the sad episode that resulted in the dismissal of 4 players in December. Not only have they added a quality scorer and leader on the court but a great student and person off the court.  Congratulations to Marquise and his family and best wishes for continued success.

Bloodied But Not Bowed Molloy Upends CK 83-76

          It would have been easy to excuse a poor effort from Archbishop Molloy last night.  After all, legendary coach Jack Curran, the 82 year old coach who is finishing his 55th season on the sidelines for the Stanners was forced to miss the game after he slipped on ice at home and fractured his kneecap.

          Ironically, that announcement, moments before the start of last night's game against Christ the King was just the beginning of the Stanners' physical woes.  During the first quarter forwards Justin Brown and Marco Kozul both left the game after they were accidently hit in the face. Brown's nose was bloodied while it appeared Kozul's mouth was swollen thanks to an inadvertent elbow.

          Kozul combined with guards CJ Davis and Chazz Wattler to give the Stanners a hot shooting start and offset a similarly fast beginning for the Royals who got scoring outside from guard Jon Severe and inside from Adonis DeLaRosa and Jordan Fuchs. Christ the King led going into halftime and throughout much of the game but could never quite put distance between themselves and the Royals.

          Kozul, who may be Severe's only legitimate challenger for Player of the Year honors in the league, finished 21 points and 13 rebounds battled fearlessly against the Royals' front line, making himself such a pest that he drew a technical foul against DeLaRosa  just as Davis was fouled on a . the/three point shot. Between them they made 4 of 5 free throws to cut a 5 point deficit to one in the closing moments of the third period.

          From there it was up to Davis to help Molloy seize control of the game and get the Stanners a great win. Included in a great 4th quarter were a deep three ball, a perfectly timed hesitation dribble on the fast break that set up a pass to Wattler for two of his 18 points, and several other plays that demonstrated his ability to see one pass or play ahead of the game. He would finish with 27 points 6 boards and 7 assists. Several of the helpers came on what may be the best two-handed chest pass New York basketball has seen since Pearl Washington.

          Kozul and Davis were the mainstays of a great effort for the Stanners.  They had help from Jason Cethoute the improving junior who continued to give them energy rebounding and rim protection. The win moved Molloy past Loughlin into the 2nd seed in the Brooklyn Queens Diocesan playoffs that begin Monday. For the Royals Malik Harmon continued his ascendant play scoring 22 points and adding 6 assists while Severe added 19. The Royals had already secured the top seed in the Diocesan playoffs.  They played hard and well with an undefeated league season on the line but Molloy played and shot exceptionally well. Both teams appear ready for another great post season in the CHSAA "AA" league.

A bit of Dodger Karma Helps the Nets Plus Magic on the Knicks

Oisk Plays the Anthem and Nets Win In the course of a long NBA season Karma can sometimes be useful. That may have happened for the Nets Monday night. Before the game that the Nets would eventually win 89-84 in overtime against the Pacers, Indiana native and former Brooklyn Dodgers' pitcher Carl Erskine played The Star Spangled Banner on his harmonica. Moments later he was interviewed on the YES Network's telecast and spoke warmly, as he always has, about his days in Brooklyn, and about how happy he was that Brooklyn was "back in the big leagues". Rrskine was a one time 20 game winner a 1954 all-star and a member of the 1955 World Series champs. He was also one of two Dodger mainstays from the state of Indiana. Gil Hodgers, who would later make his home in Brooklyn and manage the Mets to their first world title was the other.

              There are several aspects of this game worth noting.  The Nets handed the Pacers just their fifth loss of the season. Brook Lopez led the way with 25 points and 8 boards. Reggie Evans had 22 rebounds, but the key player for the Nets may have been rookie and local product Tyshawn Taylor who scored 12 points and had just two turnovers in 34 minutes of action. Coach PJ Carlesimo played him ahead of veteran CJ Watson and Taylor responded beautifully with a steady hand, two huge baskets down the stretch and his trademark ability to keep the ball in front of him defensively.  That skill, more than anything can and should earn him more minutes down the stretch as he can be part of helping the Nets deal with speed and quickness, an area where they've struggled mightily all year.

