Jefferson star Shamorie Ponds had to watch a quarter of the final game of his illustrious high-school career from the bench, but he still exerted his influence on the game. The Orange Wave was up by 15 midway through the third quarter when Ponds picked up his fourth foul with 4:47 left in the frame. As he took a seat, the Jefferson leader stared right at seniors Rasheem Dunn and Curtis Smith.
“I just gave them a look, and they know what the look means, like it’s time for you guys to turn up and bring one home for the team,” Ponds said.
Aquinas got as close as five with 2:04 to play in the game, but Dunn and Smith combined for 21 of Jefferson’s 35 second-half points to help secure the state Federation boys’ basketball Class AA championship, 72–65, at the Times Union Center in Albany on March 19.
“Shamorie was in foul trouble, so I feel like me being the second-leading scorer on the team, I had to step up,” Dunn said.
Dunn ended up leading Jefferson with 21 points, but Ponds was not far behind him with 16. Smith added 15 points — 10 of them came in the second half.
Ponds pushed the Orange Wave ahead early and Dunn closed things out late — a role reversal for the Jefferson stars.
“I couldn’t really get off to a good start — Shamorie got off to a good start,” Dunn said. “And then once the game started flowing … I just followed suit.”
Ponds scored 10 points in the first half as Jefferson looked like it was going to roll to an easy victory early on. It carried a 37–24 lead into halftime.
The lead was up to 15 when Ponds went to the bench with his fourth foul at the 4:47 mark of the third quarter, but that’s when Aquinas (25–4) made a comeback.
Aquinas had the lead down to just eight after three quarters — its three-point shots began to fall, and leading scorer Jalen Pickett (21 points) started finding his way to the hoop.
“I told those guys at halftime, the only chance they [Aquinas] got is if we leave those shooters open,” Jefferson coach Lawrence “Bud” Pollard said. “And we left those guys open, and they made shots. That started their run.”
Even as Ponds re-entered the game with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter, Aquinas was in the game for good. The team had the ball down four, 67–63, with 1:30 remaining, but Earnest Edwards missed an open three that would have cut the lead down to one.
Dunn continued his close-out efforts with a pair of clutch free throws to push the lead back up to six with 45.4 left to play, and Aquinas wouldn’t get back to within seven in the final minute. Dunn connected on all five of his free throws in the fourth quarter.
But the three stellar seniors could not do it all by themselves. For the second-straight night, Jefferson got some contributions from its supporting cast — namely Malachi Faison (six points), Marques Watson, Eric Massingale, and Jordan Morgan (four points each).
“They were great. Marques, Kerome Grant, Eric, all those backup dancers performed well,” Pollard said. “Usually we’re ‘Shamorie and the Miracles’ … but those backup dancers really performed.”
The story of the night, however, was the trio Jefferson senior-stars ending their high-school careers on top.
“These guys are nice kids,” Pollard said. “Whoever says nice guys finish last doesn’t know these guys.”
