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Boys & Girls faces same fate despite different location
By Zachary Braziller March 15, 2009
Lincoln's Lance Stephenson stares down Leroy Isler of Boys & Girls.
They walked out of Carnesecca Arena heads bowed, shoulders slumped, cheeks moist. It was an all-too familiar feeling for the Boys & Girls boys’ basketball team.
Same opponent; same result. Different round.
For the third straight season, The High’s season ended against Lincoln. The last two years, it was blowouts at Madison Square Garden. This time, it was a far closer affair – the PSAL Class AA semifinal was tied at 60 with 4:00 remaining – at Carnesecca Arena, yet was a familiar ending, a season-closing, 76-64 setback.
“I’m never going to forget this,” senior point guard Devante Cutler said, “the rest of my life.”
For the second time in eight days, the Railsplitters turned back a challenge from a divisional foe with flawless execution down the stretch. They out-scored the Kangaroos 16-4 in those fateful final minutes, making 9-of-10 free throws. Lance Stephenson, who scored 33 points, had nine points in the run.
Boys lamented the second part of the fourth quarter. After working so hard to get back into the game by reeling off a 20-5 run, spearheaded by Cutler (eight assists), Anton Dickerson (team-high 26 points) and Lamount Samuell Jr. (16 points), the Bed Stuy school unraveled. Samuell and Leroy Isler missed the front end of 1-and-1s; they started taking poor shots, going one on one instead of sharing the ball; and they got beat off the glass.
“We reverted back to what got us in the hole,” assistant coach Elmer Anderson said.
It was particularly painful for the program’s eight seniors, particularly Cutler, Young, Dickerson and Richard Brown III. The four patiently waited their turn, hoping to take down Stephenson and Co. this year and play at the Garden after mostly watching the last two seasons.
Said Samuell: “It’s real emotional.”
Boys led 25-24 after Dickerson hit his third of three consecutive 3-pointers midway through the second quarter, but fell apart thereafter. Lincoln scored 11 consecutive points and held a 43-31 advantage. The difference grew to 17, 51-34. It obviously didn’t help that leading scorer Mike Taylor went scoreless, his worst performance on the biggest stage.
“We didn’t come out hard enough,” Samuell said.
Slowly the Kangaroos got back into the game. Cutler and Samuell looked to penetrate almost every time down, freeing up open shots for others. When Dickerson hit his fifth trifecta of the evening, the game was even, at 59, with 4:00 to play.
“I thought we had them,” Cutler said. “I thought this was the year we were going to do it.”
It didn’t happen. Whether it was missed free throws, turnovers or lack of execution, the Kangaroos, who last won it all in 1979, will not be hoisting a city championship trophy.
Again.
“The bottom line is they’re going to the Garden and we’re not,” Anderson said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
zbraziller@fiveborosports.com
Same opponent; same result. Different round.
For the third straight season, The High’s season ended against Lincoln. The last two years, it was blowouts at Madison Square Garden. This time, it was a far closer affair – the PSAL Class AA semifinal was tied at 60 with 4:00 remaining – at Carnesecca Arena, yet was a familiar ending, a season-closing, 76-64 setback.
“I’m never going to forget this,” senior point guard Devante Cutler said, “the rest of my life.”
For the second time in eight days, the Railsplitters turned back a challenge from a divisional foe with flawless execution down the stretch. They out-scored the Kangaroos 16-4 in those fateful final minutes, making 9-of-10 free throws. Lance Stephenson, who scored 33 points, had nine points in the run.
Boys lamented the second part of the fourth quarter. After working so hard to get back into the game by reeling off a 20-5 run, spearheaded by Cutler (eight assists), Anton Dickerson (team-high 26 points) and Lamount Samuell Jr. (16 points), the Bed Stuy school unraveled. Samuell and Leroy Isler missed the front end of 1-and-1s; they started taking poor shots, going one on one instead of sharing the ball; and they got beat off the glass.
“We reverted back to what got us in the hole,” assistant coach Elmer Anderson said.
It was particularly painful for the program’s eight seniors, particularly Cutler, Young, Dickerson and Richard Brown III. The four patiently waited their turn, hoping to take down Stephenson and Co. this year and play at the Garden after mostly watching the last two seasons.
Said Samuell: “It’s real emotional.”
Boys led 25-24 after Dickerson hit his third of three consecutive 3-pointers midway through the second quarter, but fell apart thereafter. Lincoln scored 11 consecutive points and held a 43-31 advantage. The difference grew to 17, 51-34. It obviously didn’t help that leading scorer Mike Taylor went scoreless, his worst performance on the biggest stage.
“We didn’t come out hard enough,” Samuell said.
Slowly the Kangaroos got back into the game. Cutler and Samuell looked to penetrate almost every time down, freeing up open shots for others. When Dickerson hit his fifth trifecta of the evening, the game was even, at 59, with 4:00 to play.
“I thought we had them,” Cutler said. “I thought this was the year we were going to do it.”
It didn’t happen. Whether it was missed free throws, turnovers or lack of execution, the Kangaroos, who last won it all in 1979, will not be hoisting a city championship trophy.
Again.
“The bottom line is they’re going to the Garden and we’re not,” Anderson said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
zbraziller@fiveborosports.com