ALBANY ¬¬ Six days after a total team effort propelled Jefferson to its first city championship in 62 years, it leaned on its two stars for dominant second-half performances to continue its historic season.
Shamorie Ponds and Rasheem Dunn combined for 30 second-half points, enough to outscore Long Island Lutheran as a team in the half by one point. They powered the Orange Wave into the state Federation Class AA boys’ basketball final with a 69-62 win over LuHi on March 18. Ponds scored 21 of his game-high 27 points after the break.
“He’s more of a second half player, Shamorie,” Jefferson coach Lawrence “Bud” Pollard said. “If he’s in a game he will feel the game out, get his teammates involved [first]. He’s just a very unselfish kid.”
The St. John’s-bound Ponds and Dunn, who is headed to St. Francis College, combined to score all but four of Jefferson’s 34 second-half points as they again closed out another opponent.
Jefferson (22-4) found itself in a tight game at halftime for the fourth straight contest thanks to LuHi (22-4) controlling the game’s tempo.
However after the Orange Wave fell behind 36-35 early in the third quarter, it was time for Ponds and Dunn to go to work. The two stars fueled a 15-3 run for Jefferson spanning over much of the quarter to put the Orange Wave in control.
As Jefferson held on to a 50-43 lead heading into the fourth, the Division-I duo show only continued. Ponds scored 12 points in the final frame. Dunn added five of his own to help pad the lead.
“Once we got a rhythm and started putting the ball in the basket a little bit, we could set up our defense,” Pollard said. “We got out on the break and transition and we were able to get the game going the way we wanted to.”
Jefferson opened up its largest lead of the game at 12 points midway through the fourth quarter, however the Crusaders was not going down without a fight. They pulled within just 63-59, with 1:01 remaining.
But from there Ponds was not about to let this game slip away from his team. His layup with less than one minute remaining had the lead back up to six, and he added free throws late to put the game away for good.
While Ponds and Dunn found their rhythm to carry Jefferson throughout the second half, the Orange Wave did rely on some of their supporting cast to keep them afloat early on.
As LuHi’s Indiana commit Devonte Green scored 15 of his 20 points in the first half, the Crusaders controlled slowed down the game’s tempo and were able to successfully keep Ponds in check on the defensive end.
But an unlikely force, junior Marques Watson, kept Jefferson in the game early with all 11 of his points in the first half. Malachi Faison, who as battling a high ankle sprain, added eight points for the Orange Wave.
“Everybody stepped up when their name was called,” Ponds said. “Marques Watson stepped up, Malachi Faison. Everybody just chipped in.”
The win pushes the Orange Wave into the final against Aquinas (Section 5), where the childhood friends Ponds and Dunn will get a chance to add the final piece to their careers together.
“It means a lot to me,” Ponds said of his team’s state title hopes. “I got a city. Now I just want to finish my high school season with a city and state.”
Aquinas Institute, 54, Xaverian 43: Nyontay Wisseh dropped in 12 points and Brandon Leftwich had 11 for Xaverian, which trailed just 34-32 late in the third quarter of the Class boys’ semifinals. Aquinas, which got 20 points from Jalen Pickett, used an 18-6 run to pull away in the fourth quarter. The Clippers (18-12) rallied from a 17-6 deficit after the first quarter.
Elmont 61, Telecommunication 44: Senior guard Devin Ballour scored 21 points for Telecom (26-4) in the Class A boys’ semifinals. The Yellow Jackets trailed just 40-30 after three quarters, but Elmont used a 13-1 run in the final frame to pull away. Matthew Smiley added seven points for Telecom and Jalen Burgess paced Elmont with 17. It was the final game for Yellow Jackets coach Chris Weil, who is retiring after 25 years on the bench following the school’s first city title.
GIRLS
Ossining 67, South Shore 51: Selena Philoxy scored 21 points, but South Shore (23-5) could not overcome a 15-point second quarter deficit in the Class AA girls’ semifinals. Tsahai Corbie added 13 points for the Vikings, who have won consecutive Public School Athletic League crowns. Seton Hall-bound forward Shadeen Samuels led Ossining with 26 points and Aubrey Griffin chipped in 22.
