Red Hook’s Summit Academy Charter School boys basketball team moved to 5-0 in the B division after they dominated Leon M. Goldstein High School for Science on their home court on December 11. Summit’s previous home game had been a three-point win over Adams Academy. They are 2-2 in non-league games.
“We beat two A division schools,” Summit coach Phil Grant said. “We beat a tough Erasmus team. They were in the Final Four of the A division last year. They had a real tough team this year and we beat them. Then we beat Port Richmond on Saturday. They are another A division school that was in the playoffs last year.”
Grant has seen the team get better as the season has progressed. One of his seniors was not available the first two games.
“Donte has come back, so that has helped us,” Grant said. “He’s back, I have some more leadership. We are looking better. I don’t want us to be at our best right now, so I am OK with us working through our problems.”
Summit dressed nine players for the game and had four players finish in double figures in scoring. Seniors Jordan Council and Nicholas Mickens led the team with 21 points each, while senior Soumana Sylla contributed 14 points and senior Jeremiah Hewitt scored 11.
Summit fell behind early after Goldstein sunk a deep three and then made a short jumper to create a 5-0 lead. However, the Eagles got some momentum after a steal and Council made an and-one layup to make the score 7-5.
Goldstein would take an 8-7 advantage on a 3-pointer, but Summit ended the first quarter with a small lead, 13-12. From this point on, Summit increased their level of play.
“We turned our defensive intensity up when Kle [junior Klejdi Bajrami] came in,” Grant said. “Kle came in and gave us a real good spark with defense. Kle was at the top of our press and forced a lot of turnovers.”
The head coach also credited the improved passing the team displayed, starting with the beginning of the second quarter.
“Once the ball started moving better, we got better shots,” Grant said. “In the first quarter, all our passes were being deflected. When we started making better passes, and got rid of the deflections, we started getting wide open shots. That was the difference.”
Council sank a corner three-pointer to make the score 22-12, and later on Hewitt made a jumper to give Summit a 29-12 lead, capping a 14-0 run.
Summit’s lead lessened a little as Goldstein went on a 7-0 run to bring the score to 35-22 later in the second quarter. However, the Eagles used great ball movement with two consecutive assists to take a 40-22 lead at halftime.
Hewitt made a layup after about two minutes had gone by in the third to give Summit a 20-point lead, 44-24. Summit had a commanding 53-32 lead at the end of the third, thanks in part to Mickens’s aggressive defense.
“Our backline on that pressure, they did a great job anticipating the pass and got a lot of steals out of it,” Grant, who played NCAA Division One basketball at Iona College, said. “That’s what really turned the game around.”
The Eagles started the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run. Mickens made a corner three later on, and after Grant told the team to slow down the pace, the game ended with a 74-39 victory for Summit.
December also saw Summit playing three games at the Bobcat Classic, a national tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, marking the first out-of-state contests for the boys team in Summit Academy’s history.
Before the trip, Grant said that he was looking forward to the games but predicted that the overall experience his team would have in Greensboro would be even more valuable.
“Most of my guys have not played much AAU, so they are not used to traveling out of town, staying in hotels and hanging around the guys 24/7 for four days,” Grant said. “We get to play against different teams from out of town. I want my guys to get that experience traveling to another state, meeting kids from different places, seeing how they play in different places and getting acclimated to the culture.”
Anticipating the upcoming trip, Grant recalled his own school days as a basketball player.
“We traveled a lot,” Grant said. “We stayed in hotels with other schools. We got to meet players from different teams, build friendships with other people, so I think this is going to be a great experience for my guys.”
Grant noted that the girls team would in Greensboro as well. The girls will play before the boys, so each team will be able to show support while the other is competing.
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