The defending champions Hoyas avoided early playoff elimination in the New Breed Basketball Association summer league Tuesday night by evening their best of three series against Guidance with a resounding, 101-72, message-sending, victory in the educational Complex gym before a near capacity crowd.
Guidance was hoping to finally get by a team that has eliminated it the past two seasons, but will have to wait until Friday for another shot at the champs.
From all indications it is going to be a tough hill to climb.
Thing could have gone bad for the Hoyas after their captain and best all around player, Karl John, was ejected from the game midway through the first period, but Andre “50” McIntosh picked up the slack for his captain in all aspects of the game. That and the performance of big man Akeem “Mountain” Francis meant that the Hoyas did not miss a beat as they rolled to a 52-40 half time lead. Three Hoyas notched double-digit first half scores. Francis and McIntosh netted 14 and 11 points respectively and Darnell “Burger” Hendrickson rediscovered his shooting touch and knocked down 13. Devon Lake and Saleem Koss kept Guidance within shouting distance with nine points apiece in the half.
Guidance did not fare any better in the second half. A 16-8 run by the champs to start the third put the game out of reach for the challengers, as the lead quickly ballooned to 20 points at 68-48. Every move Guidance made was answered by the Hoyas two-fold. Coach Sammie Lee was now freely substituting his players and Francis, Hendrickson and McIntosh continued their offensive onslaught on Guidance in a game which in the waning moments of the third quarter was becoming a laugher. All three put up good numbers in the second half with eight, 11, and 13 points respectively.
Meanwhile Guidance players were having trouble finding the net and once again outscored by a huge margin, 49-32, in the second half on their way to losing by 29 points with a final score of 101-72.
Hendrickson led four Hoyas in double figures with a game high 26 points, McIntosh netted 25, Francis had 22, and Kurt “Tennis Man” John scored 16. For Guidance it was Calvert White and Lake leading the way with 16 points apiece, while Jermaine Mully and Malik Hodge netted 13 and 12 points respectively.
Chosen ones 84, Lakers 78
In the night’s other semi-final contest the undefeated, regular season champions, Chosen Ones, jumped out to an early 15-0 lead then had to withstand a late rally to defeat the Lakers, 84-78. The Chosen ones rained a barrage of three-pointers on the late-arriving Lakers from all over the court. The Lakers appeared shell shocked as 10 bombs found their mark in the first half for the Chosen Ones, who enjoyed a 15 point lead at 44-29 at intermission.
Wilson Ferrance was the most deadly sharp shooter for the winners as he hit three long ones in the opening period on his way to 12 first half points. Robert Duck netted 12 for the Lakers.
A 23-14 third quarter by the Lakers got them right back in the game and they were within three points of the lead on two occasions, but could get no closer. Trailing 81-71 in the fourth quarter they would close to within five at 74-69 with an 8-3 run and 3:13 left on the clock.
However the Chosen Ones would close out the contest, matching the Lakers basket for basket, to hold on for the series opening victory.
Ferrance led the Chosen Ones with a game high 24 points. He got good support from Ryan Rawlins with 12 and Glenroy Coggins and Joey Wallace both finishing with 11. For the Lakers it was Duck leading the way with 21 points, Devon Luis netted 16 and three players, Jerome Nathaniel, Lloyd Gilbert, and Shane Hodge finished with 10 points apiece.
