Lutheran's regular season just a warm-up
Kentan Facey of Long Island Lutheran squats at center court before tip-off against Farmingdale in the Fred Williams Tournament at Amityville High School. (Dec. 16, 2011) Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
A few losses along the way are fine for defending state Federation Class A champion Long Island Lutheran.
"As an independent school, we can't win our league so we're playing to basically become as good as we can for the Federation tournament," LuHi coach John Buck said of the year-end event in Albany that the Crusaders won last season, for the sixth time. "We pride ourselves on that tournament. That's why we play a tough schedule throughout the year."
To that end, Lutheran has already traveled to Atlanta for a tournament, where it split two games, and the Bronx, where it lost to Cardinal Hayes. The Crusaders (6-2) return only one starter, guard K.J. Lee, a 6-3 player transitioning from scorer to playmaker.
The key newcomers form a United Nations lineup -- athletic 6-9 forward Kentan Facey is from the Caribbean isle of Jamaica and already has drawn major Division I interest; high-scoring guard Anthony Pate is from a suburb of Toronto; sweet-shooting guard Viktor Zambor is from Slovakia.
Pate, a slasher, was voted MVP of last weekend's Fred Williams Holiday Tournament at Amityville, won by Lutheran. "He's another D-I prospect," Buck said. "He can really score the ball and he's just trying to blend in with the guys. He's going to be very good."
Backcourt depth is provided by Westbury transfer, 6-foot sophomore Tim Quashie. "He scored around the basket a lot last year but won't be able to do that against some of the bigger and better teams we play," Buck said. "It's still a work in progress for everybody."
Portledge could be the favorite in the IPPSAL with the addition of 6-3 shooting guard Terence Simpson, a transfer from LuHi, who can shoot from the outside and get to the basket. He joins three-year starters Nick Lobley, a deep threat at shooting guard.
Waldorf senior forward Brandon Verise-Kohan, the lone returning starter, will do a little bit of everything. Solomon Schechter, coming off a loss in the championship game, will be a young team featuring a backcourt of Jacob Katz and Max Solasz.
Our Savior New American features North Babylon transfer Devonte Green, who averaged 16 ppg.
Lawrence Woodmere Academy, the defending PSAA champs, are led by 6-3 forward Trent Parrish, a 6-3 slashers. Point guard Jake Lundenberg, a long range threat, transferred from Hewlett.
