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Scholastic Roundup: The Prep gets derailed

January 24, 2025 Andy Furman
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If Medgar Evers College Prep was feeling good — fresh off their 68-41 takedown of A-Tech last week — its most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit.

Medgar Evers College Prep was dealt a 77-44 loss at the hands of Banneker Academy last Friday. Tyree Keitt posted 16 points and five steals in the loss — it was Keitt’s eighth consecutive game with at least 10 points. Noah Scobie put up 13 points and eight assists. MECP now has a losing record at 6-7. As for Banneker Academy, the win made it two in a row and bumps its season record to 7-1.

Lafayette won a close one the last time it played, but unfortunately, it suffered a serious change of fortune on Tuesday. It came up short against the Madison Golden Knights, falling 70-48. The defeat continues a trend for the Patriots in their matchups with the Golden Knights — they have now lost five in a row. Lafayette’s loss dropped its record to 4-6; as for Madison, the win keeps it undefeated at 9-0.

Erasmus Hall was not able to break out of its rough patch Tuesday as the team picked up its seventh straight loss. It took a hard 72-58 fall against the Curtis Warriors. Erasmus Hall’s defeat dropped its record to 2-8. As for Curtis, its win was their sixth-straight at home, which pushed its record to 7-5.

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better. Just ask New Utrecht. Everything went its way against Dewey on Tuesday as the Utes made-off with a 74-51 victory. The win was the seventh in a row for the Green and White, bringing their record to 8-1 — they have averaged 57.3 points per game across that stretch.

Boys and Girls were not able to break out of its rough patch on Saturday as the team picked up their fourth-straight loss. It fell 64-48 to Curtis. Boys and Girls’ defeat dropped their record to 1-10. As for Curtis, its win ended a 16-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts it at 6-5. The Boys and Girls Kangaroos followed the Curtis loss by dropping a 58-51 to South Shore.

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Eric Stirling made his return to Brooklyn a most successful visit over the holiday season. The Brooklyn native — now an assistant basketball coach at Cincinnati’s Hughes High School — saw his squad capture the 54th annual Msgr. King Memorial Basketball Tournament at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Flatlands.

Hughes defeated Wagner for the championship, which was nothing new for the Brooklyn-born coach. He played in the tournament in 1999 with LaSalle Academy, Manhattan, and LaSalle won it all that year.

The eight-team field included Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) participant St. Edmund Prep, McKee Career and Technical Education, Bedford Academy, Wagner, South Bronx Prep, Moore Catholic, Holy Trinity and Hughes. Elijah Engelman from Hughes won the Guy DeFonzo Clutch Award, named after the longtime tournament director. The King Tournament, started in 1962, features Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) teams against CHSAA teams. The tournament is named after former St. Thomas Aquinas pastor Msgr. Jeremiah King, who in 1954 oversaw a fundraising campaign to help construct three new parish buildings, one of which was the gymnasium. Plans are in the works for a four-team girls’ tournament as part of the festivities.

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Vaughn Ford, a three-year volleyball performer at Brooklyn College (2012, 2014-15) — before coaching at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School for a year — is the new head men’s volleyball coach at Medgar Evers College. He served as the assistant coach at Medgar Evers in the spring of 2017 before taking an assistant position for CCNY’s men’s and women’s volleyball squads in the fall of 2017. In the fall of 2022, Ford was promoted to head coach of the Beavers’ volleyball teams. He proceeded to lead CCNY’s women’s team to the City University of New York Athletic Conference quarterfinals in consecutive seasons before pacing the men’s squad to the CUNYAC semifinals in 2023 and the quarterfinals in 2024.

Medgar Evers men’s basketball standout Jonathan Grimsley averaged 32 points, 13 rebounds and 3.5 assists in a 1-1 week for the Cougars against Hunter and York — and was named both the CUNYAC Player of the week and the Division II/III Met Basketball Writers Association Player of the Week.

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Pratt Institute’s men’s basketball team got a career high and game-high 17 points from Thomas Gratz in a 66-57 loss to Immaculata University last week; and that was followed by Matias Alkemade’s career-best 16 points in an 86-74 loss to Neumann University last Saturday afternoon at the Activity Resource Center.

Siena Sujitno turned in the highest-placing finish for the Pratt Institute indoor track and field campaign in the Ramapo College Season Opener on Friday afternoon. She took 23rd in the 60-meter dash in 8.36. Kayla Galvan posted a personal-best 11.70 in the 60-meter hurdles to collect 25th. Hannah Kim hurled 8.41 meters in the shot put for 15th – the top finish for the black and gold. Chris DeGaetano posted a pair of personal-bests running 25.45 in the 200-meter (7th place) and 58.25 in the 400-meter (47th place).

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Malik Dale, a 5-11 senior (Unity Prep High School), led Brooklyn College’s men’s basketball team with 24 points in an 80-59 win over the Cardinals from York College last Friday in Brooklyn. Senior David McFadden, a 6-3 senior (Mountain Lakes, N.J), topped the Bulldogs in three categories with nine rebounds, nine assists and one block along with 15 points in the win. He scored 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds two days earlier in a 78-74 double-overtime win at Hunter College — Brooklyn’s first win at Hunter in two seasons.

The Basketball Battle of Brooklyn took place Monday night at the West Quad Center at Brooklyn College and saw the Bulldogs improve to 7-9 with a non-conference win over Pratt Institute, 60-55 in overtime. Stephon McGill, a 6-2 senior, led in scoring with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Dale followed with 13. The Bulldogs trailed by as many as 13 points in the second-half.

With five players reaching double figures in scoring, the Brooklyn College women’s basketball, team cruised to an 85-32 win over York Friday. The team included junior Dior Dorsey (13 points); freshman Audrey Waldvogel (career-high 13); freshman Danae McMullen (Urban Assembly School for Emergency Management,12); Cheyenne Castellano, junior (Boys and Girls High, season-high 10); and Brianna Gutierrez, senior (Midwood, 10 points).

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LIU men’s hockey goaltender Tyriq Outen has earned a spot on the watch list for the Mike Richter Award, presented annually to the top goaltender in NCAA Division I men’s hockey. A junior, Outen has compiled a 5-3-0-1 record during his first season at LIU. The Tampa, Florida native has posted a 2.03 goals-against average, 170 saves, a .914 save percentage, and has logged 473 minutes across eight starts this season. He had his first career start at LIU with a 3-2 win over Yale on Nov. 29 before shutting out the Bulldogs 3-0 the following day to record his first career Division I shutout. He is the only Independent Hockey goaltender named to the watch list, which also includes 35 goaltenders representing the Big Ten, Hockey East, ECAC Hockey, CCHA and NCHC. The winner of the Mike Richter Award will be announced at the end of the regular season.

Chad Muller and Josh Zary each scored in LIU’s 2-2 tie against Wisconsin on Saturday night; Outen stopped 22 shots in goal. On Saturday afternoon, Maggie Culp’s game-winning third-period goal lifted the LIU women’s hockey team to a 2-1 win against Assumption. Abbie Thompson won her second-straight game and earned her 11th win of the season with a 26-save performance.

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LIU’s men’s basketball team looks for their seventh-consecutive win tonight – Friday (Jan. 24) when they travel for a Northeast Conference test at St. Francis University in Loretto, Penna. The Sharks won their sixth on Monday — a 72-63 overtime battle defeating Mercyhurst. Malachi Davis, the reigning NEC Player of the Week, led the way with 23 points, nine assists and three steals. Jamal Fuller added 20 and grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds with four blocks. Freshman Shadrak Lasu had season highs of 12 rebounds, three steals and eight 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





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