Scholastic Roundup: History repeats itself for the Midwood Hornets

December 22, 2023 Andy Furman

Scholastic Roundup logo

Share this:

The Midwood High School Hornets lost against the Engineers of Brooklyn Tech back in January, and unfortunately, they wound up with the same result last week.

Midwood took a 64-51 hit to the loss column at the hands of Tech. And Tech’s win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Baseer Mirza, who scored 19 points along with six rebounds. That’s the first time this season that Mirza scored 15-or-more points.

Another player making a difference was Luke Opalack, who dropped a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Midwood’s defeat dropped their record to 1-3. As for Brooklyn Tech, the victory was their third in-a-row bringing their record to 4-1.

Bouncing the ball around Brooklyn: Brooklyn Collegiate lost to Eagle Academy High School II, 64-66 last week. And Eagle Academy II won again defeating Boys and Girls High School, 71-52.

Wagner High School topped Canarsie 65-62. Cobble Hill rolled Bishop Loughlin, 106-48.

Everett Kelley truly calls Brooklyn’s George Westinghouse High School home. He’s coached the school’s basketball team for over 20 years – and he’s a graduate of the school.

Davon Blake, a 5-10 sophomore guard is a key performer for the squad. “He’s athletic and physical,” the coach writes. “His physicality makes him hard to defend off the dribble. Adding the floater to his game makes him a more creative finisher at the rim.”

Senior guard, 5-10 Zyon Wilson is athletic, Kelley says. “His change of speeds makes him explosive off the dribble. He shoots the three and pull-up jump shots as well. He is also an athletic defender.”

Senior guard, 5-10 Kevon Daniel is a speedy, physical and athletic guard that gets to the rim, Kelley notes.

And Carmine Andrews-Bain, a 6-3 senior guard is a great offensive and defensive rebounder, according to his coach. “He is an athletic shot-blocker who defends the rim with his quick leaping ability. He is one of the top underrated rim defenders in the PSAL,” Kelley says.

Medgar Evers College Prep topped A-Tech 72-56 last week – it was the most points Prep scored in a game this season.

Dejon Williams continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 21 points along with seven rebounds and six assists. The team also got help from Joshua Edwards who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Uncommon High made easy work of Leon Goldstein High School, 58-33 last week. That marked back-to-back wins for Uncommon.

Medgar Evers College Preps’ win bumped their record to 8-1. As for Uncommon, they now have a winning record of 4-3.

The Prep was taken-down by Uncommon, 62-29 in their previous matchup back in February, 2019.

Henry Lam, a basketball star in his own right, and now a senior citizen and still officiating PSAL basketball games, had some comments after reading the “Gym Rat” of P.S.11 – Mark Collins.

“P.S. 11, coincidentally, was once a hotbed for outstanding basketball players, many years ago,” Lam wrote. “That school produced a great basketball player who went on to make First Team All-City in 1975-76 for Lafayette High School, coached by Gil Fershtman and Dave “Ditto” Tawil,” Lam continued.

“That team lost to Canarsie High School in the PSAL Championship game. The player — Earl Nesbit.”

Former LIU Athletic Director, Jerry Donner is excited to report from Florida about the South Florida Basketball Association luncheon, set for Wednesday, January 17th at the Broken Sound Club.

Donner says the Willis Reed Courage Award will go to Israel’s Mr., Basketball, Tal Brody; NBA Hall of Famer via Boys High – Lenny Wilkens will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; Miami Heat’s TV color commentator, Tony Fiorentino gets the South Florida Man of the Year honor and there will be a special tribute to Shaquille O’Neal.

“Tables are filling up and tickets are going fast,” Donner writes. Donner may be contacted at: [email protected].

The 2023 Academic All-District Women’s Volleyball Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom.

Senior Gabby Genduso, junior Olivia Julich and sophomores Emily Sontag and Emma Leavey all represented Pratt Institute and are the first in program history to receive the distinction.

The quartet each maintained a 3.5 cumulative grade-point average or-better and was a significant contributor to the team leading the Cannoneers to a berth in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference quarterfinals for the second-straight year as the team finished with a 10-13 overall record.

Julich, a two-time C2C Player of the Week, cumulated her junior years with her second All-C2C Second Team selection averaging 2.95 kills and .64 blocks-per-set. Genduso graduates with over 1,000 assists and was third in the league in both assists per-set (5.69) and aces-per-set (.58). Leavey ranked in the top 10 in the C2C in digs-per-set (3.22) while Sontag was in the top 20 in kills-per-set (1.74).

The City University of New York Athletic Conference tabbed Medgar-Evers’ Jahiem Johnson, as Athlete-of-the-Week and Rupert Luard-Charles earned men’s indoor track Rookie of Week.

Johnson turned in an impressive performance producing CUNY’s fastest time in the 200-m (23.44) at last weeks Art Kaddish Elm City Challenge in New Haven, Conn.

Rupert Luard-Charles earned the conference’s top rookie distinction with a fantastic effort in the 400-m, as he posted CUNY’s fastest time (53.02). The Cougars’ men’s indoor track and field team returns to action January 6th in the USM Open II in Gotham, Maine.

Veteran Nana Samake captured the Athlete of the Week in the CUNY Athletic Conference for the Medgar Evers women’s track and field squad. Freshman Nia Butler earned the Field Athlete of the Week, and finally it was Desireth Ramirez earning Rookie of the Week honors.

Samake put on a tremendous performance competing in her first meet this season. In the mile, she was the league’s fastest finisher (6:07.13). Butler turned in the league’s best performance in the weight throw with a heave of 8.56 meters. She also recorded a toss of 7.12 meters in the shot-put event.

Ramirez recorded the league’s fastest finish in the 200-m (28.12) She also finished the 60-m hurdles in 8.51.

Next meet, January 6th in Gotham, Maine – the USM Open II.

James Madison High’s Rachel Meltsin was one of three St. Joseph’s University (Brooklyn) women volleyball players named to the 2023 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. The trio are the first set of Bears in recorded history to earn the honor from CSC. Meltsin totaled 0.57 aces-per-set – totaling 31 – while dishing out 297 assists. The navy and gray boast a 3-1 record in matches where the setter logged a double-double; including 33 assists and 13 digs in a triumph over SUNY Maritime. In the classroom, Meltsin majors in political science and holds a cumulative GPA of 3.82.

Rachel Guerra and Jillian McGinty were the others honored from St. Joseph’s.

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