Scholastic Roundup: Brooklyn hoopsters making noise in this week’s Max Prep poll

February 10, 2023 Andy Furman

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Brooklyn high school basketball teams earned eight spots in this week’s Max Prep’s Top 25 – headed by South Shore ranked second with their 10-2 PSAL mark. They’re followed by Jefferson (3); Brooklyn Collegiate (4); Cobble Hill (12); Canarsie (14); Eagle Academy II (15); Brooklyn Tech (16) and the Kangaroos of Boys and Girls High School (24).

Midwood defeated FDR 53-40 last week—but Midwood coach Vic Gjecaj wasn’t able to handle the coaching. “It was Senior Day and Midwood’s last home game of the season,” writes Glenn Thomas, the FDR coach. “Earlier in the day,” he continues, “Coach Gjecaj was putting up a large sign in the gym to honor the seniors and subsequently tore his Achilles tendon in the process.”

Midwood jayvee coach Brandon Bennett stepped-in and coached the Hornets to victory. “It was Bennett’s first on the varsity level,” Thomas said.

Thomas says he’s still trying to accept the fact LIU’s athletic teams are the Sharks – and no longer the Blackbirds.

Former Nazareth High basketball coach Todd Jamison is assistant coach to Brian Nigro at Medgar Evers College.

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Frank Jessie, who played at Akron St. Vincent High School and the University of Akron, has coached basketball at every level from junior high school to college (Division I). In fact, the Akron native says he played against Albie Grant and the LIU Blackbirds in the NCAA College Division Tournament in Evansville, Ind. in 1966. “I was a member of the Akon Zips,” he said. “There were some great nicknames in that tournament. Besides the Blackbirds and Zips, you had the Purple Aces, Salukis, Purple Knights, Fighting Sioux and the Stormy Petrels to name a few.”

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This comes courtesy of Hal McCoy, Hall of Fame baseball writer for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News:

He says, “If your name is Miller, you just might be a basketball coach.”

There is Sean Miller at Xavier University and his brother, Archie, former University of Dayton coach now at Rhode Island. And there is Wes Miller at the University of Cincinnati. There is Bruce Miller at Trine University (formerly Tri-State University in Angola, Ind.) and Jon Miller at Hanover College. There’s Dan Miller, he continues, who won 20-or-more games three times in seven years at Division III LeTourneau University (Longview, Texas) before he quit to take a high school job at San Marcos ISD.

Pat Miller is in his 22nd year as coach at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater and has won two NCAA championships and owns more than 400 wins. And a guy named Mike Miller won 572 games at Hohonegah High School in Rockville, Ill.

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Brooklyn College senior guard Gianna Gotti has been named the City University of New York Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week – it’s the fourth time Gotti has earned the weekly honor.

In two conference games last week (2-0) she averaged 30.5 points-per-game, 6.5 assists and six rebounds.

She scored a career-high 38 points in the win over John Jay.

Brooklyn’s men’s volleyball team was picked fifth in this year’s Preseason Coaches Poll. Baruch was picked to win their third-straight title, followed by Hunter, CCNY and John Jay. The Bulldogs are off to a 3-3 start under first-year coach Joel Anabilah-Azumah.

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Medgar Evers College men’s basketball team was well represented on this week’s CUNYAC weekly team. Senior forward/center Mousa Sinera was named Player of the Week and freshman Jacob Green was the conference’s top rookie.

In last week’s overtime loss to Hunter, Sinera snatched 43 rebounds – the most in a single-game in NCAA Division III history. The previous mark of 36 was shared by Clinton Montford of Methodist who did it in 1989 against Warren Wilson. Mark Veenstra did while a performer at Calvin against Colorado State -Pueblo in 1976. The all-time record of 53 is held by Jim Roberts (Sewanee) against Lambuth in 1958.

Sinera pulled-down 21 rebounds against York College last Friday becoming the second Cougar in program history to record 1,000 rebounds.

As for Green, he knocked-down 10 threes against Hunter and finished with a career-high 35 points.

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Sophomore Siena Sujitno turned in the top performance for Pratt Institute men’s and women’s track and field teams at the NYU DIII Invitational Friday evening at the Armory in Manhattan. The lone Cannoneer finals qualifier on the night, she took seventh-place in the 60-meter dash (8.23). Sophomore Christina Sancho-Spore broke the school record in the 800-meters (2:31.12). For the men, Thomas Perrone turned in his personal best in the 800-meter (2:01.50) and Bruce Westgate recorded a personal best in the mile (4:40.38). Pratt competes in the Big Apple Invitational Saturday (tomorrow) at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island.

Pratt’s basketball junior Patrick ‘O’Gorman scored 14 points and pushed his career-mark to 998 points last week in a 70-49 loss to the College of Mount Saint Vincent. Sophomore Cameron Hatcher recorded his sixth double-double of the season – 10 points and 12 rebounds.

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A total of 33 St. Joseph’s University student-athletes were represented on the Fall 2022 Skyline Conference Academic Honor Roll – five hail from Brooklyn:

Joshua Gordon, Cross-Country, junior (Bishop Loughin); Justin Jawad, Cross-Country, junior (Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies.

Women’s Cross-Country: Danielle Bourne, sophomore. (Christ the King).

Women’s Volleyball: Danielle Bourne, sophomore (Christ the King); Kaitlyn Intindola, senior (Bishop Kearney) and Rachel Meltsin, freshman (James Madison).

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The LIU men’s hockey team has established new program records for consecutive wins and wins-in-a-season.

LIU, with back-to-back wins over Stonehill last weekend, has now won five straight games – the longest winning streak in the program’s three-season existence. Last Saturday, Josh Zary and Adam Goodsir had two goals apiece to pace the Sharks. Jordan Di Cicco, Nolan Welsh, Jack Quinn, Riley Wallack and Gustav Muller also scored in the 9-1 victory.

The Sharks host Alaska Fairbanks tonight and Saturday at Northwell Ice Center.

A pair of LIU women’s hockey standouts are back in their native Sweden this week attempting to earn spots with their national team for the IIHF World Women’s Championship.

After clinching the NEWHA regular-season title with the Sharks last weekend, defenseman Paula Bergstrom and goaltender Tindra Holm left Sunday for a week-long camp with Sweden’s national team.

The IIHF World Women’s Championship will be held April 5-16 in Brampton, Ontario.

Bergstrom, a 5-foot-8 native of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, represented her native country at the IIHF Women’s World Championship last summer in Demark. She is a four-time NEWHA Defensive Player of the Week selection this season and has three goals and 11 assists in 25 games.

Holm, a 5-8 sophomore from Skelleftea, Sweden, is a semifinalist for the NCAA National Women’s Goalie of the Year. She represented Sweden at a Five Nations tourney in December. Holm is a four-time NEWHA Goaltender of the Week selection this season and owns a 1.87 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage.

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The Northeast Conference (NEC) recognized St. Francis guard Tedrick Wilcox, Jr. as a Prime Performer as part of the league’s weekly awards. This is the third weekly award for Wilcox, Jr. this season. He scored 16 points against Central Connecticut State and 17 against conference leader – Stonehill. The seniors is averaging 12.3 ppg.

The backcourt duo of Alyssa Fisher and Tyra Myers were named NEC Prime Performers this week. Fisher had a team-high 25 points against Central Connecticut State and added 12 against Stonehill. She’s been recognized seven times by the conference in weekly awards.

Myers scored 13 against the Blue Devils and 21 against Stonehill.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR