Hills West no match for Brooklyn's Lincoln
Half Hollow Hills West's Tavon Sledge tries to get inside during his team's loss against Lincoln in the Big Apple Classic. (Jan. 17, 2011) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
It's been a long time since Half Hollow Hills West played a game like the one against Abraham Lincoln of Brooklyn yesterday in the Big Apple Classic. The Colts hope it doesn't happen again anytime soon.
"I can't ever remember playing in a game like this," Tavon Sledge said after the Railsplitters chopped up Hills West, 74-38, in the fourth and final game at Baruch College's ARC Center in Manhattan.
It's a game the Iowa State-bound guard would like to forget. And quickly. He scored 13 points but had seven turnovers and, like the rest of his teammates, never got in an offensive rhythm. Lincoln was much bigger up front, even without 7-footer Kamari Murphy, who missed the game with a broken foot. Lincoln enjoyed a 48-24 edge in rebounding.
In the first quarter, freshman Isaiah Whitehead scored 10 points and senior Shaquille Stokes had eight as Lincoln built a 24-13 lead and pulled away. The Railsplitters led by 17 at halftime, by 30 (59-29) after three quarters and by 39 in the final minute.
Stokes wound up with 17 points and five assists in only 16 minutes and Whitehead had 12 points. Sledge sat out most of the fourth quarter as the Colts (4-3) used all 14 of their players.
"We were overmatched and outhustled in every way," Hills West coach Bill Mitaritonna said. "It's the first time in a long time that we were the underdogs."
Indeed, Lincoln (14-1) is the top-ranked team in New York City, and it clearly was motivated to make a statement after losing for the first time this season on Friday to Christian Brothers Academy of New Jersey.
"I told our kids it was very much like us after we got beat by West Babylon," Mitaritonna said of last Tuesday's 81-65 loss. "We came out fast the next game against Bellport . It looked like they wanted to take it out on someone."
That "someone'' was Hills West. "I'm glad we have two games this week ," Sledge said. "We can put this one aside."
