Scholastic Roundup: For the Prep, it just wasn’t enough

February 9, 2024 Andy Furman

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Medgar Evers College Prep pushed their score all the way to 63 last Tuesday, but that wasn’t enough to win. They took a 74-63 hit in the loss column at the hands of Frank J. Macchiarola.

The loss doesn’t tell the whole story, though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Joshua Edwards, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 13 rebounds. Another player making a difference was Dejon Williams, who scored 13 points along with six assists and five rebounds.

Meanwhile, Prospect Heights came up short against the two – and fell 57-50.

Medgar Evers College Prep’s defeat dropped their record down to 13-4. As for Prospect Heights, their loss dropped their record down to 4-8.

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The Pratt Institute men’s and women’s cross-country teams were recognized by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) with All-Academic Team honors.
In order to qualify for All-Academic distinction, teams must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.1 on a 4.0 scale, including the most recent grading period, among other qualifiers.

The women’s squad compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.487 while the men totaled a 3.190. In Division III, 234 women’s teams and 194 men’s teams received the distinction.

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Senior Christina Sancho-Spore finished in the Top 10 lowering her personal best in the women’s mile as the Pratt Institute track and field teams raced for the first time at the Armory at the NYU Division III Invitational Friday evening.

Sancho-Spore collected seventh place out of 56 runners with a time of 5:19.69, which is the second-best mile time in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, just .09 off the league best this season. Giovanna Lisa also ran a PR in the mile at 6:00.85, good for 36th place.

Siena Sujitno had another strong placing in the 60-meter checking in at 8.23 to take 15th place. Chris DeGaetano scored PR in the men’s 200-meter in 26.47 in 78th overall while Ella Ambroggio also lowered her personal best to 30.25, nabbing 56th place.

Ian Chen just missed his personal mark in the 800-meter by a split-second in 2:16.81 for 58th overall.
Dominic Paolini led four Cannoneers in the men’s mile with a time of 5:04.33, followed by Daniel Bhopaul’s season-best 5:23.79 and Andrew Weiss’ personal best 6:08.43.

Pratt returns to the Armory Saturday (Feb. 10th) for the Big Apple Invitational.

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The Pratt Institute men’s volleyball team picked up their first win of the season and first under head coach Alexander Moule with a straight-set triumph over York College, 25-10, 25-16, 25-14 last week at the Activities Resource Center.

Jason Raymond led all attackers with nine kills on a .500 hitting night to go along with four aces and a solo block. Max Wang and Wallace Hallot each contributed four kills and an ace.

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LIU baseball alum Justin Topa is on the move.
Topa, a right-handed reliever, was traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Minnesota Twins last week, along with right-handed starter Anthony DeSclafani and prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Brown for second baseman Jorge Polanco.

Topa, who participated just two weeks ago in an LIU Baseball alumni event at Topgolf in Edison, New Jersey, made 44 pitching appearances – 37 starts – with the Sharks from 2010 through 2013, picking up 20 career wins and 200 strikeouts. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 17th round in 2013. He has made a combined 92 career relief appearances with the Milwaukee Brewers and Mariners, compiling a 5-5 record, 3.81 ERA and three saves.

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LIU men’s hockey forward Jack Quinn is among 18 nominees for the Hockey Humanitarian Award.
The award, now in its 29th season, annually is presented to college hockey’s finest citizen – a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team, but also to the community through leadership in volunteerism.
The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation will present the winner on April 12th at the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn.
Quinn, a senior from Lancaster, Mass., has produced three goals and three assists in 21 games this season. His volunteerism includes working with youth players from Hockey in Harlem and Beaver Dam Winter Sports Club as well as assisting at the Massapequa Fire Department, where 15,000 meals were distributed to those in need across Long Island.

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Mariah Elohim scored a career-high 30 points as LIU’s women’s basketball team knocked off Chicago State, 80-71 Monday night at the Steinberg Wellness Center.

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The Medgar Evers women’s basketball team picked up a crucial CUNYAC victory at the Cougar Cave last week, topping the Beavers of City College, 58-52. With the win, the Cougars inched closer to solidifying a spot in the postseason.

Sophomore standout Sheily Quezada continued her dominance over the Beavers. Back on December 1st she scored a career-high 31 points while snatching 26 rebounds. This time she scored 30 points and collected a career-high 27 rebounds and blocked a team-high three shots; scored three, three pointers and had a pair of steals.

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The Brooklyn College men’s volleyball team bounced back from their first defeat of the season by defeating Sarah Lawrence, 3-1 (25-11, 24-26, 25-19, 25-23), in their first match on the road this season, Sunday.
Aaron Siu led the way with a match-high 16 kills while also coming up with four digs.

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Led by junior guard Malik Dale’s game-high 30 points, the Brooklyn College men’s basketball team rolled to a 77-54 conference victory at John Jay, Saturday.

Playing for first place in the conference standings, the Brooklyn College women’s basketball team took care of business defeating John Jay, 74-63 on the road, Saturday.

Four players reached double figures in scoring led by Alina Estrella’s team-high 14 points; she also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists.

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The Lady Bulldogs of BC dropped a 62-56 non-conference decision on the road to Jersey City State Monday night. Senior forward Sarah James scored a game-high 13 points, grabbed six rebounds and came up with three steals.

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In fourth place heading into the final day of the 2024 CUNYAC Championships, the Brooklyn College women’s swimming and diving team earned the points needed to finish third at the event’s close – the best finish in program history.
Hunter won the conference title finishing with 277 points followed by Baruch with 170. Championship host, Lehman College, paced fifth followed by York.

For the first time in program history, the Bulldogs will swim in Metro Championships at the Rutgers University Aquatic Center, February 16-18.

Erin Forrest swam to a pair of gold medals in the mile freestyle (19:59.50) and 100 freestyle (55.99). She also helped the Bulldogs to a bronze medal in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Gurveen Dhallu finished first for Brooklyn and fourth overall in the 200 backstroke. Anastasia Kutuzov swam to a bronze medal in the 200-yard breaststroke. Julie Huang earned four crucial points for BC in the 200 butterfly.
Forrest, Dhallu, Huang and Forrest clinched third place for the Bulldogs by earning a bronze medal in the final event of the day, the 400-freestyle relay.

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Senior guard Evan Sirakis crossed the 1,000-point threshold on Saturday afternoon at The Hill Center. He finished the game with 17 points however the St. Joseph’s University (Brooklyn) men’s basketball team suffered a 90-78 defeat against Purchase College.
Sirakis ended up with 13 points on the day.

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