Boys High looking to return to its winning tradition

February 4, 2015 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Gianna Ford has always been talented, but now that he’s a junior he may be good enough to carry his team deep into the playoffs this season. Photo by Rob Abruzzese.

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The Boys and Girls Kangaroos are now in third place in the Public School Athletic League Brooklyn AA division after a strong defensive second half propelled them to a 70-59 victory over the South Shore Vikings in Bedford Stuyvesant last Friday.

After leading for most of the first quarter, the Kangaroos trailed 36-30 and looked defeated headed into the locker room before halftime. That’s when head coach Ruth Lovelace let her team know how poorly they played.

“It was an intense speech in the locker room during halftime,” said senior Jamie Killings. “You don’t want to get under coach Love’s skin because when she yells, you know that she’s real mad. She told us to bear down on defense and turn our defense into our offense. That’s what we did.”

That sparked a great comeback for the Kangaroos (6-5) that showed off how dangerous they can be when they’re playing well. Guards Gianni Ford, Nehemiah Boone and Jamir Cheek overwhelmed the South Shore (6-7) offense and fed their own forwards, Killings, Jaquan Lightfoot and Anthony Cadogan, who took care of the ball down low.

As a result, South Shore only managed to score 11 in the third quarter and 12 in the fourth, a stretch that made Boys High’s defense look as good as any team in Brooklyn.

“That’s what we ask of the kids — to let our defense create our offense and today it did,” Lovelace said.

Boys and Girls won three consecutive PSAL championships from 2010 through 2012. However, the school has quickly been disregarded as a powerhouse in New York City as it failed to go deep into the playoffs during the last two seasons while the school itself has often been in the news for its poor performance. Now the Kangaroos are using this what-have-you-done-lately mentality as motivation for a deep playoff run this season.

“We hear people count us out and it seems like every week there is another rumor that the school is going to close,” Ford said. “It makes it tough, but it also motivates us. When I came here as a freshman this school had a winning legacy, a big history, and now we’re trying to get it back there.”

Lovelace, who is in her 21st season as head coach, said she is fine if people want to write Boys High off after missing the finals for two seasons. She added that results matter much more than how much hype surrounding a team.

“I haven’t seen anybody that makes you say — ‘whoa,’” Lovelace said. “I just haven’t seen it.

This is my 21st year. We’ve been to the playoffs 20 straight years. We’ve been successful, we’ve won three city titles and a state championship. Until you win it, you’re talking too much. You don’t get no credit until you win it.”

Lovelace expects that if teams aren’t ready for Boys and Girls, they might be in for an upset. It’s best player, Gianni Ford, is now a junior and has averaged 20.3 points and 6.4 assists per game in 11 league games this season. He’s also playing alongside better guards than he has in the past two seasons.

Forward Jamie Killings, the only player left from the school’s championship run, also has much more help up front than he has over the last couple of years. Killings called Jaquan Lightfoot the gel that holds the team together and said that the experienced they have gained over the last couple of years has made them as good a front court as anybody in the city.

“Each piece that we added fit right into what we had,” Killings said. “We took two years off, but we’re back and we just want to show everybody that this is still our city.”