Leading off today: Thomas Jefferson fought its way into the state Class AA rankings in boys basketball this week. The Orange Wave's effort Tuesday suggests they play on moving up much higher than their current No. 19 perch.
Despite coach Lawrence Pollard's ejection, a blown eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and trailing with five seconds remaining in regulation, Jefferson earned an 82-77 victory over No. 3 Abraham Lincoln in Coney Island.
Thaddeus Hall's runner with 4.8 seconds left in regulation forced overtime, and Jaquan Lynch led the Orange Wave with 21 points. Kareem Johnakin chipped in with 15 points and 17 rebounds, and Thaddeus Hall had 17 points to go with 10 boards.
Upset over a clock issue, Pollard was called for his second technical for slamming the scorer’s table with 1:33 left and Jefferson up by one. “We all do things, we get techs, we weren’t mad at him,” Hall told The New York Post. “He does so much for us. He’s like a second father to us.”
Lincoln was coming off a 74-64 win on Saturday vs. No. 6 Boys & Girls, but surrendering an early nine-point lead and then the eight-point margin late bothered Railsplitters coach Dwayne "Tiny" Morton, who went so far as to question his team's toughness.
"This is a terrible loss, this might be the worst loss I've ever had coaching," he said. "We lost the battle of the boards. Rebounding killed us, tenacity killed us."
Busy, busy, busy: The award for most brutal scheduling stretch of the season goes to Christ the King, boys basketball, which capped five games in six days by beating Holy Cross on Tuesday in Queens.
The Royals went 2-1 in the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions (losing the final) over four days in Springfield, Mo., then were mauled 88-50 by Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei in the Hoop Hall Classic in Springfield, Mass., on Monday before returning home for the Holy Cross contest.
"We don’t want to admit it and coach (Joe Arbitello) would never admit it, but man we were exhausted," junior guard Isaiah Lewis told The New York Post of the loss to Mater Dei. "We were playing our fourth game in five days in two different states and then they were pressing, things like that. It was crazy. They had five guys who are potentially Division I players."
Catching up: A few notes and observations left over from the weekend:
Thursday's Section 3 girls basketball game between West Genesee and Liverpool was a four-OT marathon. West Genny finally prevailed 86-76, forcing 37 turnovers for the night and shutting out the Warriors in the final extra session. The Wildcats' Emily Tripodi hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third OT, and Marissa Hudgins posted a career-high 19 points.
The lights went out for 15 minutes Friday in the fourth quarter at Chaminade, where the home side dropped a 63-
