Scholastic Roundup: He’s the king at Kingsborough

March 10, 2024 Andy Furman

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The NJCAA Region XV announced its awards for the 2023-24 women’s basketball season, and Kingsborough’s Brendon Bain was named the 2024 NJCAA Division III Region XV Coach of the Year, as voted upon by the league’s head coaches.

Bain led Kingsborough to one of its best seasons in recent memory. Kingsborough is 16-6 overall, reaching the finals of the 2024 CUNYAC Community College Women’s Basketball Championship Game for the first time since 2020 while securing the No. 3 seed in the NJCAA Region XV Women’s Basketball Championship.

Tionna Davis, freshman from the School for Human Rights, was named the 2024 CUNYAC Player of the Year and to the NJCAA All-Region First Team.

Kingsborough’s Jayden Vega, a freshman from Lincoln High School, was the 2024 CUNYAC Rookie of the Year and was named to the All-Region Second Team with teammate Kayla Wilson.

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Medgar Evers College boasted its own CUNYAC Coach of the Year for men’s and women’s indoor track and field mentor, Hugh Reid. He led both squads to CUNYAC championships in his first season. For the women, the Cougars captured their first championship since 2004, ending a 20-year drought. The Cougars’ men’s unit solidified its first title ever under Reid.

On the men’s side, Jahiem Johnson was voted the conference’s Track Athlete of the Year. This past season, Johnson set two school records in both 300m and 600m. He captured the CUNYAC Track Athlete of the Week honors six times and won the CUNYAC Rookie of the Week award twice.

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Johnson currently ranks first amongst senior colleges in 60m, 200m and 4x400m; second in the 400m and third in the DMR. At the CUNYAC championships he won the 200m, placed second in the 400m and placed third in the 60m.

For the Cougars’ women’s team, Nana Samake was voted the CUNYAC Track Athlete of the Year. Samake is currently ranked first in the 500m, second in the 300m, first in the 800m, second in the mile and second in the 4x400m.

She has been named Track Athlete of the Week four times, setting school records in both the mile, 3k and 5k this season. At the CUNYAC championships, Samake finished first in the 800m, second in the mile, and third in the 3k. She then came back and competed as a member of the second-place 4x400m relay.

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Desireth Ramirez captured the conference’s Rookie of the Year. In her first season with the Cougars, Ramirez is currently ranked first in the 200m, second in the 60m, third in the 60m. At the CUNYAC championships, she placed first in the 200m, third in the 60m, third in the 60m hurdles, fourth in the LJ (long jump) and fifth in the TJ (triple jump).

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The seventh class of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) of Brooklyn and Queens Hall of Famers was recently announced, and Father Joseph Gibino, the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo, Brooklyn Heights, is a member of the new induction class.

Father Gibino also serves as the vicar of evangelization and catechism in the Diocese of Brooklyn. His leadership has been instrumental in contributing to the organization’s growth during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic; and his background in education has spanned nearly five decades.

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Alyssa Fisher, who led St. Francis College women’s basketball team in scoring last season — the very last season in intercollegiate play — led Loyola University of Chicago in scoring this season with her 13.3 points-per-game average.

A graduate student, the 5-7 guard scored a season-high 28 and 24 in two games against St. Bonaventure, 26 against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. and 20 against Cleveland State.

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Not a bad first season for Megan Campbell, the rookie women’s basketball coach at Brooklyn College. The women’s team closed out their season, falling to NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament opening-round host Bates College, 66-51, last Friday night. Winning their fourth straight CUNYAC Championship to earn an automatic bid to the event, Brooklyn ends their season with an 18-9 overall record (12-2 CUNYAC).

Earning CUNYAC Championship MVP honors just a week earlier, senior guard Alina Estrella, paced the Bulldogs with a team-high 11 points. “Coming to a new program in my final year, this season has meant everything to me,” she said in the post-game news conference. “I couldn’t be happier. I was able to win a conference championship with my high school (James Madison) teammates, (Ericka and Sarah James).”

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Brooklyn College junior guard Malik Dale earned First-Team CUNYAC All-Star honors. In addition, senior guard, Serge Thraysbule, was selected for the conference’s Sportsmanship Team.
Dale led Brooklyn in scoring with a 15.9-points-per-game average — fifth in CUNYAC. He scored 30 in a CUNYAC win at John Jay, scored 20 points or better in nine contests, and scored 30 points or better in three. His season high of 32 came against Kean in non-conference play.

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Medgar Evers College was well represented on the CUNYAC All-Star squads with four student-athletes, including women’s basketball players Sheily Quezada (First Team), Aaliyah Lyons (Rookie of the Year), Anamaria Dzagnidze (Sportsmanship Team honoree), and men’s basketball standout Derek Wicker (Sportsmanship Team member) earning distinctions.

For the second consecutive season, Sheily Quezada took the CUNYAC by storm. The sophomore registered 16 double-doubles in 22 games. She scored 17 points or more nine times, while also netting 27 points or more on four occasions.

Quezada led all players in NCAA Division III in blocks per game (4.9) and total blocks with 108. The EBS High School for Public Service in Bushwick is fifth in rebounds per game (13.6), 10th in offensive boards per contest (5.0), and 15th in total rebounds (300). She also tied for 12th in the nation with a whopping 16 double-doubles.

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Aaliyah Lyons is a three-time CUNYAC Rookie of the Week honoree, and she started every game for Medgar Evers this season and led the team in assists (60) and steals (54).

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Senior forward Destiny Hurt represented St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn on the 2023-24 Skyline Conference Women’s Basketball All-Conference Team, earning a spot on the Second Team.

Hurt was one of three Bears to start in all 25 contests this season. Her team-leading 19 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per outing were good for the second and seventh place in the league, respectively. She netted her 1,000th point in Division III basketball at Mount Saint Vincent in January, a game in which she finished with 15 points.

She capped off her career with back-to-back 27-point games against Yeshiva and Farmingdale State and 30 points against Mount Saint Mary.

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Junior Kylie Grant posted game-highs in points and rebounds as the Pratt Institute women’s basketball team saw their 2023-24 campaign come to a close with a 68-34 defeat to Purchase College, last week.

Grant registered her 12th double-double of the season with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Almudena Valenzuela had seven points. Named to the All-C2C First Team. Grant heads into her season season with 1,048 points. Pratt ends its season at 0-18 — they begin play in the Atlantic East Conference next season.

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Four Cannoneers scored in double figures and the No. 5-seeded Pratt Institute men’s basketball team shrank a 16-point deficit down to four in the final minute before suffering a 67-58 defeat to No. 4-seeded University of California, Santa Cruz in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship at the University of Mary Washington, last week.

Cameron Windt led Pratt with 1 3 points; and Thomas Van Triere added 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists in his final collegiate game. Patrick O’Gorman added 10 points to finish his collegiate career with 1,146 points. Pratt concludes their season with an 8-17 record.

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