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Francis Lewis holds off St. Mary’s
Patriots thwart late comeback to defend home court in NYC Snowball Classic showdown
BY ROBERT COLE
Bolstered by a strong
first-half offense, Francis
Lewis High School boys’ basketball,
defeated St. Mary’s
High School from Long Island
69-61 at the NYC Snowball
Classic, avenging a loss
from last season.
The Patriots were led by
Naeem Bland, who started
the game connecting on
three three-point baskets to
spark a 12-0 run by Francis
Lewis, which allowed the Patriots
to open up a 15-4 lead
with 3:33 remaining in the
first quarter. The Patriots
continued their strong play,
led by Bland’s 10 first quarter
points, gave them a commanding
25-13 advantage at
the end of the first period.
The Francis Lewis defense
flexed its strength
in the second, creating six
St. Mary turnovers that allowed
the Patriots to maintain
their double-digit lead.
With Bland — who finished
with a team-high 18 points
— going scoreless in the second
quarter, Kadeem James
picked up the offense with
six points. Moises Cordero
added four points to extend
the Patriots’ lead to 46-30
heading into halftime.
The Patriots extended
their lead to 24 in the third
quarter, starting the period
with a 13-5 run sparked by
three St. Mary’s turnovers.
Armed with a 59-33 lead,
it appeared the game was
out of reach, but St. Mary’s
mounted a comeback, going
on a 12-0 run to end the
quarter.
St. Mary’s continued its
strong play early in the fourth
quarter, cutting its deficit
to eight points, leading to a
time-out by Francis Lewis.
The Patriots scored coming
out of the time-out to
push lead back to 10 points
at 62-52.
The teams swapped baskets
before Francis Lewis
clamped down on defense
and converted some late free
throws to secure the 69-61
victory.
“I feel like we contributed
really well on defense and although
at the end we started
to slack a little bit, we ended
up getting the win anyway,
which was a good thing,”
Bland said after the game.
“It was like a tale of two
halves,” Francis Lewis coach
Gerald Ciarleglio said. “The
first half we controlled the
tempo and we got them doing
what we wanted them to do. In
the second half, we lost that.
We lost our edge and our intensity
for a long strip there.
“We are still learning
how to close out games,” he
added. “Since we were so
young for so many years, we
are used to playing from behind.
But now that we were
up by 20, we let them come
from behind, so we have to
get better at that.”
Tyriek Primus takes jumper during a 2018 NYC Snowball Classic game between Francis Lewis and St.
Mary’s. See photos on Page 49. Photo by Robert Cole
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