Sports

Scholastic Roundup: Brooklyn’s best ballers

January 10, 2025 Andy Furman

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MaxPreps named its first high school basketball All-America team in 2006 when Greg Oden of Lawrence North was named National Player of the Year. Kevin Durant, Tywon Lawson, O.J. Mayo, and Brandon Wright joined him on the first team. Since then, more than 700 players in 38 states have etched their place in history by earning MaxPreps All-America honors.

Past honorees include NBA stars Bradley Beal (2011), DeMarcus Cousins (2008 and 2009), Anthony Davis (2011), DeMar DeRozan (2008), Kevin Durant (2008), Blake Griffin (2007), James Harden (2007), Kyrie Irving (2010), Kevin Love (2006 and 2007), Derrick Rose (2006 and 2007), D’Angelo Russell (2014), Ben Simmons (2014 and 2015), Karl-Anthony Towns (2014), Kemba Walker (2008) and NCAA AP Player of the Year Zion Williamson (2017 and 2018).

Brooklyn has been represented with four players with Lincoln High’s Lance Stephenson named to the squad in 2007, ’08 and ’09. Jayvaughn Pinkston, from Bishop Loughlin was a member of the 2010 squad; Lincoln’s Isaiah Whitehead was tabbed in 2014 and Shamorie Ponds from Jefferson was a 2016 member.
Selections are based on team success, individual production, and local, regional, and state honors from the recently-concluded season.
California leads the way with the most different players on the list with 68. Florida is second with 53 players represented and Texas (48), Georgia (43) and Virginia (37) round out the top five states represented on the list.

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It was a good run, but Canarsie High unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak, Friday. The Wolfpack fell to the Kingsmen of Nazareth Regional, 78-63. The Wolfpack were probably looking out for revenge after losing 77-47 to them when the teams met back in January of 2024.

Canarsie’s defeat dropped their record to 8-6. As for Nazareth, they pushed their record up to 6-3, which was their fourth-straight at home.

Medgar-Evers College Prep was the 62-52 winner over Prospect Heights when they last played one another back in February of 2024, but their luck changed this time around. Medgar Evers College Prep took a 65-53 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Prospect Heights Cardinals last week. Tyree Keitt posted 17 points and five steals in a losing cause. The game was Keitt’s fourth in-a-row with at least ten points. Medgar Evers College Prep falls to 4-5 with the loss; Prospect Heights bumps their season record to 5-2.

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Not only has Brooklyn’s St. Francis College dropped their athletic program, their former Remsen Street campus – including three buildings on Joralemon and Remsen – is set to be converted to a massive mixed-use project by Rockrose Development, reports The Real Deal. Rockrose purchased the campus in 2023 for $160 million after the college relocated to Livingston Street in 2022. The new project will include 747 housing units, retail space and a 131-car, 375-bike underground parking garage.

Interesting tidbit from Howard Kellman, the Sheepshead Bay High grad who has called Indianapolis Indians AAA baseball games on radio for more than 50 years. WBCR – Brooklyn College Radio – came into existence in 1968. In the Fall of 1970, Kellman’s freshman year, he did sportscasts for WBCR. “The following year,” he writes, “I convinced the station to let me announce the basketball, games. I took a trip to Hunter College – I wasn’t broadcasting that day – and met David Halberstam, Barry Kipnis and Mickey Morabito.”

That trio packaged, produced, and broadcast weekly City University basketball games on New York’s WNYC Radio (820-AM). The following year, Halberstam hired Kellman to broadcast St. John’s University games on WRVR (106.7 FM).

There is a Brooklyn flavor to the South Florida Basketball Association. The group’s Board of Directors includes former LIU Athletic Director, Jerry Donner, Erasmus Hall hoopster, Stu Kerzner, Lafayette basketball alumni, Alan (Oogie) Eganthal, and former Tilden High basketball coach, Jeff Schrier. The SFBA will hold its annual luncheon Wednesday, January 15th at the Broken Sound Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida. Among the honored guests will be Syracuse University and NBA star Derrick Coleman and former West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins.

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Jamal Fuller led three LIU Sharks scorers in double-figures with 16 points; Malachi Davis added 12 and Brent Davis had 10 as LIU rolled Chicago State, 53-39 Sunday afternoon. The win pushed the Sharks to 4-3 at the Steinberg Wellness Center. They defeated LeMoyne at the Barclays Center last week and visit Stonehill Friday (Jan. 10th).

One day after scoring a program-record 10 goals against Assumption, the LIU men’s hockey team shattered that mark, tallying 14 goals in its Saturday night win over Saint Anselm.

LIU, which scored an impressive 27 goals during its three-game home stand, netted five of Saturday’s goals in the first period. Isaac Lambert, Chad Muller, Carter Rapalje, Sixten Jennersjo, and Anthony Lucarelli all found the back of the net in the opening frame during LIU’s 14-1 win.

Noah Rupprecht earned his third consecutive win and sixth of the season, while Nick Trela celebrated his 100th career game. Trent Powell also notched his first career goal in the Sharks’ 12th victory of the season.

Carter Rapalje, Sixten Jennersjo, and Anthony Luccarelli each finished the game with two goals. Freshman goaltender, Michael Polston made his LIU home debut during the third period as the Sharks claimed their third-straight win, improving to 7-0 on home ice – the best start in program history. LIU next travels to Colgate for a two-game series, Jan. 10-11 in Hamilton, New York.

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Nazareth Warren, a 6-2 sophomore from Brooklyn, scored a team-high 15 points – but St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn fell to Farmingdale State College, 95-43 Saturday on the road. Joshua Gordon, a 6-7 graduate student (Bishop Loughlin) recorded a game-high three blocks.

Mercedes Perez, a 5-7 sophomore from San Antonio, Texas (William Taft) poured in a game-high 45 points in a losing cause as the St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn women’s basketball team began the new year with a 79-67 loss to the Stevens Institute of Technology, Friday afternoon in Hoboken, New Jersey. Perez shot 12-25 from the floor and six-of-12 from three.
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Brooklyn College men’s basketball last defeated William Paterson University, November 21, 2015 – 80-66 – that is almost nine years ago. The Bulldogs took down the Pioneers at home in a rout, 92-61 last week, and ended a two-game losing streak. Malik Dale led the Brooklyn attack with 24 points, four rebounds and a steal; Serge Thrasybule put up a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds; Jaden Casanova added 12 as did Joe Charles.

Two guards – Dale a senior, and freshman Charles – were named to the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) weekly Men’s Basketball Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively. The duo earned the honors for their efforts in the 92-61 William Patterson win. It is the second time this season Charles has been named CUNYAC Rookie of the Week.

In non-conference action, the Brooklyn College women’s basketball team dropped their third game in-a-row, losing at Farmingdale State, 71-62 Saturday. Alina Estrella (James Madison) led the Bulldogs with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal; Anna Kitch had another double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Dior Dorsey added 12 points.

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] ; X: @AndyFurmanFSR