Knicks "Going Backwards" According to Magic The quoted portion of this headline comes from Magic Johnson who said this Sunday on ESPN. With all due respect to one of basketball's greatest point guards and leaders I think the explanation for the Knicks recent struggles is not a question of going backwards but exposing weaknesses that were always present. The roster is old, see Jason Kidd's fast start and recent struggles, they rely too much on 'Melo for offense, see 42 points in a loss.  He scores best as a "stretch power forward" and the Knicks get pounded by physical teams, see the Clippers as the most recent example. While the Knicks regular season can already be called a success, don't be surprised if they suffer an early playoff exit. In addition to the problems mentioned above, the expectation that Iman Shumpert would return at full strength as soon as he was cleared to play is proving to be a foolish one. And backing up an aging Tyson Chandler with two other aging bigs, Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby is proving to be foolish as well.  All of this spells potential trouble for the playoffs, where defense and physical play reach levels they typically do not during the regular season.

With the Game "On the Line" St. John's Recovers to Beat Uconn 71-65

St. John's. like most young teams has endured the inevitable inconsistency that happens as young players learn to compete at the highest level of college basketball. But in a league like the Big East, where teams learned long ago that games are not won on style points, the young Johnnies are doing just fine.

            Take a cursory glance at this game and you see a familiar scenario.  As they have several times this season St. John's sprinted to an early lead. Their top two scorers D'angelo Harrison and Jakarr Sampson scored 11 points each in the opening stanza, and they combined with Marco Bourgault's three point marksmanship to give them a 31-20 halftime advantage. The lead would have been much more were it not for former Christ the King star Omar Calhoun, who reminded local fans how he became the all time leading scorer at one of the city's best programs.

            He scored 13 of his game high 21 points in the first half but it wasn't until teammate Shabazz Napier joined Calhoun scoring that the Huskies got going. Jakarr Sampson scored with just over 16 minutes left to give the Johnnies their largest margin  at 39-24.

            At that point Napier and reserve R.J. Evans hit consecutive triples for UConn that sliced that began a 15-1. that trimmed the margin to just 40-39 with 10:49 left. Harrison sat for 9 minutes at the beginning of the second half and was out of the game for much of that UConn rally. While reports indicated that he was playing with a swollen ring finger on his shooting hand, watching the game it was clear that his extended time on the pine had more to do with discipline with than with any physical problems. When asked about it after the game Coach Steve Lavin tried to answer without saying too much. "The thinking is sometimes when a player goes through a tough stretch you can help them by sitting them on the bench,: Lavin said. "He gets to see the game from a different prism or lens It can be like smelling salts snap a kid's head back in and help him see what's needed at that point." Harrison was more to the point discussing the situation. "I wasn't making shots so I was a non-factor," he said. "But I came back in and we won the game."

            Following the 15-1 spurt for the Huskies St. John's maintained a small margin until UConn pulled ahead 53-51 on two free throws by Ryan Boatwright with 4.29 to go.  St. John's did a great job hanging tough during that stretch in large part because Sampson, who finished with 18 points continued to make his presence felt while going through a difficult freshman lesson, learning to play with foul problems. After Phil Greene tied the game at 53 he assisted on a Sampson jumper that gave the Johnnies a 55-53 margin. Harrison, now having rejoined the fray in mind as well as body took a pass from Sir^Dominic Pointer to give them a 5 point margin. While St. John's maintained the margin with nearly perfect free throw shooting (16 of 18 down the stretch UConn did close it to three on two free throws by Niles Giffey with 49 seconds left but another clutch jumper by Harrison gave took away the Huskies' last breath and gave St. John's its 7th league win and 15th on the season.

            The win followed a familiar script with the unique elements of Harrison's extended time on the bench and clutch free throw shooting. As he has in previous games Harrison came through following a slow start. No, it wasn't pretty but it looks great on the proverbial "left side" for St. John's