Scholastic Roundup: Nazareth Cagers top the borough

February 16, 2024 Andy Furman

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The Kingsmen of Nazareth Regional High School — winners of 17 of their first 23 basketball contests — are the sixth-ranked team in the latest New York State MaxPrep standings.

Other Brooklyn schools making the list included South Shore, 15-7 (47th); McKinney School of Art, 12-1 (60th); Banneker Academy, 15-1 (85th); Jefferson, 13-10 (106th) and Brooklyn Community Arts and Media, 10-4 (127th).

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Brooklyn Tech has four performers in the New York boys’ basketball points per 32 stat leaders: Shooting guard Troy Hornbeck is averaging 16.9 points per game — good for 15th in the state; Chadwyck Beckford, at 14.2, is ranked 22nd; Baseer Mirza is 39th at 9.7 per game; and Luke Opalack is averaging 9.0 per-game good for the 42nd spot.

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High-scoring performances have become commonplace in the NBA this season with Luka Doncic posting 73 points, Joel Embid notching 72, Giannis Antetokounmpo netting 64 and Devin Booker tossing in 62, just to name a few.

Surprisingly, however, few NBA players ever scored 60 or more points in a single game at the high school level. In fact, using a list of highest-scoring high school games compiled by LuckyShow.org, it’s been determined that a future NBA player has scored 60 or more points in a game 64 times over the past 75 years.

DaJuan Wagner of Camden, N.J. had the highest totals; with his 100-point effort in 2001. He also had an 80-point game in 2000, making him the only player on the list with two games of 80 or more. Wagner had a short NBA career due to illness after being drafted No. 6 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002.

Current Charlotte Hornet point guard LaMelo Ball is next on the list with 92 points in 2017. Ball is joined in the 90s by Wilt Chamberlain of Overbrook, Philadelphia. Chamberlain famously scored 100 points in an NBA game and has three games of 70 or more on the list.

Billy Cunningham scored 61 points playing for Erasmus Hall, January 23, 1961 – the opponent Alexander Hamilton High — the score 140-42, Erasmus.

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Brooklyn Tech took a serious blow against Achievement First, falling 87-57 Friday.

Despite the loss, the Engineers still got an impressive performance from Troy Hornbeck, who scored 19 points. Chadwyck Beckford was another key contributor with 15.

Tech’s loss dropped their record to 10-7. As for Achievement First, the win got them back to an even 8-8.

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Pratt Institute junior Kylie Grant scored 16 points and joined the coveted 1,000-point scoring club as the women’s basketball team fell to Berkeley College, 66-36, Sunday afternoon in their final home game of the 2023-24 season at the Activities Resource Center.

Grant needed nine points to reach the plateau and hit the milestone with a layup at the 8:18 mark of the fourth quarter. She also pulled down seven rebounds and swiped three steals.

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The St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn women’s basketball team cruised to a 93-44 defeat of Purchase College, Saturday afternoon at the Hill Center.

Destiny Hurt, the Bears’ lone senior, was honored prior to the game. She finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and as many steals.

For the third consecutive year, St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn saw a record 33 fall student-athletes named to the Skyline Conference Academic Honor Roll.

Women’s soccer produced a department-leading nine honorees followed by men’s soccer’s eight. Twenty Bears have earned the distinction on multiple occasions. Three student-athletes – women’s cross country’s Kristen Donovan and Jessica Mecham, as well as women’s volleyball’s Rachel Guerra — earned 4.0 GPA’s in the fall.

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The Medgar Evers College women’s basketball team dropped their final home game of the season last Friday evening, falling to the Bulldogs of Brooklyn College, 75-43, at the Cougar Cave.

Prior to the game, the Medgar Evers Department of Athletics honored seniors Mariame Gueye and Anamaria Dzagnidze, commemorating their years of service to the women’s basketball program.

Despite the loss, sophomore Sheily Quezada posted yet another double-double, scoring a team-high 15 points while leading all players with 11 rebounds.

Brooklyn College was paced by senior guard Ericka James’ game-high 19 points.

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Shooting a perfect six-for-six from the free-throw line to ice the contest in the :21 seconds of regulation, the Brooklyn College men’s basketball team pulled out their third straight win at Medgar Evers, 70-64, Friday.

BC sweeps the CUNYAC Battle of Brooklyn with the win.

Junior guard Stephon McGill led the way offensively, finishing with a game-high 18 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds. Malik Dale finished with 17 points.

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Syd Morris won the all-around and the LIU women’s gymnastics team finished second of New York State programs at the Empire State Collegiate Challenge, Sunday afternoon.

Morris won the all-around with a total score of 38.625 and tied for first with a pair of Cornell gymnasts in the beam at 9.925.

LIU had three of the top five finishers in the vault — Morris (second, 9.85), Lauren Miller (fourth, 9.775) and AnnaLisa Page (9.750).

Teammates Alina Danilchenko and Morris tied for second in the floor exercise, each scoring 9.875.

In the uneven bars, which has been a bugaboo for the Sharks, Brisa Carraro finished second at 9.775.

Brockport won the Empire State Challenge with a score of 193.025, followed by the Sharks (192.500), host Cornell (192.075), Cortland (191.225), Ithaca (189.050) and Utica (184.325).

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LIU’s swim teams celebrated 24 seniors who swam in their last meet at the LIU pool before heading to the Northeast Conference Championships: Joe Alfonzo, Troy Cassera, Dani Chocano Fernandez, Lovro Dodik, Trajan Houston, Benny Karlsson, Marcell Matyiko, Alejandro Pascual Del Cid, Daniel Samouilich, Stephen Taylor, Giannis Venetos, Femke Backx, Itzky Gonzalez Rojas, Amaya Henry, Mariajose Lopez Lizarraga, Claire McFerrin, Caitlin Rappaport, Ana Sali, Bella Seagrave, Rea Shehu, Zoe Szczesiul, Maddy Tyson, Alycia Weber and Rylee Worley.

Lopez Lizarraga was dominant in the distance races, grabbing victories in the 500-meter freestyle (5:10.35), 1,000-meter freestyle (10:28.73) and 1,650-meter freestyle (17.25.43).

Chocano Fernandez won the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:44.30.

Venetos was victorious in the 100-merter breaststroke with a 58.08.

Pascual Del Cid was the winner of the 50-yard freestyle, finishing in 21.56.

Emilio Garcia won the 100-yard freestyle in 47.90.

The team of Kia Moerk, Seagrave, Gonzalez Rojas and Worley won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:17.99.