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BSR04282016

32 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP • APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2016 Thomas Jefferson High School scores rst ever Federation Title, are city and state champs (646).519.5069 The last time the Thomas Jefferson High School boys basketball teams won the New York City championship, its current head coach, Lawrence Pollard, 45, wasn’t even born. We have to go back 62 years - 62! - to the last time Jefferson won it all. The year was 1954: Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio. Roger Bannister ran the fi rst sub four-minute mile. And Jefferson won the title. Since then, well, since then, is there a Chicago Cubs fan in the house? “It better not take another 62 years before we win the next one,’’ said Pollard. “First of all, I won’t be here. And I can’t wait that long. I’m already thinking about next year.’’ Timeout, coach. Before we think about next year, let’s revel in the joy of this year. This year the Orange Wave overwhelmed rival Lincoln, 90-61, in The Garden to claim its fi rst title since 1954. Several players that you’ll be hearing a lot about over the next few years led the way. Guard Shamorie Ponds, who is headed to St. John’s, scored a game-high 31 points and was named co-Most Valuable Player along with teammate Rasheem Dunn, who added 23 points, and is headed to St. Francis of Brooklyn. “I feel so good for those kids,’’ said Pollard. “At the beginning of the year I thought we couldn’t win it because they’re too nice. We didn’t have that one tough kid that you need sometimes. “But Shamorie kept telling me, ‘Coach, we got this. We got this.’ They were tough when it counted. Now I’ve got that piano or monkey or gorilla off my back. Now we can think about next year. Because this is just the start.’’ Ah, the life of a coach. You win it all, end a 62-year drought, avenge a loss to rival Lincoln in the process, and all Pollard can do is think about next year. But you have to understand where Pollard and the Orange Wave came from. Ever hear the expression, ‘No pain, no gain?’ Pollard, and Thomas Jefferson fans everywhere, have experienced more than their share of pain. This was Jefferson’s fourth trip to the championship game under Pollard. They lost to Boys and Girls. They lost to Lincoln. They lost to Cardozo. In the Cardozo loss, Ponds missed two late free throws. Heck, the Orange Wave lost to the Railsplitters in the Brooklyn borough championship game a week before the rematch in the city title game. It wasn’t until the days leading up to the championship that Pollard began to see things the way Ponds did. Maybe he always did. It was Pollard who asked workers at Thomas Jefferson to move the 1954 city championship banner in the gym during a recent renovation of the school. He wanted space for another banner. Then he began to talk the talk. “I said, ‘You guys are going to win the championship. You got to prepare for it,” Pollard said. “They practiced like champions all week and they executed.” Indeed they did. Jefferson used an overwhelming 18-1 blitz to start the second half to seize control. Malachi Faison was a beast in the post, scoring 12 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. CJ ‘Big Shot’ Smith added 16. But Ponds and Dunn, the heart and soul of this team, led the way. They’ve been friends since fi rst grade. Ponds is the city player St. John’s coach Chris Mullin needed to establish he will successfully recruit the city. Dunn has a chance to be a superstar in the Northeast Conference. Their childhood dreams, one already realized, are coming true. They hugged on the court after being named co-MVP. “We told each other we love each other,’’ Dunn told reporters after the game. “This is my brother since we were young and all I know is we have a lot of chemistry together.” The whole team did. Jefferson went on to win its fi rst ever Federation Title, beating Aquinas, 72-65. They are city champs and state champs. It was worth the wait. If you have a interesting story about a player, coach or team in Brooklyn or Queens, please email me at [email protected]. Photo courtesy of Lawrence Pollard The Thomas Jefferson High School boys basketball team.


BSR04282016
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