Scholastic Roundup: Gil Fershtman to be honored

December 20, 2024 Andy Furman

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To honor the memory of legendary St. John’s University basketball coach Lou Carnesecca, the South Florida Basketball Association has established the Lou Carnesecca Lifetime Achievement in Coaching Award.

That award will go to a coach who, throughout his/her career, emphasized all the traits — discipline, empathy and knowledge — that it takes to be the complete coach.

The unanimous choice for the first annual award is Gil Fershtman, the former basketball coach at Lafayette High School. He is a paragon of virtue and was honored by the New York City Coaches Association as Man of the Year. In addition to coaching basketball, he won two city championships as Lafayette High’s baseball coach, and after becoming chairman of the Physical Education Department at James Madison High School, he took their girls’ softball team to a city title.

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The SFBA Legends Charity Luncheon is set for Wednesday, Jan. 15 at Broken Sound Club in Boca Raton, Fla. Syracuse University and NBA All-Star Derrick Coleman will receive the Willis Reed Courage Award; and legendary University of Cincinnati and West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins will receive the Lenny Wilkens Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Talk about a baseball connection; Howard Kellman who has called Indianapolis Indians baseball for 50-plus years sends this along. The 1983 Indians — a Cincinnati Reds Triple-A Team — up the middle included Dallas Williams, center field, Lincoln High School; Willie Lozado, shortstop, Jefferson High School; Johnny Franco, pitcher, Lafayette High School; and how can we forget? Kellman is a Sheepshead High grad.
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Bishop Loughlin High boys’ soccer team topped Cristo Rey, 2-1 on Senior Night. The event seniors Tomar Brown; Justin Charles; Charles Phillips; Joel Vassell; Bassyla Wague; Grayson Washington; Dwayne Williams; Ethan Wolman, captain; Chris Calle Cardenas, captain; and managers Madysen Seale and Tyzhani Seals.

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When Medgar Evers College Prep blew Uncommon High out of the water with a 51-20 thrashing last week, it was the biggest win the Prep has posted since Dec. 27, 2023. Tyree Keitt almost dropped a double-double in the win on 17 points and nine rebounds. Those nine boards gave him a new career-high. Noah Scobie put up 15 points.
Adams Street Academy won against A-Tech with 82 points last week, and they came back on Wednesday night with an 82-33 victory over Boerum Hill.
Lincoln escaped with a 65-64 win over South Shore last week — previously the Railsplitters had gone 1-8 against the Vikings.
There is no place like home for Canarsie High, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Saturday. They escaped with a 69-66 victory over Curtis, Tuesday.
Tilden High is 0-4 against Frank J. Macchiarola High School since February of 2018 — the Blue Devils were dealt an 84-17 defeat at the hands of Brooklyn College Academy last week. Meanwhile, Frank J. Macchiarola came up short against Prospect Heights and fell, 76-67.

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Victor Naci (Bordeaux, France) of the St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn men’s soccer team has earned a spot on the prestigious 2024 Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Third Team. Naci was crowned the Skyline Conference Offensive Player of the Year for the second time in three seasons following a 14-goal campaign, good for second in the league. The senior forward became the program’s record scorer against NYU in September. With seven goals scored against Mount Saint Vincent alone — three in the regular season and four in the first-round of the Skyline Championships — along with braces against SUNY Maritime and Sarah Lawrence, Naci now has 50 career goals.

The St. Joseph’s, Brooklyn men’s basketball team opened their Skyline Conference in the win column defeating the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, 69-61, Saturday – Colin Mills led the Bears with 16 points. They next meet Farmingdale State College, Saturday, January 4th.

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The Brooklyn College women’s basketball team held their opponent to 15.8% shooting and cruised to a 68-28 non-conference win over SUNY Polytechnic, Friday at the West Quad Center. Anna Kitch led all scorers with 13 points. The Bulldogs head to California to meet Chapman University on Dec. 28, and Whittier College on Dec. 30.

Brooklyn’s men dropped a 74-54 decision to Stevens Tech. Malik Dale had 14 for the Bulldogs, who have now lost their last six (3-7) and return to action on Jan. 4 against William Patterson University.

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A timely basket from Janessa Williams gave the LIU Sharks a chance to send the game into overtime, where they edged Delaware State 65-63 last Sunday in Brooklyn. Brianna Mead sealed the victory with two free throws in the closing moments. Sirviva Legions led the Sharks with 17 points; Williams added 13 and a team-high nine rebounds. The Sharks travel to Richmond, Va. (Dec. 21) to meet VCU.

LIU’s men’s hockey team heads into the holiday break on a high note after sweeping Stonehill last weekend to improve to 4-0 at home. It marks the first-time in program history LIU has opened its home schedule with four consecutive wins.

They had a 5-2 win at Notre Dame, nine regular-season wins before the break, and now the Sharks are receiving votes in the USCHO Division I Men’s Hockey Poll. The Sharks received four votes this week as they inch closer to securing a spot in the Top 20 ranking for the first-time in program history. They return to action Dec. 29 at Brown University before hosting Holy Cross at the Northwell Health Ice Center on Dec. 31.

John Arceri becomes the youngest NCAA Division I head wrestling coach in the country — he was promoted to the head spot at LIU earlier this week. He originally joined the Sharks’ staff as an assistant coach in 2022. At Nassau Community College, Arceri became a national qualifier and contributed to Nassau’s victory in the 2018 Division III National Championship. He continued his wrestling career at the University of Buffalo, where he became a national qualifier once again after finishing fourth in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championships. During his prep career at Huntington High School, he was a state champion, two-time state finalist and four-time county champion.

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Cameron Windt scored a career-high 29 points to lead four Cannoneers in double figures, and the Pratt Institute men’s basketball team erased a 13-point, second-half deficit before dropping an 84-82 non-conference decision to York College (NY) Saturday at the Activity Resource Center.

Windt had seven three-pointers and shot 9-of-19 from the field for his career-best outing. Mekhi Davis had 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Justin Caver recorded his first collegiate double-double with12 points and 10 assists, also pulling down four rebounds.

Playing in his final game in a Pratt uniform and honored in pregame ceremonies, Ace Bibbs had a near double-double with 14 points, a team-high nine rebounds and three steals.

Next up for the Cannoneers is their inaugural Atlantic East Conference test at Centenary University, Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 1 pm.

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